Vice president says bin Laden tape reminder of need to stay focused

NAZARETH, Pa. (AP) _ Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday that Osama bin Laden's latest message to the United States underscores the importance of staying focused on pursuing terrorism wherever

Saturday, October 30th 2004, 12:08 pm

By: News On 6

NAZARETH, Pa. (AP) _ Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday that Osama bin Laden's latest message to the United States underscores the importance of staying focused on pursuing terrorism wherever it exists.

The new bin Laden tape is ``a reminder that we are engaged in a global war on terror,'' Cheney told more than a thousand supporters at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. ``It is a contest we did not choose, but it is one that we will win.''

``Freedom is the best antidote for terrorism,'' the vice president told the cheering crowd as he pressed his criticism of John Kerry's stands on national security.

Bin Laden's sudden reappearance on videotape and the deaths of eight Marines in Iraq on Saturday framed the most important issues of the campaign: The war in Iraq and terrorism.

Cheney is working his way through battleground states Saturday and Sunday including Pennsylvania and Ohio before he heads for Hawaii for an unusual, last-minute trip to a state with just four electoral votes and a tradition of supporting Democrats.