Kerry raps Bush on security of US chemical plants

PHILADELPHIA - Democrat John Kerry on Thursday declared American cities at risk because of a lack of safeguards on chemical plants, as he took aim at President George W Bush's leadership in the war on terror.

Kerry said the Bush administration talks tough on homeland security but has failed to fully follow through in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee highlighted homeland security as Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney met privately with the commission investigating the events leading up to the strikes on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon.

Kerry did not comment directly on that meeting when he addressed the National Conference of Black Mayors but he did discuss other potential threats to the country.

"It's nearly 2 1/2 after 9/11 and the administration is still dragging its feet when it comes to fighting to secure our chemical plants in this country," he said.

"I wish their policies were as tough as the tough rhetoric that you keep hearing," the four-term senator from Massachusetts said.

The Bush campaign fired back by accusing Kerry of politicising the issue of America's security.

"John Kerry has played politics with homeland security throughout this campaign, and today he is doing it again," Steve Schmidt, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, said in a statement.

The senator also told the mayors the administration was not providing enough aid to cities to help pay for the cost of overtime and equipment for police and firefighters in their efforts to prevent an attack.

Kerry said there are more than 100 chemical plants in areas where one million people could be endangered by an attack. Seven of those plants are in the Philadelphia area, he said.

Kerry also sought to address doubts about the strategy in Iraq, where the US death toll is rising.

"We now know that the (Iraq) mission is not accomplished -- and it is time for a new plan," Kerry said, referring to a banner Bush stood before last May 1 when he declared the end of major combat in Iraq.

A New York Times/CBS poll published on Thursday found a sizable drop in support for the Iraq war. But it also showed Kerry was failing to garner strength from the doubts over Bush's Iraq policies.

With little more than six months to go before the election, interest was being revived in Kerry's pick for vice president. Two of his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, North Carolina Senator John Edwards and Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri, were among the possibilities most often mentioned.

Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is also seen as a contender especially when Kerry met privately with him on Sunday after a campaign event in Iowa at which the senator publicly thanked Vilsack's wife for giving him a key endorsement before the January 19 Iowa caucus.

Kerry has declined to comment on the timing of his vice presidential announcement or on any names.

- REUTERS