CINCINNATI, Ohio, Sept 8 (AFP) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Wednesday slammed the "wrong choices" he said President George W. Bush has made in Iraq, which have cost the United States more than 200 billion dollars.
"George W. Bush's wrong choices have led America in the wrong direction in Iraq and have left America without the resources we need so desperately here at home," Kerry said to cheers from supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Kerry was interrupted at the beginning of his speech by a member of the audience, whose words were muffled by cheers of "Kerry, Kerry" rising up from the crowd.
"I would have done almost everything differently from the president. I would have given the inspectors the time they needed before rushing to war," the Massachusetts Democrat declared.
"I would not have made the wrong choices that now are forcing us to pay nearly the entire cost of this war -- 200 billion dollars that we're not investing in education, health care and job creation here at home," he added.
"Two hundred billion for going it alone in Iraq: That's the wrong choice, that's the wrong direction, and that's the wrong leadership for America," he said.
He said, if elected, he will "set a new direction."
"We're going to defend this country here at home. We're going to do all we possibly can in order to protect it from another terrorist attack. And we're going to make homeland security a priority, not a political slogan," Kerry said.
The conflict in Iraq has again become the focal point in the run-up to the November 2 election, following strong criticism of Bush's policy by Kerry, who said Monday that the war in Iraq was "the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time."
Kerry's latest attacks on Bush's policy in Iraq came a day after the death toll among US nationals in the war-torn country surpassed the symbolic level of 1,000.