by Olivier Knox
WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (AFP) - With the death toll among US forces in Iraq newly above 1,000, Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry on Wednesday said US President George W. Bush had charted a "catastrophic course" that led to bloody chaos there.
"A glance at the front pages or a look at the nightly news shows brings home the hard reality: Rising instability, spreading violence, growing extremism, havens now created" for terrorists, Kerry said in the key state of Ohio.
The senator accused the president of sticking the United States with the bulk of the burden in blood and treasure by snubbing traditional allies and failing to plan adequately for post-war violence.
"I call this course a catastrophic course that has cost us 200 billion dollars because we went it alone, and we've paid an even more unbearable price in young American lives," said the senator from Massachusetts.
Meeting with top lawmakers at the White House, Bush did not mention Iraq by name but told reporters: "We mourn every loss of life. We'll honor their memories by completing the mission."
"We're chasing down these killers overseas so we don't have to face them here at home. We're making good progress," the president said in a subdued tone. "Ultimately, we will prevail."
Bush also endorsed giving "full budgetary authority" to a future national director of US intelligence, after initially declining to endorse creating that post and then balking at giving the job meaningful control over funding.
The reversal came as both his Republicans and opposition Democrats vied ahead of the November 2 election to look strong on national security three years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist strikes.
Bush refused to answer a shouted question about whether he agreed with Vice President Dick Cheney's warning on Tuesday that voting for Kerry would lead extremists to attack the United States again.
"If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney said in Iowa.
Democratic former president Bill Clinton's secretary of state Madeleine Albright, now a senior Kerry campaign foreign policy adviser, sharply rebuked the vice president, telling CNN that Cheney's warning was "irresponsible."
"I have heard a lot of outrageous statements at various times in my president's elections, but I think this kind of scare tactic by the vice president of the United States is irresponsible," she said.
Bush later left for hurricane-ravaged Florida, the state that decided the disputed 2000 election and will likely play an important role in determining whether he gets four more years at the White House.
Before leaving on his third trip to the storm-ravaged state in less than one month, the president approved legislation giving Florida an additional two billion dollars in emergency disaster relief.
Bush was to observe rescue and relief efforts in Port St Lucie, then tour the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.
His visit came after several national polls showed he enjoyed a healthy lead over Kerry among likely voters following the Republican national convention in New York, where speaker after speaker attacked the Democrat.
Both sides have downplayed the surveys' impact in hopes of ensuring their supporters turn out to vote: Republicans trying to dampen expectations of an easy victory, and Democrats saying Kerry is far from finished.
The two campaigns were also wrangling behind the scenes over how many times and under what circumstances Bush and Kerry would face off in looming debates.