By Stephen Collinson
Miami - Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry vowed to "hunt down and destroy" Osama bin Laden if he is elected and criticised President George Bush for failing to capture the al-Qaeda leader who threatened new attacks in a videotape aired on Friday.
Kerry made a terse statement on the tarmac of a Florida airport, before boarding his campaign jet, an hour after Bin Laden's latest videotaped message was broadcast on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television.
But earlier comments he made in a television interview about Bush failing to catch Bin Laden in the Afghan mountains in late 2001 incited an immediate political firestorm with the Bush campaign.
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'He outsourced to the war lords' In his formal statement Kerry said: "In response to this tape of Osama bin Laden, let me just make it clear, crystal clear. As Americans we are united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists."
"They are barbarians, I will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down, capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes," he said before flying to Miami on his latest swing through Florida.
Kerry's first comments on the issue came about 20 minutes before Bush made his own first public reaction to the tape. The senator's campaign, however, said that he had not intended to race Bush to react, but that the timing of his remarks were dictated by his flight schedule.
But Kerry's earlier comments on Bin Laden's bombshell appearance were more controversial, in a television interview conducted by satellite with a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, television station.
After vowing to hunt down and kill terrorists, and noting that America was united in that desire, Kerry said: "I regret that when George Bush had the opportunity in Afghanistan at Tora Bora, he didn't use our forces to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden.
'George Bush wasted no time in dividing us again'
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