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Email This Article (10-29) 15:29 PDT WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Campaign rival John Kerry criticized Bush for f ailing to capture bin Laden earlier and said that "I can run a more effe ctive war on terror." The sudden surfacing of the bin Laden tape jolted the campaign's closing days, accentuating the terrorism theme that already had been a dominant issue. Bush and Kerry made hurried appearances before television cameras to respond. "Let me make this very clear," Bush said in Toledo, Ohio, standing next t o Air Force One. "Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country. Kerry, too, said, "My reaction is that all of us in this city are complet ely united." But he criticized Bush for not capturing bin Laden earlier, and he added pointedly, "I believe I can run a more effective war on te rror than George Bush." On the videotape, aired by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera, bin La den address Americans: "Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bu sh or al-Qaida. Bush said intelligence officials continued to analyze the tape. The admin istration said it believed the tape was authentic and had been made rece ntly. Bush said, "We are at war with these terrorists and I am confident that w e will prevail." Kerry, in an interview with WISM in Milwaukee, said of Bush, "He didn't c hoose to use American forces to hunt down Osama bin Laden. Kerry has criticized Bush throughout the campaign for failing to capture the leader of the terrorists who struck the United States on Sept. "Democrat, Republican, there's no such thing," Kerry said. "There's just America and we are all united in hunting down and capturing or killing t hose who conducted that raid and we always knew that that was Osama bin Laden." "My policy is there's no such thing as negotiation with terrorists," the Democratic candidate said. "And terrorists, terrorism are going to be hu nted down and killed, we are united on that." "I am absolutely confident I have the ability to make America safer," he said.
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