Bush to start day with visit to Ground Zero

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will today visit the site where New York's twin towers once stood, as he marks the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks amid an election-year debate over whether his policies have made America safer or more vulnerable.

His approval ratings soared and his presidency was reshaped after he stood in the ruins of the World Trade Centre days after the 2001 attacks and sought to rally the country by shouting into a bullhorn.

But the unity that arose as Americans grieved for the nearly 3000 people killed in the hijacked aeroplane attacks has long since given way to sharp divisions over the Iraq war and his Administration's tactics in the war on terrorism.

The rift has widened with the approach of the November 7 elections, in which Democrats hope to overturn Republican dominance of Congress.

In a two-day tour of all three crash sites - the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 crashed - Mr Bush will strive to put aside partisan acrimony.

He has no prepared remarks for the visits, says White House spokesman Tony Snow.

The President will attend a prayer service in New York tonight and visit firefighters tomorrow morning.

He will save his formal remarks for a televised Oval Office speech tomorrow night.

Political wrangling continued at the weekend as Mr Bush and Democrats pressed opposing approaches to fighting terrorism.

In his weekly radio address, the President urged Congress to pass legislation setting up military tribunals to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

He also defended a CIA detention programme to interrogate terrorism suspects.

In their own radio address, Democrats said the country must end its "open-ended commitment in Iraq" and redirect its efforts towards fighting al Qaeda.

- REUTERS