KEY POINTS:
WASHINGTON - Democratic Senator John Kerry has apologised directly to US troops for comments about Iraq that had prompted a firestorm of criticism from Republicans and President George W. Bush.
"I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform and I personally apologise to any service member, family member or American who was offended," Kerry said in a statement.
Kerry said earlier in the day he was sorry for a "botched joke" about Bush that was interpreted as a slam on the US military. Republicans demanded a more direct apology and seized on Kerry's comments to students as a sign of Democratic weakness on national security.
Kerry told students in California on Monday that if they study hard they could do well but if they did not, "you get stuck in Iraq". His office said he misread his remarks and intended to say "You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush."
With the Iraq war a dominant issue in the November 7 elections, Kerry's comment gave Republicans, struggling to maintain control of the US Congress, a chance to fight back.
Kerry, who was criticised for mishandling national security issues during his losing White House campaign, angrily accused Republicans who have never been in war of making unfounded attacks.
"I make apologies to no one about my criticism of the president and his broken policy," Kerry said in a statement. "This pathetic attempt to distort a botched joke about US President George W. Bush is a shameful effort to distract from a botched war."
The Massachusetts Democrat, combative at a news conference in Seattle insisted: "The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and (Vice President) Dick Cheney who misled America into war."
Bush quickly seized on the controversy, demanding that Kerry apologise.
"The senator's suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and it is shameful," Bush said at a campaign rally in Georgia where the crowd booed at Kerry's quote.
"The members of the United States military are plenty smart and they are plenty brave and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology," Bush said.
Paul Morin, national commander of the 2.7 million-member American Legion, the nation's biggest veterans' organisation, expressed outrage.
US Senate candidate Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, said he was sorry about Kerry's choice of words but that the issue is the war in Iraq.
"I think what the Republicans are going to try to do is use this as a distraction. But the voters are smarter than that. They know things are not going well. And they know the president does not have a plan to get us out of Iraq," Cardin said on CNN.
Service records
Kerry served in the Navy in the Vietnam War. Bush was a member of the Texas Air National Guard during that war, spending his time in the United States. Cheney avoided Vietnam with student deferments.
If the White House misconstrued Kerry's comments, apparently so did others, including Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and a fellow Vietnam vet who has had an amicable relationship with Kerry.
McCain said Kerry "owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country's call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education."
Other Republican lawmakers and conservative talk-show hosts made similar calls as both parties jockeyed for position in next week's elections.
White House spokesman Tony Snow had called the comments "an absolute insult," to which Kerry responded: "I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed-suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium or doughy (talk-show host) Rush Limbaugh."
"If anyone thinks a veteran would criticise the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq - and not the president who got us stuck there - they're crazy," he added.
- REUTERS
