REUTERS
MADISON, Wis. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry ripped into President Bush on Sunday for saying he had no regrets over his "Mission Accomplished" speech on Iraq and would do it again.
Kerry, expressed outrage after Bush's statement in an interview with Fox News in which he was asked if he would still have shown up in a flight suit for that May 1, 2003 speech aboard an aircraft carrier off the coast of California.
"Absolutely," Bush was quoted as saying in excerpts of the interview, which is to air this week.
Kerry, arriving in Madison, Wisconsin for debate preparations, called the statement "unbelievable."
"I will never be a president who just says mission accomplished. I will get the mission accomplished," said the Massachusetts senator. "That's the difference."
When Bush gave his dramatic speech amid much fanfare, fewer than 150 Americans had been killed in the Iraq war. Since then the U.S. death toll has risen to 1,046.
Bush did not use the phrase "Mission Accomplished," but that message was emblazoned on a prominent banner directly behind the president as he declared major combat operations over in Iraq.
Bush's interview is to air on Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor" on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, just before Bush and Kerry face off in their first televised debate on Thursday....