WACO, Texas, Oct 24 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said in an interview to be broadcast Monday that terrorists were weighing whether they could disrupt the November 2 US elections, but that he had no specific evidence of a plot.
Speaking to Fox News Channel, Bush also said that the global war on terrorism had made the United States was safer, but that whether Americans could ever be fully safe from extremist violence was "up in the air."
In the interview, which was recorded Saturday, the president dismissed his worsening war of words with Democratic rival John Kerry by saying he had "thick skin" and predicted he would win reelection.
Bush, who was to campaign in the up-for-grabs state of New Mexico on Sunday, has been running neck and neck with Kerry in national polls and fighting tooth-and-nail for an edge in the battleground states that will decide the race.
Asked about the possibility of a terrorist attack before the election, Bush replied: "I don`t want to alarm anybody because I don`t, I just, there`s nothing specific at this point in time, (only) a kind of general intent."
"They (terrorists) do think about whether or not they can try to disrupt our elections," said Bush, but "we have no actionable intelligence."
In July, US Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge had said that US intelligence showed Osama bin Laden`s Al-Qaeda network planned a "large-scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process."
At the same time, Ridge had said "we lack precise knowledge about time, place and method of attack."
On Sunday the New York Times reported that counterterrorism officials have found little specific evidence of a plot timed to the election.
The most significant recent threat -- an Al-Qaeda surveillance operation on financial institutions in Washington and New York -- was years old, and officials have uncovered nothing suggesting the plans were turning into action, the Times reported.
Other leads -- including eight men arrested in Britain in August suspected of plotting US attacks around election day, and an Al-Qaeda informant discussing election period attacks -- have been discredited.
"We`ve undertaken a bunch of actions," a one senior administration official told the Times.
"We don`t know whether we`ve disrupted them or not. We continue to consider it a very serious threat and we continue to be at a higher operational level. If Nov. 2 comes and goes and nothing happens, I am not going to sleep any better at night."
In the Fox News interview, the president also said he was not sure whether the war on terrorism he declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks would ever completely stamp out extremist violence, saying that was "up in the air."
"America is safer under the course of action we`ve taken, but not yet safe. Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up, you know, is up in the air," said Bush, who drew fire in August when he said the war might not be winnable.
Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry had jumped on Bush`s comment, in an NBC television interview, that "I dont think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."
With the political war of words worsening just nine days from the election, Bush said he believed attacks against him actually made him stronger and declared: "I`ve got thick skin."
10/24/2004 16:24 GMT - AFP