Kerry to outline terror strategy

PHILADELPHIA -- John F. Kerry, who earlier this week accused President Bush of ''stubborn incompetence" in the prosecution of the Iraq war and the postwar occupation, is training his sights today on the incumbent's perceived strength -- his leadership in what the Bush campaign now brands in its news releases ''the War on Terror."

The Democratic presidential nominee, in a speech at Temple University, plans to argue that his Republican opponent has botched the fight against terrorism by failing to capture Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and by transforming Iraq into what the country's interim prime minister admits has become a terrorist haven.

Kerry aides said he will outline seven principles for fighting terrorism, including improved military and intelligence capabilities, a program to deny terrorists deadly weapons, a crackdown on terrorist financing, more attention to homeland security, and efforts to deny sanctuary to terrorists while building global alliances and promoting democracy in the Muslim world.

''The war on terror, in fact, is not being prosecuted as well as it could be because of the diversion of the war on Iraq," Mike McCurry, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign, told reporters yesterday as the candidate flew to Pennsylvania from another battleground state, Ohio.

McCurry said the campaign plans to continue attacking Bush in the area of his presumed strength: foreign policy. Voters, he said, now can compare the Bush and Kerry approaches and ''begin to measure side by side these two as potential commanders in chief." The speech scheduled for today on terrorism is the ''bookend" of Kerry's effort, McCurry said.

Kerry restructered his campaign day yesterday as he tried to avoid exacerbating a scratchy throat before his first presidential debate next Thursday. The Massachusetts senator withdrew from two appearances in Iowa and instead sent his running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, to speak in his place in Davenport and Cedar Rapids. He also canceled a speech at Ohio State University, instead holding a brief news conference before taking a tour of a fire station in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

In his remarks to reporters, he focused on the visit of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of Iraq to Washington and what he said have been misleading statements both from Baghdad and Washington about the status of the country during a week that has seen the beheading of two Americans and scores of Iraqis killed in insurgent violence.

''We have an administration in disarray," Kerry argued, citing differing pictures of the security situation in Iraq offered by Bush, Allawi, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. ''The secretary of defense saying one thing and being corrected. The president saying one thing and being contradicted by the prime minister. The secretary of state saying one thing and being contradicted by the president. America needs leadership that tells the truth."

Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush campaign, issued a statement in response yesterday saying that Kerry's criticism of Allawi and Bush ''showed he lacks the judgment and credibility to lead the United States of America to victory in the War on Terror.

''His attacks on the veracity of the Iraqi prime minister's historic address to Congress reveal a stunning propensity to take political cheap shots for his own benefit by denigrating our allies in this important struggle against a global terror network," Racicot said.

The Kerry campaign also released a new television commercial for the second consecutive day, this one reiterating Kerry's criticism of Bush over Iraq. One released Wednesday was an instant response to a Bush campaign ad showing Kerry windsurfing and accusing him of ''sailing" both ways on the issues.

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.