US President George W. Bush charged on Monday that Senator John Kerry's policies "are dangerous for world peace" as his campaign suddenly changed plans for holding an event on medical liability today and scheduled a speech by the president on terrorism and the economy instead.
On the eve of the vice-presidential debate, with polls showing that Bush lost ground after his performance in the debate with Kerry last Thursday, pressure on the White House to regain the upper hand appeared to be mounting.
To that end, Bush flew to Iowa, one of the nation's most closely contested states, to sign into law extensions of three popular middle-class tax cuts that he said Kerry opposed and that Kerry's campaign said he did not.
Then Bush hit Kerry in harsh terms on national security by reprising Kerry's vote against the 1991 war to drive Iraq from Kuwait.
"In 1991, when my dad was president, he saw a threat, and that was that Saddam Hussein was going to overrun Kuwait," said Bush, who appeared relaxed and in good spirits at an "Ask President Bush" campaign forum, despite the generally negative reviews of his debate performance last week.
If Kerry's vote had carried the day, Bush said, "Saddam would not only have been in his palaces, that means he would have been in Kuwait as well. 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 also stepped up his ridicule of Kerry for a plan to hold an international summit to help solve the problems in Iraq.
"I've been to summits," Bush said as he paced in his shirtsleeves at the 7 Flags recreation center in Clive. "You don't bring terrorists to justice at summits. I can imagine him walking in to the leaders of the world saying, `We need your help, but Iraq is a mistake.'"
Kerry, Bush said, "has no plan. A summit won't solve the problem. Strong, consistent leadership is what this world needs."
Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign, responded: "If George Bush thinks John Kerry's plans to strengthen the military, build alliances, and implement the 9/11 commission's intelligence reforms will make the world a more dangerous place, he's even more detached from reality than he demonstrated at the debate the other night."
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