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Kerry: 'Danger to world peace'
04/10/2004 22:14 - (SA)
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| US President George W Bush walks on the South Lawn towards Marine One helicopter at the White House on Monday. (Charles Dharapak, AP) |
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Clive, Iowa - US President George W Bush signed legislation extending popular tax cuts in this key up-for-grabs state on Monday and charged that Senator John Kerry's foreign policy would be "dangerous for world peace".
Bush noted that his Democratic rival voted against the 1991 war to oust Saddam Hussein's troops from Kuwait even though "under any scrutiny, we passed the global test" for legitimate military action.
"The policies of my opponent are dangerous for world peace. If they were implemented, they would make this world not more peaceful but more dangerous," the president declared at a campaign rally.
In a day of sharp attacks on the Democrat, the president also said Kerry's proposal to roll back tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans would fall short and that he would have to raise taxes on the US middle class.
As he signed the tax extension bill, estimated at $146bn, Bush renewed his call for making permanent his 10-year, trillion-dollar tax cuts and said those measures had spurred the flagging US economy.
"The tax relief comes at just the right time for America," said Bush, whose visit to the battleground state of Iowa guaranteed him local headlines and evening newscasts. "We need to make all the tax relief permanent."
Oversee net job loss
Bush, who stands to become the first US president since the Great Depression to oversee a net job loss, promised that the tax reduction "will have good effects throughout the economy".
Some of Bush's strikes seemed geared to providing belated rebuttals to Kerry's comments on Thursday during their first presidential debate, which appeared to have cost the president a few percentage points in national polls.
Many prominent Republicans scored the 90-minuted exchange on national security as a win for Kerry, amid widespread comment on Bush's annoyed or unsettled looks and frequent shows of impatience.
As Bush's rally wound down, one supporter urged him: "I would like to know if, when you go in to the next debate, if you would stand up and tell that opponent of yours exactly what you're saying today."
Bush and Kerry next face off on Friday in the second of three such exchanges. Vice-president Dick Cheney and Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, were to clash on Tuesday in their only debate.
- AFP
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