BOCA RATON, Florida, Oct 24 (AFP) - Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry on Sunday pounced on a remark by President George W. Bush that it was "up in the air" whether America would ever be safe from terror attacks.
Kerry went on the offensive after several days repelling claims by Bush that he had misunderstood the threat from terrorism, amid Republican claims that a vote for the president's rival was tantamount to inviting terror attacks.
"Let me tell you something ladies and gentlemen, you make me President of the United States, we are going to win the war on terror, it's not going to be up in the air whether or not we make America safe," Kerry said at a rally in Boca Raton, southern Florida.
In a Fox News interview to be broadcast Monday and Tuesday, the president said he was not sure whether the war on terrorism he declared after September 11, 2001 would ever completely stamp out extremist violence.
"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.
Kerry senior advisor Joe Lockhart, went further, saying the President "seems somewhat schizophrenic" on whether the fight against terrorism could ever be won.
"John Kerry doesn't think it is up in the air, he knows we can and must keep American safe."
In late August, Bush said in an interview that the war on terror might not be winnable -- a remark that drew intense criticism from Kerry supporters.
"I dont think you can win it," Bush said in an interview with NBC television News, when asked about the war on terror. "But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."
Kerry also seized on the execution style killings of 49 newly trained Iraqi soldiers and the death of a State Department security officer in Iraq, saying Bush had created a "mess" in the occupied country.
10/24/2004 22:24 GMT - AFP