Kissinger, a Republican former secretary of state, said he supports President George W. Bush in today's vote climax but said in an article for Newsweek magazine: "Whatever the outcome, the United States cannot tackle this agenda except in the context of a commitment by all sides to healing."

Kissinger said the election winner will face challenges as great as those confronted by the United States after World War II.

"No president has faced an agenda of comparable scope. This is not hyperbole; it is the hand history has dealt this generation.

"Never before has it been necessary to conduct a war with neither front lines nor geographic definition and, at the same time, to rebuild fundamental principles of world order to replace the traditional onesz which went up in the smoke of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon."