US President George W. Bush has said he wants to be a "peace president" in an attempt to change his fortune in the polls ahead of this year's US presidential election.
With polls showing public support for the war in Iraq in decline, Bush cast himself as a reluctant warrior and assured Americans they were "safer" as he campaigned in the battleground states of Iowa and Missouri against Democrat John Kerry and his running mate, former trial lawyer John Edwards.
"The enemy declared war on us," Bush told a re-election rally in Cedar Rapids. "Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president... The next four years will be peaceful years." Bush used the words "peace" or "peaceful" a total of 20 times.
Bush has called himself a "war president" in leading the United States in a battle against terrorism brought about by the September 11, 2001, attacks on America. "I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind," he said in February.
Despite a surge in attacks in Iraq and US warnings that al Qaeda is plotting another major strike, Bush said US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had already made America safer, and that his re-election would let him finish the job.
Ahead of the release of a report detailing the breakdown in intelligence and security before the September 11 attacks, Bush said, "We reorganised this government of ours to be better protect the people."
"For a while we were marching to war. Now we're marching to peace. ... America is a safer place. Four more years and America will be safer and the world will be more peaceful," Bush said.
But a few hours later, at an evening rally in St. Charles, Missouri, Bush warned "the world will drift towards tragedy" if America shows "weakness."
Bush was joined on the stump by his twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, and campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said the twins would pair up for campaign appearances away from their father starting Tuesday night in Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Stanzel said the events will be closed to the press.