WASHINGTON, Aug 5: Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on Thursday slammed US President George Bush for not jumping to action when he heard about the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.
"First of all, had I been reading to children and had my top aide whisper in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to," Kerry said at a conference of minority journalists here.
When told that planes had been flown into the twin World Trade Center towers, Bush was reading to schoolchildren in Florida. He continued to read to them for seven minutes before excusing himself.
Mr Kerry also said that Mr Bush lacks credibility as the leader of the US military. "I come to the job of commander in chief with the rare, gratefully, but important experience of having fought in a war," he said, adding that he would not send US troops into battle without having exhausted every other option.
"And I believe we need a commander in chief who understands the test before you send young people to war. You've got to be able to look parents in the eyes if they lose their son or daughter and say to them, 'I tried to do everything in my power to avoid this, but we had no choice as a nation, as a people, because of the challenge to our country, to our fundamental values,'" he said. -AFP
