Democratic White House challenger John Kerry accused US President George W. Bush on Wednesday of being more interested in election-year photo opportunities than providing funds to defend against another Sept. 11-type attack.
Kerry used the new concerns this week about a possible attack on the US before the November presidential election to step up his criticism of Bush, who has hoped to make his war on terror a centerpiece of his re-election campaign.
The Massachusetts senator blamed Bush for inadequately secured ports, chemical plants and nuclear facilities, underfunded fire stations and cutbacks in a federal program designed to put more police on the street.
"We deserve a president of the United States who doesn't make homeland security a photo opportunity and the rhetoric of a campaign," Kerry told a rainy-day rally of a few thousand people in Seattle.
"We deserve a president who makes America safer," Kerry declared, drawing sustained applause and cheers.
"We should not be opening firehouses in Baghdad and shutting them in the United States of America," Kerry said.
Kerry admitted the US could not protect every potential target, but added: "What we can do is protect against catastrophe. What we can do is protect those places that are the most logical places for the largest potential damage."
He complained that Bush, who has repeatedly cut taxes to the delight of fellow conservatives, had failed to provide states and localities with the money they needed to do their job.
"We deserve a president who puts American taxpayer dollars where the need is, not just where the ideology wants it to go," Kerry said.
Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman, dismissed Kerry's attacks as "baseless and factually inaccurate."
Since 2001, Schmidt said, "President Bush has distributed more than US$13 billion to state and local law enforcement" for anti-terror efforts.
Kerry made the remarks the day before what aides say will be a major address in Seattle on foreign policy, national security and the war in Iraq.
Polls show Kerry running about even with or slightly ahead of Bush in the White House race.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS