Bush on Kerry’s Anti-Terror Plan

Sponsor: President Bush. This 30-second television advertisement is expected to debut today in Albuquerque.

Script: Bush: “I’m George W. Bush, and I approve this message.”

Male narrator: “John Kerry says he’s ‘author of a strategy to win the war on terror’? Against the Japanese yakuza. Never mentions Al Qaeda. Says nothing about Osama bin Laden. Calls Yasser Arafat a ‘statesman.’ The New Republic says Kerry’s plan ‘misses the mark.’ And Kerry’s focus? Global crime, not terrorism. How can John Kerry win a war if he doesn’t know the enemy?”

Images: First, Bush at the White House. Then, a picture of Sen. John F. Kerry’s 1997 book, “The New War,” the cover of which includes a picture of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. A question mark grows on screen next to the book. A cartoonish, pistol-wielding caricature meant to represent a Japanese yakuza crime figure appears on the screen as a gong sounds. Then, in rapid succession, pictures are placed next to Kerry’s picture on the book cover with a question mark: one suggesting a generic terrorist, another of Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden, another of Palestinian leader Arafat. A copy of the New Republic magazine is shown. Then Kerry’s picture disappears and the screen shows a silhouetted man spinning a globe on his index finger. Then another picture of Bin Laden. Finally, Kerry’s picture on the book cover is shown again, next to another question mark.

Analysis: This ad responds to a new Kerry commercial in Albuquerque in which the senator cites his book as evidence that he has a vision to fight terrorism. The Bush ad disputes that and contends that his book was off-base. The Bush ad correctly notes that Kerry’s book omitted any mention of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. But Kerry was not alone in that oversight four years before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Most of the federal government underestimated or overlooked the Al Qaeda threat. Nor is there any record of Bush, then Texas governor, talking publicly about Bin Laden or Al Qaeda in 1997. Kerry’s book did discuss the possibility of a terrorist strike against a major American city and how that might alter international relations. But reviewers have noted that it devotes far more space to discussions of Colombian drug cartels, Russian mobs and other crime rings than it does to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. The Bush ad raises questions about Kerry’s judgment at a time when terror-fighting is a major campaign issue and ties him to images of Bin Laden and Arafat -- linkages likely to be controversial. On Arafat, Kerry aides say the Bush ad misrepresents his position. Kerry has said he now views Arafat as an impediment to the peace process in the Middle East.

Compiled by Times staff writer

Nick Anderson