Washington ? President Bush sought Monday to distance himself from ads attacking Sen. John Kerry’s war record and suggested that voters “should be looking forward, not backward.”

But he didn’t directly condemn the ads, and the controversy over Kerry’s service in Vietnam showed no signs of abating. Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, accused the president of “hiding behind a front group,” although the leader of the group behind the ads said it was acting independently.

“I think Senator Kerry served admirably,” Bush said when asked about the ads’ claim that Kerry lied about his wartime experiences. “He ought to be proud of his record. But the question is, who (is) best to lead the country in the war on terror?”

The closest the president came to a direct condemnation of the ads was when a reporter asked if “ads of this nature are unpatriotic” and “un-American.”

“Yes,” Bush replied, adding, “I think we ought to be debating who (is) best to be leading this country in the war against terror.”

Although the president undercut the central premise of the televised attacks — that Kerry had lied about his war record — he didn’t condemn any specific ad. Instead, he put the anti-Kerry ads in the same category as all other ads funded by organizations independent of the official presidential campaigns or the national political parties.

Bush urged Kerry to join him in calling for an end to political ads by independent groups known as “527s,” named after the tax-code provision that fosters their creation. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had been the target of about $63 million worth of ads by independent groups.

“I’m disappointed with all those kinds of ads,” the president said at his Texas ranch. “I think they’re bad for the system.”

Criticism to continue

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Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the organization behind the Kerry ads, said it would continue criticizing the senator.

Kerry has declined to join Bush’s call for a ban on ads by independent groups, but he’s denounced an ad by a liberal group that attacks Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

A ban on independent ads would benefit the president more than Kerry because most 527s are against Bush, and apart from them his campaign and the Republican Party have a large fund-raising advantage over Kerry and the Democrats.

Knight Ridder and other news organizations that have investigated Kerry’s war record have been unable to substantiate the claims in the ads made by the Massachusetts senator’s critics. The documentary evidence supports Kerry’s version of the events that led to his receipt of a Bronze Star for valor, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts for war wounds.

Doing the wrong thing

Edwards said the president missed an opportunity to take a clear stand against the anti-Kerry ads.

“The moment of truth came and went, and the president still couldn’t bring himself to do the right thing,” the North Carolina senator said. “Instead of hiding behind a front group, George Bush needs to take responsibility and demand that the ad come off the air.”

Roy Hoffmann, a Vietnam veteran who’s leading the effort to discredit Kerry, said Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was “totally independent” of the Republican Party and the Bush re-election campaign. Wealthy Republican donors initially provided most of its funds, but since the ads have run, smaller donations have surged.

On Monday, three veterans who served with Kerry denounced the ads in a conference call arranged by Kerry’s campaign. All said they’d intended to stay out of the presidential race, but were incensed by the ads.

“When those ads came out, when they misrepresented what I knew to be a fact, I knew I had to say something,” said former Navy Lt. Jim Russell, 60, of Telluride, Colo.

Rich McCann, also 60, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, said he’d repeatedly asked Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to change a print ad that listed him as “neutral” on the question of whether Kerry was fit to serve as commander in chief.

“I said it in 1969, and I’ll say it again today: If I had to go up a river and come under fire, I’d want John Kerry to watch my back,” McCann said. “I think they are misrepresenting the true facts.”

Hoffmann, who founded Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to discredit Kerry, said he wouldn’t back off.

“Our combat experience that occurred right alongside of John Kerry earned us the right to be heard,” Hoffmann said. “It was John Kerry who decided to make his military service the centerpiece of his presidential campaign.”