I won't make Bin Laden a martyr, vows Obama as he blasts Bush for failing to catch terror leader

Speaking after rival John McCain's campaign team accused Mr Obama of having a pre-9/11 naivety about terror, he also blasted the failure of the Republican administration to halt Bin Laden's activities.

'Osama bin Laden and his top leadership - the people who murdered 3,000 Americans - have a safe haven in north-west Pakistan, where they operate with such freedom of action that they can still put out hate-filled audio-tapes to the outside world,' Mr Obama said.

'That's the result of the Bush-McCain approach to the war on terrorism.'

Barack Obama attacks George Bush's anti-terror policies yesterday, flanked by former Defence Secretary William Perry and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

The stinging comments represent a fresh push by the 46-year-old first-time senator to refute criticism that he lacks national security expertise.

Mr McCain, 71, who was campaigning yesterday in Missouri, has consistently highlighted his own experience as a longtime senator and former prisoner-of-war in Vietnam.

The Democrat candidate was speaking yesterday after a meeting with his new team of national security advisers, including former Clinton secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher.

Mr Obama said of Bin Laden: 'What would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he's engaged in and not to make him into a martyr, and to assure that the United States government is abiding by basic conventions that would strengthen our hand in the broader battle against terrorism.'

The senator cited the Nuremberg trials as an inspiration because the liberators of Nazi-occupied Europe acted to advance universal principles and set a tone for the creation of an international order.

He said he would not discuss what approach he would take to bring Bin Laden to justice and warned that the terror leader might be killed during any attempt to capture him.

'First of all, I think there is an executive order out on Osama bin Laden's head,' Mr Obama said. 'And if I'm president, and we have the opportunity to capture him, we may not be able to capture him alive.'

Mr Obama's team said he was referring to a classified memorandum approved by President Bill Clinton in 1998 allowing the CIA to kill Bin Laden if capture is impossible.