The "war against terror" is the Republicans' favoured horse in the race to keep Bush in the White House for four more years, reports Khaled Dawoud from New York United States President George W Bush is due to deliver a lengthy speech at the conclusion of the Republican National Convention (RNC) today, reiterating the main theme which dominated the four-day event: Americans need to re-elect him for a second term at the White House because he's allegedly the best qualified leader to continue the war he started against "terror". The RNC opened in New York on Monday amid tight security and threats of possible terror attacks. One day before the opening of the convention an estimated 200,000 (according to police) to 400,000 people (according to organisers) took part in anti-Bush protests. Smaller protests continued during the rest of the meeting with police saying that at least 700 people were arrested by the end of the second day on Tuesday. Facing tough competition from his Democratic opponent, Senator John Kerry, Republican strategists were clearly aware that emphasising Bush's image as a strong leader was their best strategy to win the upcoming presidential elections on 2 November. Whether the main theme of the day was protecting national security, what Republicans dub as "compassionate America" or how to improve the economy, all speakers at the RNC ended up referring to Bush's effort in fighting terror since the 11 September attacks. Recent opinion polls indicate that this is Bush's main advantage over Kerry, with 53 per cent of registered voters saying they believed he was more qualified than the Democratic candidate to be commander-in-chief. Choosing New York City as a venue to hold the RNC despite its traditional reputation as a Democratic stronghold was another obvious sign that the Bush campaign planners understood that American outrage over the 11 September attack and continued fear of anti-American terror was the incumbent president's main source of strength, particularly at a time when the same opinion polls indicated that more Americans were unhappy with the way he has been running the war in Iraq and the economy. Nearly three years after 9/11, American voters appear almost evenly divided, with Bush's approval rating ranging between 43 to 47 per cent, down from the unprecedented over 90 per cent approval ratings he got in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity. Americans surveyed in opinion polls say the main reason for such a sharp decline in Bush's approval is the increasing US human losses in Iraq, nearly 1,000 soldiers, and the fact that they are now aware that most of the justifications he used to launch the war were simply false or exaggerated. But key speakers at the RNC hardly made any reference to these facts, insisting instead that the war against Iraq was necessary and justified. Reiterating a common line in Bush's campaign speeches in recent weeks, speakers said that even if the former Iraqi regime did not possess weapons of mass destruction which posed an "imminent" threat to the US, as Bush claimed before the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the war was necessary in order to "liberate" the Iraqi people and to allow them to enjoy democracy. The staunchest attack against Kerry, meanwhile, came from New York's former mayor, Rudy Giuliani, who stressed what most observers believe to be the Democratic candidate's main weakness: his inconsistent record in voting as a veteran member of the US Senate, gaining him the title of a "flip-flopper". Giuliani, who said he told New York's police chief on 11 September "thank God George Bush is our president," admitted that all politicians tend to change their positions, but not like Kerry whom he said has a pattern of adopting different stands which made him "inconsistent" and unfit to be president of the world's sole superpower. "Yes, people in public office at times change their minds, or realise that they are wrong -- I have, others have, when they realise they are wrong or circumstances change... But John Kerry has made it a rule to change his position, rather than the exception." Giuliani was particularly referring to Kerry voting against the first Gulf War in 1991 then in favour of the war against Iraq in October 2002, later voting against devoting $87 billion to military and reconstruction costs and recently saying that he would have still voted for the war even if he was aware of the information available today confirming that the former regime did not possess weapons of mass destruction. Giuliani, known as a diehard Israel supporter, also made a bizarre link between the 11 September attacks and what he described as "Palestinian terrorism". He told the audience that "terrorism did not start on 11 September," but started when "Palestinian terrorists" killed a number of Israeli athletes during the 1971 Olympic Games in Munich and in 1985 when "Palestinian terrorists" killed a disabled American national after hijacking an Italian ship "only because he was a Jew". He also criticised granting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat the Nobel Peace Prize when he was allegedly responsible for several terrorist attacks. Republican Senator John McCain, who competed against Bush to win the party's presidential nomination in 2000, also delivered an emotional speech in the incumbent president's support on Monday. Declaring his support for the war against Iraq, McCain said that Bush's choice was "between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise -- not our critics abroad, not our political opponents." On Tuesday, and when key speakers such as Laura Bush and California's Governor and action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger were supposed to deal mainly with domestic issues, speakers also made lengthy references to the importance of keeping Bush in office so that he can continue his war against terror. Laura Bush, introduced via satellite by her husband, used the stage to applaud his courage in helping to "liberate millions in the most historic struggle my generation has ever known". She added, "I am so proud of the way George has led our country with strength and conviction." "Our parents' generation confronted tyranny and liberated millions. As we do the hard work of confronting today's threat, we can also be proud that 50 million more men, women and children [in Iraq and Afghanistan] live in freedom today thanks to the United States of America and our allies." Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born bodybuilder who became a movie star before winning the California gubernatorial race, used his own success story to portray the Republican Party as one that creates opportunities for everyone. "I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities," he told delegates. "And I believe they can. That's why I believe in this country, that's why I believe in this party and that's why I believe in this president." However, the delegates who took part in the RNC didn't seem to reflect Schwarzenegger's claims to his party's commitment equal opportunity. Eighty-five per cent of the nearly 5,000 Republican delegates were white, and 57 per cent men. Only six per cent were African-American, seven per cent Hispanic and hardly 0.1 per cent were of Arab origin (15 delegates in total). Switching to the RNC's main theme of fighting terror and considering the invasion of Iraq as part of that war, Schwarzenegger called Bush "a man of perseverance, a man of inner strength, a leader who doesn't flinch, doesn't waver, does not back down". He praised the Iraq war, saying that Bush "didn't go into Iraq because the polls told him it was popular. As a matter of fact, the polls said just the opposite. But leadership isn't about polls. It's about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind these decisions. That's why America is safe with Bush as president. He knows you don't reason with terrorists. You defeat them." On the domestic front, and despite claims by Republican election strategists that they will adopt a moderate stand to appeal to undecided and independent voters, delegates stuck to their traditional conservative positions. They voted for a platform that backed Bush's effort to pass a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as only being between a man and a woman, confirmed their rejection of the right to choose in relation to abortion, and expressed their support for Bush's fiscal policies based on reducing taxes and making such reductions permanent. Democrats insist Bush's tax policy only benefits the rich, pointing to the fact that more than 2.7 million Americans have lost their jobs since he took office four years ago. Latest statistics also indicated a rise in the number of poor Americans by 1.3 million, and a similar increase among those who have lost their medical insurance.
