Bush says he would give 'Mission accomplished' speech again

Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry has ripped into President Bush for saying he had no regrets over his "Mission Accomplished" speech on Iraq and would do it again.

Kerry, expressed outrage after Bush's statement in an interview with Fox News in which he was asked if he would still have shown up in a flight suit for that May 1, 2003 speech aboard an aircraft carrier off the coast of California.

"Absolutely," Bush was quoted as saying in excerpts of the interview, which is to air this week.

Kerry, arriving in Madison, Wisconsin for debate preparations, called the statement "unbelievable."

"I will never be a president who just says mission accomplished. I will get the mission accomplished," said the Massachusetts senator. "That's the difference."

When Bush gave his dramatic speech amid much fanfare, fewer than 150 Americans had been killed in the Iraq war. Since then the US death toll has risen to 1,046.

Bush did not use the phrase "Mission Accomplished," but that message was emblazoned on a prominent banner directly behind the president as he declared major combat operations over in Iraq.

Bush's interview is to air on Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor" on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, just before Bush and Kerry face off in their first televised debate on Thursday.

Iraq and the war on terror will be the central issues in the debate, which will focus on foreign affairs.

The 90-minute face-off in Coral Gables, Florida will be the first of three presidential debates in the run-up to the Nov. 2 election and many analysts think it is Kerry's best chance to try to overtake Bush, who leads slightly in the polls.

Bush spent the weekend at his Crawford, Texas ranch to practice for the debate and relax by riding his mountain bicycle and going fishing.

Meanwhile, Kerry and a group of senior aides headed for a resort 40 miles from Madison, Wisconsin - an important battleground state.

"It's a remote area where we can concentrate and focus and still get out to talk to voters as much as possible," said Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter.

Bush held a mock debate on Saturday night with Republican Sen. Judd Gregg playing the role of Kerry. Like Kerry, Gregg, who hails from New Hampshire, is a New Englander.

Kerry's aides gave only sparse details of the candidate's debate preparations, although Cutter said he had done at least one run-through with lawyer Greg Craig role-playing as Bush.

Craig, a friend of Kerry's, was White House special counsel during former President Bill Clinton's impeachment drama.

Kerry has watched videotapes of some of Bush's past debates, including those with Democrat Ann Richards when Bush ran for Texas governor, according to Cutter.

She said she expects Bush will try to pin the flip-flopper label on Kerry as the president has done during his campaign.

The Bush team was eager to manage expectations. White House communications director Dan Bartlett talked up Kerry's experience as a debater, citing his 20 years in the Senate and his participation on his prep school's debate team.

But he predicted Bush would "hold his own" on Thursday. "Will President Bush step on his own line and maybe not pronounce a word right?" Bartlett said. "I bet he will but I think after the 90 minutes there won't be any ambiguity in his positions."

- REUTERS