by Olivier Knox
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush, urging deeply divided voters to give him four more years in the White House, attacked his Democratic rival Thursday and defended the wars he waged in Iraq and Afghanistan after the September 11 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, as the adoring crowd waved US flags and cheered. "We will build a safer world and a more hopeful America and nothing will hold us back."
Bush peppered his address with broadsides at his opponent, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, warning he would raise taxes and 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."
After weeks of Republican-backed charges that he embellished his Vietnam war exploits, Kerry launched a fierce counterattack, implying that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had refused to serve in Vietnam and were "unfit" to lead.
"Im not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at a midnight campaign rally in the battleground state of Ohio.
The lawmaker, who won five medals and was wounded thrice, was referring to Bush's avoidance of the Vietnam war by serving in the National Guard and Cheney's five deferments that kept him out of the conflict.
"The vice president even called me unfit for office," said Kerry. "Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty."
"Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care makes you unfit to lead this nation," said Kerry.
The two candidates have been running neck-and-neck in national polls, and Bush hoped to soothe worries about US job losses and chaos in Iraq and give him a lead as the campaigns race towards the November 2 election.
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."
"Their example will send a message of hope throughout a vital region. Palestinians will hear the message that democracy and reform are within their reach, and so is peace with our good friend Israel," he said.
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, which has eroded US credibility.
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, speaking one day before a government employment report that will affect the race, did not give a sunny job forecast and detailed only modest new initiatives to help millions seeking work.
He called for making his 10-year, trillion dollar tax cuts permanent despite soaring budget deficits; pushed for reforming the tax code; and called for broadening investment, job-training, and health care.
Bush also renewed his support for a ban on homosexual marriage, a divisive issue that pleases his conservative supporters and could tip the balance in a handful of crucial states by drawing more of them to the polls.
But his ambitious proposal in January for manned space missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond stayed off the radar.
Bush was to leave New York shortly after his speech to campaign in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia before returning to Washington.