Kerry Attacks Bush Foreign Policy

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry last night accused the Bush administration of undermining the safety of the American people with its foreign policy.

He characterised Bush's approach as excessively belligerent, saying the administration's national security team had "looked to force before exhausting diplomacy".

He said: "They've made America less safe than we should be in a dangerous world ... In short they have undermined the legacy of generations of American leadership."

In a speech designed to set out his foreign policy thinking at the start of an 11-day segment of his campaign dedicated to the issue of national security, Mr Kerry said he would put an emphasis on building alliances and end US dependence on Middle East oil.

He said that it was vital "to secure our full independence, our full freedom, to be the masters of our own destiny, we must free America from its dangerous dependence on Middle East oil".

He criticised the government for a dogmatic approach to foreign policy, claiming that the administration disregarded the advice of professional military officers and ended the careers of those who gave honest assessments at odds with the White House view.

"That is not the way to make the most solemn decisions of war and peace," Mr Kerry said. "As president, I will seek out, listen to and respect the views of our experienced military leaders and I will never let ideology trump the truth."

The speech was designed to show that Mr Kerry, a decorated Vietnam war veteran, would be strong in fighting terrorism and in his command of the military, with the American public's confidence in Bush's leadership apparently dwindling due to the ongoing violence in Iraq and the prisoner abuse scandal.

"Let there be no doubt, this country is united in its determination to defeat terrorism," Mr Kerry told an audience of 450 invited guests, including three of his former crewmates from Vietnam.

He pledged action to cut financial support available to terrorists and singled out Saudi Arabia for criticism.

He said: "If we are serious about energy independence, then we can finally be serious about confronting the failure of Saudi Arabia to do all that it can to stop financing and providing ideological support of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

"We cannot continue this administration's kid glove approach to the supply and laundering of terrorist money."

If elected, Mr Kerry said he would send a message to the armed forces on his first day in office, promising to make them the "the best-led, best-equipped fighting force in the world".

"You will never be sent into harm's way without enough troops for the task," Mr Kerry said. "And you will never be asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace."

He laid out four principles that would guide his national security policy. They were:

New alliances with foreign countries

An updated military to meet terrorist threats

The use of diplomacy, intelligence, economic power and "the appeal of our values and ideas" to keep the country safe

Freedom from dependence on oil from the Middle East

Republicans portrayed the speech as disingenuous political grandstanding.

"These petty, hate-filled political attacks do not make America stronger or safer," Senator George Allen, a Virginia Republican and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a conference call with reporters. He said: "John Kerry and the Democrats are more worried about political attacks than prosecuting the war on terrorism."

Sen Allen said that Mr Kerry must have received advice from the "seemingly unstable" Al Gore, the former vice president, who, in a speech on Wednesday, attacked President Bush and called for the resignations of top administration officials.