(CNSNews.com) - Billionaire philanthropist George Soros compared the Bush administration to socialist and communist regimes Thursday while criticizing America's war on terror.

The liberal political activist said the U.S. strategy of fighting a "war" against terrorism is "false" and a "dismal and disheartening situation." Critics say Soros is only trying to hurt Republicans' chances in the November elections and warn that he is undermining efforts to protect Americans from terrorists.

Soros told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "We are working with a very false frame when we talk about a 'war on terror,' and yet it is universally accepted.

"Everybody now recognizes that invasion of Iraq was a real blunder, but the war on terror is still the frame that is accepted by Democrats and Republicans alike," Soros claimed. "It is a false, misleading, counterproductive, destructive frame."

By using the word "war," he argued, the Bush administration is invoking military terminology in response to a situation that, Soros believes, should be dealt with diplomatically. He also said the "war on terror" is "counterproductive," because there are "innocent victims," which "breeds rage and resentments and feeds into the terrorist case."

"It is a war that cannot be won without lots of adverse consequences," he added.

Soros also accused the president of using the war on terror for political gain and compared the Bush White House to the most murderous regimes in human history.

"President Bush is exploiting it even further ahead of these elections," Soros said. "I would voice my concerns about the similarities between this administration and the Nazis and communist regimes."

In 2004, Soros gave more than $23 million to political advocacy groups known as "527s" to defeat Bush, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Matthew Vadum, an analyst with Capital Research Center, said Soros has apparently decided to try a different strategy to influence the upcoming midterm elections.

"Instead of vigorously contesting the election this November," Vadum told Cybercast News Service, "George Soros has apparently opted to attack President Bush and the Republican Party by undermining America's war on terror."

Vadum urged Americans to examine the claims Soros is making from another perspective.

"Soros argues that it is a phony war, an empty advertising slogan that Bush is using to pull the wool over gullible Americans' eyes," Vadum said. "But U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan who put their lives on the line every day beg to differ."

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