Kerry Seeks More Homeland Security Funds

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040527/ap_on_el_pr/kerry&cid=694&ncid=2043

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SEATTLE - John Kerry (news - web sites) said Wednesday that President Bush (news - web sites) has not done enough to thwart a potential terrorist attack while the Democratic presidential candidate's backers suggested the administration's latest terror warning might be politically motivated.

As Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) held a news conference in Washington to warn of intelligence showing the al-Qaida terrorist network is planning another attack in the United States in coming months, the heads of police and firefighters unions that support Kerry questioned the timing of the announcement in a conference call organized by Kerry's campaign.

International Association of Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger said it is suspicious that the administration reportedly knew about the new threat for more than a month but only chose to publicize now because Bush's approval ratings have been sinking.

"I find the reports in this press conference to be politically convenient at best," said Schaitberger.

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Kerry, speaking at Seattle's Pier 62, said the country deserves a president "who doesn't make homeland security a photo opportunity and the rhetoric of a campaign. We deserve a president who makes America safer."

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"We deserve a president who puts America's taxpayers dollars where the need is, not just where the ideology wants it to go," he said.

"Now, I'm not going to stand in front of you as a potential president and say to you that you can protect every single place and harden every single target in the country," Kerry told a cheering but soaked crowd that waited two hours in the rain after having their umbrellas confiscated for security. "All Americans know better than that.

"What we can do is protect against catastrophe. What we can do is protect those places that are most logical places for the largest potential damage and danger. And that's the responsibility of a president," Kerry said.

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