HENDERSON, Nevada, Aug 11 (AFP) - US Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry called Wednesday for improved international cooperation, saying that in his travels abroad he had "never seen the United States as targeted and as alienated by so many people around the world.
"We need to restore the country's influence and respect around the world, and I intend to do that," he told a gathering of senior citizens in this town in Nevada.
"We have terrorists who want to destroy us," he said. "I understand how to fight. I defended this country as a young man, and I intend to do so as president.
"I know the way to fight a smart war on terror," said Kerry. "You have the best intelligence in the world by creating cooperation, understand cultures, have people on the ground, have people working with you."
Creating cooperation, he said, means "listening to other people and other people's problems, it's having a trading policy that is fair...it's not walking away from the global warming treaty some worked on 10 years, it's paying your dues to the United nations.
"Working with other countries is not a sign of weakness," said Kerry, who spent part of his youth in Europe. "It's a sign of strength. I'll make America safer than George Bush has."