WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (AFP) - The US presidential rivals hunkered down Saturday to prepare for their first televised debate next week after days of bitter dueling over US Iraq policy and the war on terror.
President George W. Bush was at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and Senator John Kerry was holed up at his home base of Boston, practising for their face-to-face match up Thursday, which polls have indicated could sway up to a quarter of voters to change their minds.
The theme of the debate, the first of three, is US foreign policy and homeland security, already the main campaign battleground after the Kerry camp launched an attack on the administration`s Iraq policy during the US visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi this week.
Allawi seemed drawn deeper into the fray of US presidential politics with his visit to the White House, US Congress and United Nations to bolster support for Iraq`s interim government.
Bush Friday slammed Kerry for questioning Allawi`s upbeat forecasts for his country.
"This brave man came to our country to talk about how he`s risking his life for a free Iraq, which helps America, and Senator Kerry held a press conference and questioned Prime Minister Allawi`s credibility," said Bush.
"You can`t lead this country if your ally in Iraq feels like you question his credibility," Bush said a day after welcoming Allawi to the White House to help spread his optimistic view of the war-torn nation`s future.
Kerry said Allawi was contradicting himself about the scope of the terrorist influx into Iraq and described Allawi`s visit as a public relations effort to help Bush "put their best face" on Washington`s Iraq policies.
Reports Saturday said administration officials were helping Allawi organize an international conference on Iraq to boost Iraqi elections, which Allawi and US officials insist will take place as scheduled in January despite the security situation in Iraq.
"We are planning to have a regional meeting consisting of all the leaders of Iraq and the G8 (Group of Eight), we hope some time in October," Secretary of State Colin Powell told The New York Times.
The October conference would involve foreign ministers from major western democracies and "several Middle Eastern countries, including Iran," the paper said, without giving a possible venue for the meeting.
The purpose of the meeting would be to lend legitimacy to the Iraqi elections, to enlist participation by dissidents and to persuade neighboring countries not to interfere, the paper said.
Administration officials said domestic politics played no role in planning for the meeting, but foreign officials speaking anonymously said US politics were clearly playing a role in the current US endorsement of the conference plan, proposed earlier in the year by France and Russia.
Kerry has repeatedly said that as president he would convene an international conference to enlist more international help in Iraq.
The Democratic contender set out his strategy to fight the war on terror Friday, saying that since the invasion of Afghanistan that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks, Bush had made mistakes at home and abroad.
The war in Iraq was an unnecessary diversion from what should be "the real war on terror" to find bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader responsible for the September 11 attacks.
"I will fight a tougher, smarter, more effective war on terror," Kerry said in a speech at Temple University in Philadelphia.
"My priority will be to find and capture or kill the terrorists before they get us, and I will never take my eye off the ball."
Kerry has been fighting voter perceptions that he is not as tough as Bush on terror, but the Republicans were called to task Saturday for repeatedly suggesting that terrorists would welcome a Kerry White House.
The New York Times Saturday slammed what it called "an organized effort to paint the Democratic candidate as a friend to terrorists" in an editorial titled "An Un-American Way to Campaign."
"Mr Bush is running as the man best equipped to keep America safe from terrorists -- that was to be expected. We did not, however, anticipate that those on the Bush team would dare to argue that a vote for John Kerry would be a vote for al-Qaeda," the Times said.
"This is despicable politics," it said, excoriating recent comments by Vice President Dick Cheney, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and senior Republican Senator Orrin Hatch.