Washington: In their third and last face-to-face debate ahead of the November 2 Presidential elections, incumbent George W Bush accused his democratic rival John Kerry of not taking terrorism seriously, who hit back saying the Republican bears responsibility for rushing the country into war and lost jobs at home.

The war in Iraq crept into the 90-minute debate, which was mainly meant to focus on domestic issues.

Bush strongly defended his decision to go to war against Iraq while Kerry charged that he rushed into that war without building up a strong alliance even as the war against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan was still continuing.

"This President, regrettably, rushed us into a war, made decisions about foreign policy, pushed alliances away. We are not as safe as we ought to be," Kerry said.

Bush retorted saying, "My opponent just this weekend talked about how terrorism could be reduced to a 'nuisance', comparing it to prostitution, illegal gambling. That attitude and point of view is dangerous."

The format of the debate in Tempe (Arizona) was like the first one, a moderator, this time Bob Schieffer of CBS News chose the questions without the candidates being aware in advance what they would be asked, and each was given equal time for brief two minute answers and shorter rebuttals.