US President George W. Bush and his Democrat rival John Kerry clashed over the war in Iraq on Thursday in their first face-to-face debate, which has the potential to tip the race for the White House.
Kerry accused Bush of diverting attention from the war on terrorism by launching the war in Iraq, while Bush insisted that the world is safer by the removal of Saddam Hussein.
"I will hunt down and kill the terrorists wherever they are. But we also have to be smart," Kerry said at the debate at the University of Miami in Florida.
He said, "And smart means not diverting your attention from the real war on terror in Afghanistan against Osama bin Laden and taking it off to Iraq."
"This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgment. And judgment is what we look for in the president of the United States of America," he noted.
Bush contended that Kerry looked at the same intelligence in 2002 and concluded that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein poised a grave threat. "I agree with him," he said. "The world is better off without Saddam Hussein."
He accused Kerry of sending wrong signals with shifting positions on Iraq.
"He voted to authorize the use of force and now says it's the wrong war at the wrong time. .... I don't think you can lead if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. What message does that send to our troops?'' Bush said.
The 90-minute nationally televised encounter, which started at 9 p.m. (0100 GMT Friday), focused on foreign policy and security. The Iraq war dominated the debate.
The debate was one of three debates in a two-week period. The debates offer the best opportunities, and maybe the last chances also, for the candidates to reach out to undecided voters before the Nov. 2 voting.
Recent polls showed that up to 61 percent of the 200 million potential voters expect to watch the debates. Some 29 percent say the debates could influence their voting choice.
Bush is leading Kerry by 6-8 percentage points in various polls just days before the debate, which was held less than five weeks until the election.