Cincinnati, Aug 18, SPA -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Wednesday that President George W. Bush mighthinder the war on terror and other aspects of nationalsecurity with his proposal to recall as many as 70,000troops from Cold War-era bases in Europe and Asia. In a speech prepared for the Veterans of Foreign Wars,Kerry contended that Bush's policy would dangerously reduceforces at a time when the nation is fighting the al-Qaidaterrorist network in 60 countries across the globe,according to a campaign statement. Kerry said the redeployment would undermine relations withU.S. allies needed to help fight in Iraq and in the war onterror. It also would endanger national security as theUnited States is working to deter North Korea's nuclearprogram, he said. "North Korea has built up their nuclear weapons programover the past three years," said a statement from theKerry campaign. "Why would we pull back our troops andgive North Korea something for nothing?" The Kerry campaign statement also said the redeploymentdoes nothing to relieve the problem of an overextendedmilitary in Iraq. It cited a Congressional Budget Officereport that said a large reduction of the U.S. militarypresence overseas could cost $7 billion up front, althoughthe same report said annual savings could be more than $1billion.--SPA1524 Local Time 1224 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/193005