ANNOUNCER:   CROSSFIRE. On the left, James Carville and Paul Begala; on the right, Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson. In the 
CROSSFIRE:   another deadly ambush in Iraq. 
UNIDENTIFIED MALE:   Police officers and the coalition members cannot sit back and wait to be attacked, wait to be shot, or basically give up. 
ANNOUNCER:   Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? 
BUSH:   We're patient. We're strong. We're resolute. And we will see this matter through. 
ANNOUNCER:   Plus: Al Sharpton's peace mission to Liberia. Our own Tucker Carlson went along and reports in -- today on CROSSFIRE.    Live from the George Washington University, Paul Begala and Robert Novak. 
BEGALA:   Hello, everyone. Welcome to CROSSFIRE. President Bush today said he wants to -- quote -- "encourage people to participate in making Iraq more secure and more free." In a moment, we will debate whether the president, who so publicly dissed the rest of the world before the war, is going to succeed in getting international help now that the occupation has gone poorly. But first, we start with the best political briefing in television, our CROSSFIRE "Political Alert." Over the weekend, "The Washington Post" revealed that President Bush's claim that Iraq could launch a biological or chemical attack on 45 minutes notice was not approved by the CIA. Moreover, the president's claim that Iraq had close ties to al Qaeda was actually -- quote -- "highly disputed" -- unquote -- by intelligence officials. And "The Post" reports today that, while Mr. Bush told us that Saddam Hussein was a threat to give chemical or biological weapons to terrorists, the CIA actually told Mr. Bush, that was -- quote -- "unlikely" -- unquote -- but it would more likely if we attacked Saddam Hussein.  Mr. Bush is now reduced to arguing that neither he nor his national security adviser even read the full 90-page national intelligence estimate before they took us to war. 
NOVAK:   You know, I would like to put a little fact out, Paul. Facts are inconvenient. And that is, this 45-minute allegation did not appear in his major speech in October on Cincinnati, nor did it come in the State of the Union address. So what it is, is an attempt to destroy President Bush, to destroy his presidency. You're just grabbing for a lot of straws in the wind, because it was not a major factor in going to war. 
BEGALA:   So if the president said something that's false and it's not in the State of the Union, it's OK? That's a new standard. Clinton didn't say he didn't sleep with Monica Lewinsky in the State of the Union.    Bush stood in the Rose Garden at the White House and said something untrue. 
NOVAK:   A famous 1968 photo showed a Southern Vietnamese general executing a suspected communist guerrilla. It won AP photographer Eddie Adams a Pulitzer Prize. And it deepened anti-war sentiment. The photo was the model for a cartoon in yesterday's "Los Angeles Times" by another Pulitzer Prize winner, Michael Ramirez, showing President Bush being executed by politics in the streets of Baghdad. Mr. Ramirez is entitled to his obvious contempt for the president of the United States, but there should be limits on abuse of any president. This cartoon so far transcends the bounds of good taste and common decency that "The Los Angeles Times" should be ashamed of printing it. 
BEGALA:   This will shock you, but I think you're right. I'm not for any form of censorship. And this is not censorship. This is arguing what -- bad taste with public debate. And I think you're doing the right thing to raise attention to this. It is an offense. And I don't support President Bush on almost any of his policies. But that goes too far. I think you're right. "The L.A. Times" has a right to publish it, but you have a perfect right to criticize them. And I join you in the criticism, Bob. 
NOVAK:   Thank you very much. 
BEGALA:   You're right. I will never let that happen again, by the way. Stand on notice.    I'll never again say that you did the right thing. 
NOVAK:   Paul, I hate to seem like a one-man truth squad where you're concerned, but you've got your facts wrong again. In the first place, the president did not break his word. He said that this money should not be in a bill for emergencies, only for emergencies. Secondly, you can't get that extra money through the House of Representatives. There's no bipartisan support. The Republicans think that the AmeriCorps has not proved its worth. They think that it has to justify that money. And I think the Republicans are right. 
BEGALA:   The reason that it has to be in emergencies is because Bush cut the funding from his basic budget. That's why the only way to restore it is through an emergency supplemental.    Mr. Bush should keep his word. He promised to increase it, and now he's cutting it. 
NOVAK:   Gray Davis, who five years ago was elected governor of California as a centrist Democrat, is moving left in order to survive. If the recall election were held today, polls show Davis would be out. So, to pick up Latino support, the governor has changed positions on a bill to grant driver's licenses to illegal aliens. He used to oppose that. Now he supports it. During last year's reelection campaign, he refused to meet with a left-wing minority group. Now he's courting the same organization. Does Gray Davis look like he doesn't believe in anything? And isn't that what got him in trouble in the first place? 
BEGALA:   No. What got him into trouble in the first place is that the Bush economy tanked, and so that now people in California want to recall him because he's got a budget deficit. What if we had a law like that here in Washington? Bush took the greatest surplus in history and made it the greatest deficit in history. Maybe we should recall him. If it's good enough for California, it's good enough for America. 
NOVAK:   What do you think about the whole idea that he wouldn't sign the bill granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens; now he says, boy, I'm all for that? 
BEGALA:   He's wrong then and he's right now. Undocumented drivers should have to be safe drivers. 
NOVAK:   He's in trouble now. 
BEGALA:   And that's what -- driver's licenses make you pass a test, show that you know the laws of the state. It's a smart policy. I'm glad he adopted it. 
NOVAK:   You don't think his trouble on the recall suddenly gave -- clarified his thinking, so he agrees with you and Latinos? 
BEGALA:   It might have. It very well might have, Bob. Good point. 
NOVAK:   President Bush says reconstruction efforts in Iraq should not be viewed as a political exercise. In a minute, we'll ask a couple of guests whether the Democrats will try to make Iraq anything but a political exercise. And later, we'll ask Tucker Carlson what in the world he was thinking when he decided to follow Al Sharpton all the way to Africa.
