CINCINNATI -- Senator John F. Kerry, campaigning at the same site where President Bush laid out his case against Saddam Hussein two years ago, yesterday called the Iraq war a "catastrophic choice" that has cost $200 billion while inspiring terrorist groups and yielding "the most incalculable loss of all" -- more than 1,000 US military deaths.

"George W. Bush's wrong choices have led America in the wrong direction in Iraq, and they have left America without the resources we need so desperately here at home," Kerry said, in a bluntly worded attempt to contrast his views on Iraq with the incumbent's war policy. "I call this course a catastrophic choice that has cost us $200 billion because we went it alone, and we've paid an even more unbearable price in young American lives and the risks our soldiers are taking. We need a new direction."

While Kerry did not offer a detailed strategy of his own for Iraq, several advisers said they were examining options for withdrawing US troops from Iraq by the end of 2008, a goal the Democratic presidential nominee set on Monday. Ideas include convening a series of meetings with other heads of state, first Europeans and then Middle Eastern leaders, and offering financial incentives that invite nations like Russia, France, Egypt, and Jordan to contribute troops to Iraq.

Kerry advisers in Washington yesterday discussed the timing of a possible speech on Iraq strategy, including the concern of some that unveiling an exit plan that -- even though it may excite some voters critical of the war -- may lock Kerry into a game plan that does not fit the conflict come January 2005.

"It's fair to assert that something is coming, but we don't feel the time is right to stress our precise strategy for Iraq," a senior Kerry adviser said. "We're shaping proposals, we're thinking about them . . . But we don't want to tie the senator's hands by staking a plan right now. Iraq is so complex, we have to tread carefully."

Campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill, when asked if Kerry would explain how he would withdraw troops in four years, said: "I think you'll see John Kerry's plans for Iraq unfolding as the race continues this fall."

Kerry has struggled for more than a year to clarify his views on Iraq, and yesterday's speech was full of sharply worded rebukes to set him apart from Bush, such as his use of the word "wrong" 29 times in a half-hour speech to describe the choices, directions, and leadership that the president offered. The harsh language reflected his campaign's repositioning of him in an underdog role -- a role he likes as races wind down -- in light of three polls early this week that gave Bush the first clear edge in the race.

"Nearly two years after George W. Bush spoke to the nation from this very place, we know how wrong his choices were," Kerry said inside the Union Terminal of Cincinnati's Museum Center, where Bush laid out the case for war just before Kerry and other senators voted for war in October 2002. "He says that he 'miscalculated.' He calls Iraq a 'catastrophic success.' But a glance at the front pages or a look at the nightly news shows brings home the hard reality: Rising instability. Spreading violence. Growing extremism. Havens now created that weren't there for terrorists . . . And today, even the Pentagon admits, entire regions of Iraq are controlled by insurgents and terrorists."

"I know what we need to do in Iraq," Kerry continued. "We need to bring our allies to our side, share the burdens, reduce the cost to American taxpayers, and reduce the risk to American soldiers. We need to train Iraqi military and police -- we need to train them more rapidly, more effectively, and in greater numbers to take over the job of protecting their own country . . . That's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home."

Since his 2002 vote to support Bush's threat of force, Kerry has taken several sometimes contradictory positions. In mid-August, for instance, Kerry said he would still vote to give Bush the authority to go to war -- despite the lack of evidence of weapons of mass destruction and other threats that Bush cited as cause for war. But in a Sept. 1 speech to the American Legion, which kicked off Kerry's criticisms of the Iraq policy for the last week, Kerry said he "would've done almost everything differently" than the president in Iraq.

This was Kerry's sixth trip in seven days to Ohio, where a new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll yesterday showed Bush leading with 52 percent of the vote to Kerry's 43 percent, and independent Ralph Nader, taking 2 percent. In a July poll -- prior to the parties' nominating conventions -- Kerry led with 51 percent to Bush's 45 percent.

Mindful that Ohio has lost some 230,000 jobs under Bush, and its 20 electoral votes could swing the race, Kerry argued that the $200 billion would have been devoted more fruitfully to re-training workers for new jobs, lowering Medicare costs, and shoring up Social Security. Some outside advisers, most notably President Clinton, have urged Kerry to focus on kitchen-table concerns for middle-class voters.

The Bush campaign hammered Kerry's speech today, noting his varying positions on Iraq since that October 2002 vote, charging that he was "completely incoherent" in explaining his views. "John Kerry has given 12 major speeches on Iraq, and the American people still have no idea where he stands," Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt said in a statement.

© 2004 Boston Globe

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