In the first of three scheduled debates between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, both candidates sometimes departed from the facts.

Bush glossed over significant problems with U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq when he claimed that the U.S. is “spending money” and that 100,000 Iraqi security forces have been trained. And Kerry overstated the case when he said Bush allowed Osama bin Laden to escape from Tora Bora by “outsourcing” fighting to Afghans.

Bush misquoted Kerry, distorting his position on withdrawing troops from Iraq. And Kerry said the Iraq war has cost $200 billion, when the cost so far is actually just over $120 billion.

Bush gave a rosy picture of progress in Iraq, glossing over significant problems with reconstruction contracts and training of Iraqi security forces.

Progress in Iraq?

Bush cited as a sign of progress in Iraq that the U.S. is “spending reconstruction money,” when, in fact, the slow pace of spending has become a major problem for U.S. officials.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage testified to a House Appropriations subcommittee Sept. 24 that only $1.2 billion in reconstruction money had actually been spent so far, out of the total of $18 billion that was appropriated last December in “emergency” funds for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush also said “100,000 troops” and other Iraqi security personnel have been trained to date. That’s the official figure, but the president failed to mention that many trainees have received nothing more than a three-week course in police procedures – what Armitage referred to as “shake-and-bake” forces.

Only 8,000 of the total are police who have received a full eight-week course of training, Armitage told the House:

Armitage: “It’s 100,000 total security forces, and I don’t want anyone to make the mistake that security force equals soldier – could be policemen, and it could be the eight-week trained policemen, of which there are a little over 8,000, or it could be what I refer to as the shake-and-bake three-week police force, which are previous policemen who are now given a three-weeks course. So it’s a mixed bag, but there are about 100,000 total security forces.

Tora Bora ‘outsourcing’

Kerry said U.S. forces allowed Osama bin Laden to escape in 2001 during the battle at Tora Bora in Afghanistan because the administration “outsourced” fighting to Afghan “warlords.” Actually, it’s never been clear whether bin Laden actually was at Tora Bora.

It is true that military leaders strongly suspected bin Laden was there, and it is also true that the Pentagon relied heavily on Afghan forces to take on much of the fighting at Tora Bora in an effort to reduce U.S. casualties. But Kerry overstates the case by stating flatly that “we had him surrounded.”

Bush’s false quote

The president misquoted Kerry’s position on how quickly troops might be withdrawn from Iraq. Bush claimed Kerry once said “I’ll have them out of there in six months,” which is false. Kerry complained, “he’s misled us again.”

What Kerry actually said was that he believed he could “significantly reduce” U.S. troop levels in Iraq within six months of taking office – not at all the same thing as having all troops “out of there.”

Kerry’s remark was on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” Aug 6, in an interview with Steve Inskeep:

Kerry’s $200 billion exaggeration

Kerry continued to refer to “the cost” of the Iraq war as $200 billion, when the cost to date is just over $120 billion, according to budget officials. Kerry is counting money that has been appropriated to be spent in the fiscal year that started Friday, Oct. 1. Much of the money Kerry counts has not even been requested formally by the Bush administration, and is only an estimate of what will be sought sometime in the coming year, to be spent later.

Al-Qaida

The President said twice that “75 percent” of al-Qaida leaders have been “brought to justice.” But as The Associated Press reported Oct. 1, Bush was referring to the deaths or arrests of 75 percent of bin Laden’s network at the time of the September 11 attacks – not those who are running the terrorist organization today. The AP also reported that the CIA said earlier in the year two-thirds of those leaders are gone; at his acceptance speech in September, Bush increased his count to three-fourths based on unreleased intelligence data.

Furthermore, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies reported May 25 that the occupation of Iraq has helped al-Qaida recruit more members. The institute quoted “conservative” intelligence estimates as saying that al-Qaida has 18,000 potential operatives and is present in more than 60 countries.

Other stumbles

Bush said that 10 million people had registered to vote in the coming presidential election in Afghanistan, which he called a “phenomenal statistic.” But that’s a disputed figure. Human Rights Watch issued a report Sept. 29 citing “widespread multiple registration of voters.” It said the 10 million figure is probably inflated.

Bush said he has increased spending on curbing nuclear proliferation by “about 35 percent” since he took office. But The Washington Post reported Oct. 1 that Bush proposed a 13 percent cut in his first budget as president – about $116 million. Much of the increases since then have been added by Congress, the Post reported.

The Post also said Kerry misspoke when he asserted that Bush is spending “hundreds of millions of dollars to research bunker-busting nuclear weapons” when in fact the budget for research on that weapon is less that $35 million. The Post said the administration has set aside nearly $500 million for future budgets – but that’s contingent on Congress approving production of such a weapon.

The AP noted that Kerry misspoke when he said “we got weapons of mass destruction crossing the (Iraq) border every single day, and they’re blowing people up.” Kerry meant terrorists were crossing the border, not nuclear weapons.

The AP also caught Kerry’s mistake when he referred to looking at KGB records in Treblinka Square in a visit to Russia. Treblinka was a Nazi death camp. Kerry meant Lubyanka Square.

Analysis provided by FactCheck.org, a service of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. For more information, visit FactCheck.org.

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