DANIA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Mayor Giuliani, a candidate for the Republican Preisdential nomination, on Saturday used news of a plot to blow up a John F. Kennedy International Airport jet fuel line as another example of why he should be elected president.

Mr. Giuliani told a crowd of 700 gathered at a Broward County Republican fundraiser that Democrats ignore the Islamic terrorist threat and that he is the Republican candidate best capable of handling it.

“I’ve had the most experience dealing with terrorism,” Mr. Giuliani said, citing his experience as a federal prosecutor and later as mayor of New York City, where he served during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“There are some very good people on the Republican side that understand terrorism, I do not find too many on the Democratic side that do, but I think of the people that do, I understand it the best and can keep the country focused on being on offense,” Mr. Giuliani said.

Early in his nearly 30-minute speech, Mr. Giuliani mentioned the arrests of men who authorities say were part of a Muslim terrorist cell. He later held a press conference to make a statement about the alleged plot.

“Today’s arrests remind us that we’re at war,” Mr. Giuliani said. “It should remind us that the terrorists are at war with us, both overseas and here in the United States.”

He said it should not be a political issue, but rather a reality the country has to live with.

“We need things like the Patriot Act, we need things like electronic surveillance. It has to be legal, but we need it. We need things like interrogation techniques to get information from people. Legal again, but it has to be aggressive,” Mr. Giuliani said. “These are the things that keep us safe in a world in which there are more than a few people organized around Islamic terrorists who want to harm us and kill us.”

Earlier, he told the crowd to watch Sunday night’s Democratic presidential candidate debate and see if the words “Islamic terrorist” are mentioned. He said they weren’t during the first debate.

“I want to see tomorrow night if you hear them utter those words, because if you do, I want you to put a little check mark next to my name and give me credit for it because I’ve been criticizing them for weeks for not mentioning the words ‘Islamic terrorist,'” he said.