ALAMOGORDO, Oct 25: President George Bush said in an interview on Sunday that it is "up in the air" whether the United States can ever be fully safe from terrorism, prompting an attack from Democrat John Kerry's campaign that Mr Bush was sending a mixed message.

Mr Bush's comment, made in a television interview, surfaced As he campaigned in New Mexico, a state he lost narrowly to Democrat Al Gore and is in a tight contest this year for its five electoral votes.

Mr Bush told the Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes" show, taped on Saturday and released on Sunday, that US security was "much better" since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up - you know, is up in the air. I would hope we could make it a lot more safe by staying on the offensive," he said.

The Kerry campaign accused Mr Bush of sending a mixed message, the same criticism Bush makes against Kerry by saying the Massachusetts senator has shifted positions on the Iraq war for political purposes.

Kerry spokesman Phil Singer compared the comment to one made in August in which Bush said "I don't think you can win" the war on terror, a statement Bush had quickly rescinded.

"George Bush doubts whether he can make America safe. Well, I give you this pledge: As president, we will find, capture and kill the terrorists. It's not 'up in the air.' We will win the war on terror, and we will make America safer," Kerry said in a statement issued from Boca Raton, Fla.

UNDERSTANDING THE WAR: A Bush campaign spokesman, Scott Stanzel, shot back: "We're happy to have this discussion for the next nine days. The president has an aggressive plan to fight terrorists where they emerge, whereas John Kerry has a limited view. He's questioned whether it's a war at all."

At Alamogordo High School's baseball field, Bush accused Kerry of not understanding the war on terrorism and shifting positions on Iraq according to the political winds. Alamogordo is home to Holloman Air Force Base.

Bush pointed to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leader in the Iraqi insurgency, as evidence that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. Kerry calls the Iraq war a diversion from the war on terror.

Zarqawi, Bush said, ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and fled when US-led coalition forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 and recently swore his allegiance to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"If Zarqawi and his associates were not busy fighting Iraqi and American forces in Iraq, what does Sen. Kerry think they would be doing? Peaceful small business owners? Running a benevolence society?" Bush said.

Bush was introduced by New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, who accused Kerry of being close to the French.

"In my book, George Bush has the support of the right folks, various patriots in harm's way. And his enemies have the support of the French," Domenici said.

As the campaign winds down to what happens in as many as 10 states, Bush told ABC News in an interview that the field of states that could help decide the election may be bigger than the battlegrounds of Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

"I wouldn't discount Michigan," Bush says. "I wouldn't discount the influence of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and New Mexico. I think this race is a nonpredictable race. I think people like to boil it down to one or two states. I think you're gonna find there's a lot of interesting states not considered to be in play," he said. -Reuters