The Guardian

Washington, March 13:

The re-election campaign of President George Bush provoked a new controversy yesterday, with a television ad campaign using a picture of an olive-skinned man to illustrate terrorism.

As a voiceover warns that Bush’s presumptive opponent, John Kerry, is soft on terrorists, a split-screen shows people at an airport, and a young man with flickering eyes who turns menacingly towards the camera.

The ads are the most aggressive so far - targeting John Kerry by name. Arab Americans said the campaign played on racism and fear, and could inflict further damage on a community marginalised after September 11.

“When they turn around and say John Kerry would be soft on terror, they don’t use a picture of Osama bin Laden. They use a young good-looking, Middle Eastern male turning around looking furtively,” said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.

Although the first round of the campaign ads last week were criticised for images of flag-draped coffins at the charred shell of the World Trade Centre, such imagery has played well to Bush’s core supporters. So has Bush’s support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.