Fresh Iraq criticism as US elections loom

[Ron Burgundy]

Iraq war backers desert campaigning Bush

by Olivier Knox2 hours, 58 minutes ago

President George W. Bush, facing bitter criticism from some of the Iraq war's chief backers just days before key US elections, vowed that the United States is "not going to run" from the fighting.

Bush's defiant message came in the middle of a frantic 10-state blitz aimed at energizing members of his Republican Party ahead of the November 7 congressional elections that will shape the rest of his presidency.

"A lot of our fellow citizens are justifiably concerned about Iraq. But what the enemy doesn't understand about this administration and millions of Americans is, we're not going to run," he told cheering supporters.

"Iraq is vital to our security. Iraq is the central front in this war on terror. But I've been listening for the Democrats' plan for success. There's national silence. They have no plan for victory," Bush charged.

As Bush mocked opposition Democrats for seeking US troop withdrawals from Iraq, one heckler shouted "Get out of Iraq!" before being led out of the rally. Protesters outside brandished signs saying "Bush lied!" and "You Can't Go to College in a Bodybag."

A new poll provided the latest sign that the unpopular war, which has claimed the lives of more than 2,800 US soldiers, could cost his party control of the US Congress.

The Newsweek magazine survey found that 54 percent of likely voters would choose their local Democratic candidate, versus 38 percent who would vote for the Republican candidate. It also showed Bush's approval rating slipping to 35 percent.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 seats in the Senate are up for grabs. Democrats need to post a net gain of 15 House seats and six Senate seats to capture the US Congress.

With Iraq topping US voter concerns, Bush faced brutal new criticisms of his handling of the war from former supporters along with fresh calls for him to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Vanity Fair magazine reported that some of the top public supporters of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq were now sharply critical of the way the war was waged, even branding the Bush administration "incompetent."

Former top Pentagon adviser Richard Perle told the magazine that "the decisions did not get made that should have been. They didn't get made in a timely fashion, and the differences were argued out endlessly."

Former White House speech writer David Frum -- credited with creating the "Axis of Evil" phrase Bush used in the 2002 state of the union speech -- also ripped the handling of the war.

"The insurgency has proven it can kill anyone who cooperates," Frum told the magazine, "and the United States and its friends have failed to prove that it can protect them."

Former Pentagon insider Kenneth Adelman, who argued in 2002 that liberating Iraq would be a "cakewalk," told Vanity Fair that the Bush national security team "turned out to be among the most incompetent teams in the post-war era."

"Not only did each of them, individually, have enormous flaws, but together they were deadly, dysfunctional," Adelman told the magazine.

Separately, four independent US newspapers covering the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines were to publish an editorial on the eve of the election calling for Rumsfeld's resignation.

"Regardless of which party wins November 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard, bruising truth: Donald Rumsfeld must go," read the editorial, posted on the Army Times website. The same editorial is to run in the Air Force Times, the Navy Times and the Marine Corps Times.

The Democrats, buoyed by the polls, muted predictions of victory and worked to keep their supporters energized and attract swing voters.

"You do not make predictions about this kind of stuff. My prediction is, however, that the American people want real change in this country. They want a new direction. My prediction is we'll give them one," Democratic National Committee chief Howard Dean told CNN television.

The Rothenberg Political Report, an analytical firm in Washington, predicted Friday that Democrats will most likely win from five to seven Senate seats and gain 34 to 40 seats in the House of Representatives.

Bush took a short break from campaigning late Saturday to celebrate first lady Laura Bush's 60th birthday at the couple's ranch in Crawford, Texas.