] Washington -- President Bush portrays his position on ] Iraq as steady and unwavering as he represents Sen. John ] Kerry's stance as ambiguous and vacillating. ] ] "Mixed signals are the wrong signals,'' Bush said last ] week during a campaign stop in Bangor, Maine. "I will ] continue to lead with clarity, and when I say something, ] I'll mean what I say.'' ] ] Yet, heading into the first presidential debate Thursday, ] which will focus on foreign affairs, there is much in the ] public record to suggest that Bush's words on Iraq have ] evolved -- or, in the parlance his campaign often uses to ] describe Kerry, flip-flopped. ] ] An examination of more than 150 of Bush's speeches, radio ] addresses and responses to reporters' questions reveal a ] steady progression of language, mostly to reflect ] changing circumstances such as the failure to discover ] weapons of mass destruction, the lack of ties between ] Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network and the growing ] violence of Iraqi insurgents. [ Holy shit! More honest reporting? I can't believe it! -k] NEWS ANALYSIS / Record shows Bush shifting on Iraq war / President's rationale for the invasion continues to evolve |