Cheney: War on Terror 'on Course'

N E W  Y O R K, Oct. 19 -- After touring the devastation in New York, Vice President Dick Cheney warned Americans to expect more attacks as the war against terrorism continued "on course."

Cheney visited New York on Thursday in one of his first public appearances since the Sept. 11 attacks.

After touring the World Trade Center site, Cheney spoke as a special guest at the annual Al Smith dinner benefiting Roman Catholic health charities. The vice president's speech to the dinner, normally a lighthearted affair, was subdued and serious.

"For the first time in our history, we will probably suffer more casualties here at home in America than will our troops overseas," Cheney said.

The vice president the war on terror is "proceeding on course" but cautioned the Sept. 11 attacks have changed America forever.

"These weeks have brought some changes into people's lives and good deal of uncertainty for all of us," he said. "Americans reasonably wonder how long will it last. The answer is that many of these changes we made are permanent."

"We cannot deal with terror," he said. "It will not end in a treaty. There will be no peaceful co-existence, no negotiations, no summit, no joint communique with the terrorists. The struggle can only end with their complete and permanent destruction."

For all the somber talk, Cheney managed to sneak in a few self-deprecating jokes at the white-tie fund-raiser where New York notables and politicians gather each year to poke fun at each other.

"We have not actually been living in a cave," he said. "And no, I did not sneak out for cosmetic surgery ... although i'm not prepared to rule that out as an option."

Before granting a nationally televised interview to PBS last Friday, Cheney had been virtually out of sight. His movements were a national secret earlier this month when the Secret Service kept him at an undisclosed location away from the president to protect the line of succession in case of an attack on the White House.