Washington — U.S. President George W. Bush isn't backing down.
His response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is a centrepiece of his campaign for re-election and he underscores the point Thursday with a visit to a new victims' memorial before headlining a campaign fund-raiser.
Mr. Bush used images from the World Trade Center's smouldering wreckage in his first re-election TV commercials last week, and refused to retreat when critics called them crass exploitation of those killed in the attacks.
Mr. Bush was to be among the first digging shovels of dirt at the groundbreaking for a new Sept. 11 memorial in East Meadow, N.Y., a Manhattan suburb on Long Island.
The quarrel over the ads was shadowing Mr. Bush, as at least two groups announced plans to protest his visit.
"No one's been held accountable for anything about 9-11," said Bill Doyle, who lost his 25-year-old son, Joseph, at the World Trade Center. Mr. Doyle, who also criticized the image in Mr. Bush's campaign commercial of the flag-draped remains of a victim being carried from ground zero, said he intends to be at the demonstration.
"I have a problem with exploiting death for political gain," he said. "I'd have the same problem if Democrats used images of body bags coming back from Iraq in one of their ads."
The $750,000 memorial will feature two semitransparent aluminum towers, representing the World Trade Center, rising 30 feet from a reflecting pool. It will also have a wall with the names of 281 victims who lived in or had ties to Nassau County, N.Y., and two pieces of steel from the trade center's wreckage.
It is expected to be completed in time for September's third anniversary of the attacks.
Besides Mr. Bush, New York Governor George Pataki and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani were also attending the commemoration. Both Mr. Pataki and Mr. Giuliani have defended Mr. Bush's use of Sept. 11 in the campaign.
Afterward, the group of politicians were making the five-minute trip to Mr. Bush's fund-raiser. Mr. Bush has raised more than $160-million (U.S.) for his re-election and shows no sign of slowing down as he approaches his stated goal of $170-million.
Both Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, were on separate money-raising trips as well.
Mr. Bush was starting the day by tending to his conservative base with satellite remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals Convention in Colorado.
The economy is another pillar of Mr. Bush's re-election bid and he was carrying his message of tax cuts and trade to Long Island as well.
He takes a 10-minute tour of USA Industries, which makes automobile parts in Bay Shore, N.Y., and hosts a "conversation on the economy," where managers and workers typically extol the benefits of his economic agenda.
Earlier this week, Mr. Bush gave a firm defence of his use of Sept. 11 in his campaign.
"It was a major moment in our nation's history," Mr. Bush told KTRK-TV in Houston. "It was a time when the enemy declared war on us. And as I tell people, war's what they got with George W. Bush as the president."
Mr. Bush added: "I'll honour those who died. I'll honour those who sacrificed to save lives. But I'm not going to forget. ... I remember people looking at me, saying, 'Don't you ever let us down, Mr. President. Do what it takes to secure America,' and that's exactly what I intend to do."
