Bush TV ads are ‘slap in the face’ to 9/11 victims

US PRESIDENT George W Bush was accused of delivering a “slap in the face” to the victims of the September 11 attacks after using images of the massacres in re-election adverts launched yesterday.

A $10 million (€8m) advertising campaign, in 17 key election states, marked the opening salvo of Mr Bush’s counter-attack against his Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry.

But some grieving relatives of those killed on September 11 2001 accused the president of exploiting the tragedy for his own political ends. One of the 30-second commercials includes a brief clip of a body, wrapped in the American flag, being lifted from the wreckage of New York’s World Trade Centre.