by Marc Carnegie
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (AFP) - Seeking four more years in the White House after a first term dominated by war, US President George W. Bush on Thursday promised a safer world by keeping up the hunt for terrorists around the globe.
Bush said the United States would stay on the offensive if he wins re-election, underlining a determination to stick by the first-strike military policy he put in place after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
"Our strategy is clear ... We are staying on the offensive, striking terrorists abroad, so we do not have to face them here at home," Bush said in advance excerpts of his speech to the Republican National Convention.
"We have fought the terrorists across the earth -- not for pride, not for power, but because the lives of our citizens are at stake," he said.
Bush was to formally accept his party's nomination to stand in the November 2 election, kicking off the final weeks of an already bruising political showdown against his Democratic challenger, John Kerry.
After three days of attacks by fellow Republicans painting Kerry as too weak and indecisive to lead America in a time of crisis, Bush said he offered voters "steady, consistent, principled leadership" to steer the nation.
Bush has made the war on terrorism the cornerstone of his re-election campaign, and speakers at the four-day convention have repeatedly depicted a nation at the crossroads in a dangerous and epic struggle against golbal terror.
"This moment in the life of our country will be remembered," the president said. "The freedom of many, and the future security of our nation, now depend on us."
Polls show Bush and Kerry running virtually neck-and-neck, and that the election could hinge on a handful of battleground states. The president was due to head to one of them, Pennsylvania, early on Friday.
Bush launched the global war on terrorism in 2001 after al-Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people in New York and Washington on September 11, uniting the country behind the president and triggering an outpouring of solidarity abroad.
But al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden remains at large, and Bush has seen his approval ratings slide amid a rising death toll among US forces in Iraq and the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction at the core of his case for war.
In keeping with US political tradition, Kerry has mostly laid low during his rival's convention but his campaign took the gloves off before Bush's speech to denounce his four years in office as an "abject failure."
Aides familiar with the speech said Bush would argue that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will help defeat terrorists not just on the battlefield but also by transforming the Middle East.
The aides, who requested anonymity, said Bush would not mention the two surviving members of what he termed the "axis of evil," Iran and North Korea, in the address.
The president also hoped his prime-time televised address would soothe worries about US job losses and the chaos in Iraq.
Polls have shown that foreign policy is a key issue for US voters for the first time since the Cold War, but domestic questions tend to loom larger as election day approaches.
The US government on Friday is due to release the latest monthly figures on job creation.
On the domestic front, the president revived his "compassionate conservative" message -- which seduced moderate voters in the hotly disputed 2000 race -- and said he would seek to transform key institutions.
"Many of our most fundamental systems -- the tax code, health coverage, pension plans, worker training -- were created for the world of yesterday, not tomorrow," he said.
"We will transform these systems so that all citizens are equipped, prepared -- and thus truly free -- to make your own choices and pursue your own dreams," said the president.