WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US presidential rivals hunkered down 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, practicing for their face-to-face matchup 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, and echoed them in his weekly radio address even as he acknowledged that serious problems remain in many Iraqi cities.
"The war for Iraq's freedom is a fight against some of the most ruthless and brutal men on Earth," Bush said.
"In such a struggle, there will be good days and there will be difficult days. But every day, our resolve must remain the same."
Kerry Friday had 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 if elected 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.
"Before making such despicable statements, Republicans should remember that the reason Osama bin Laden is still able to threaten the United States three years after the September 11 attacks is the utter failure of the Bush Administration to catch bin Laden and to destroy his terrorist network," Representative Nancy Pelosi said in the Democrats' response to Bush's radio address.
"We would be much safer today if President Bush had kept his focus on Al-Qaeda, rather than diverting crucial resources from the war on terror in Afghanistan to a war of choice in Iraq."