by Olivier Knox
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush, urging deeply divided voters to reelect him, attacked his Democratic rival Thursday and defended the wars he waged in Iraq and Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"We have fought the terrorists across the earth -- not for pride, not for power, but because the lives of our citizens are at stake," Bush said in a prime-time speech to his Republican party`s national convention.
"Our strategy is succeeding," he said.
Bush leavened his address with flurries of attacks on his opponent, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, warning he will raise taxes and would prove a weak, fickle leader in the global war on extremism.
Quoting Kerry`s skepticism about the US-led coalition in Iraq, Bush said nations that backed the March 2003 invasion to oust Saddam Hussein were "allies that deserve the respect of all Americans, not the scorn of a politician."
The president also urged critics who dislike his personal style to look past his "swagger" or the fact that he "can be a little too blunt," saying: "Even when we don`t agree, at least you know what I believe and where I stand."
Bush hoped the speech, capping three days of relentless attacks on Kerry but few fresh policy proposals, would soothe worries about US job losses and chaos in Iraq and give him an edge over his rival in their neck-and-neck race.
"This moment in the life of our country will be remembered. Generations will know if we kept our faith and kept our word. Generations will know if we seized this moment and used it to build a future of safety and peace. The freedom of many, and the future security of our nation, now depend on us," he said.
But Bush offered no new details on when the roughly 130,000 US troops in Iraq or their comrades in Afghanistan might return home, saying only that their goal was to help both war-torn nations "get on the path of stability and democracy as quickly as possible."
"Free societies in the Middle East will be hopeful societies, which no longer feed resentments and breed violence for export. Free governments in the Middle East will fight terrorists instead of harboring them, and that helps us keep the peace," he said.
A day before a government employment report that will affect the race, Bush did not offer a sunny job forecast or detail any major new intiatives to help millions seeking work.
He called for making his 10-year, trillion-dollar tax cuts permanent; reforming the US tax code; expanding job-training and education programs; and extending the reach of health care to poor communities and children.
He also called for expanding affordable housing and repeated his call from the 2000 presidential race to partially privatize the Social Security retirement program.
"This changed world can be a time of great opportunity for all Americans to earn a better living, support your family, and have a rewarding career. And government must take your side," he said.
In some ways, Bush`s speech was as notable for what was not in it: He did not mention the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction he cited as the reason for the war in Iraq.
He did not mention the two surviving regimes of his "axis of evil," Iran and North Korea, and he did not name Osama bin Laden, the September 11 mastermind who has eluded US forces for three years.
Bush and Kerry have been running neck-and-neck in most national polls, each with an unyielding base of supporters and ambitions to capture the sliver of undecided voters and key battleground states still up for grabs ahead of the November 2 election.
The Democrat`s camp has been accusing Republicans of doing little over four years on health care, education, and the environment, and spurning discussion of concrete remedies at their convention in favor of attacking Kerry.
"There was an awful lot of focus and angry rhetoric about Senator Kerry," his running mate, Senator John Edwards, told CNN Thursday.
"It would be nice for them to have a little more anger about the five million people who have lost their health care coverage while president Bush has been in office, four million people who have fallen into poverty and almost two million who lost their private sector jobs," he said.