Washington: Waging a war of words in their second face-to-face debate, US President George W Bush and his Democratic challenger John Kerry sparred over Iraq with the Republican describing Saddam Hussein as a "unique threat" and his opponent accusing him of making wrong decisions and turning his campaign into a "weapon of mass deception."

Ahead of the November 2 Presidential elections, Bush and Kerry challenged each other's capability to lead the US and the world during the 90-minute town-hall style debate late last night (Oct 8, 2004) at the Washington University in St Louis. The economy was another key theme during the heated exchange.

Kerry charged again that Bush rushed to war against Iraq while the al-Qaeda threat remained in Afghanistan. The President was challenged over his decision to invade Iraq in the wake of the Duelfer report that Saddam Hussein's regime had no weapons of mass destruction.

"I wasn't happy when we found out there wasn't weapons," Bush conceded, but said "Saddam Hussein was a unique threat. And the world is better off without him in power. And my opponent's plans lead me to conclude that Saddam Hussein would still be in power, and the world would be more dangerous (if Kerry had been the President)."

A snap poll by the ABC news taken just after the televised debate, which was more tense than the previous one, said that Kerry narrowly beat Bush by 44 to 41 per cent.

Thirteen per cent respondents said the two tied in their debate.

"After 9/11," said Bush, "we had to look at the world differently... we had to recognise that when we saw a threat, we must take it seriously before it comes to hurt us."

Kerry retorted: "World is more dangerous today because the President did not make the right decisions. The President did not find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so he has really turned his campaign into a weapon of mass deception."

He charged that Bush sent troops into Iraq without adequate body armour. "Without a plan for peace, insurgents could use the huge ammunition dumps which were left unprotected and use the weapons against American troops."

Kerry said that Iran and North Korea now pose more of a threat than they did before the invasion of Iraq. "He (Bush) took his eye off the ball -- off Osama bin Laden."

Bush also declared "Of course we are going to find Osama bin Laden. We have already 75 per cent of his people. And we are on the hunt for him. But his is a global conflict that requires firm resolve."

Stressing that a leader has to take firm decisions, he said, "I recognise that taking Saddam Hussein out was unpopular. But I made the decision because I thought it was in the right interests of our security."

On domestic policy, Bush defended the huge budgetary deficits he has racked up while Kerry charged that Bush was more anxious to give tax breaks to the rich instead of attempting to balance the budget.

The format of the second debate was different from the first one. In the previous one the debate referee put the questions, but the latest debate was in town-hall style, with the questions-screened in advance -- coming from the audience.