Iraqi Leader Takes Center Stage In U.S. Election Battle

WASHINGTON, Sept 23 (AFP) - Iraqi interim government leader Iyad Allawi took center stage in the US presidential campaign Thursday, with incumbent George W. Bush seeking a boost from his visit and Democratic challenger John Kerry charging the Bush administration was in "disarray" over Iraq.
The war and ongoing unrest in Iraq has dominated the campaign for the November 2 election as a new poll indicated Kerry was closing the gap in the race with Bush.
Bush rolled out the red carpet for the Iraqi premier, who addressed a rare joint session of Congress before meeting at the White House with Bush, who hopes Allawi's visit will boost his campaign message on Iraq.
Bush warned that "terrorist violence" may escalate as Iraq's planned elections draw near, but added that "if elections go forward, democracy in Iraq will put down permanent roots, and terrorists will suffer a dramatic defeat."
Kerry said the Bush administration was in "disarray" over Iraq and that the Iraqi prime minister was contradicting himself by saying that terrorists are being beaten.
"I think the prime minister is, obviously, contradicting his own statement of a few days ago, where he said the terrorists are pouring into the country," Kerry said in Columbus, Ohio, stressing that Allawi and Bush were seeking "to put their best face on the policy."
Bush is using Allawi's visit to bolster his assertion that the United States is succeeding in Iraq, despite a mounting US military and Iraqi casualty toll from insurgent attacks.
Allawi's Washington visit came a day after a video posted on an Islamist website showed a second US hostage, Jack Hensley, being beheaded by an Al-Qaeda linked group in Iraq.
Bush said he had met earlier Thursday with General John Abizaid, the senior commander overseeing the roughly 140,000 US troops in Iraq, and that Abizaid had not requested more troops.
However, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged to lawmakers that more US troops may have to be sent to Iraq to provide security for the elections.
"The president says that things are getting better in Iraq and we must just stay the same course," said Kerry. "Well, I disagree. They're not getting better and we need to change the course to protect our troops and to win."
Kerry said Bush had "skedaddled" out of the UN General Assembly in New York this week "so quickly he barely had time to talk to any of the other leaders.
"We need a summit. We need to bring people to the table. We need to behave like we are at war and respect the lives of our soldiers that are being lost because we are at war," said Kerry. "They deserve better leadership. They deserve a mission with a plan that can succeed."
In a thinly veiled attack on Kerry, whom Bush has accused of sending "mixed messages" on Iraq, the President and Allawi warned that criticism of the Iraq campaign could embolden terrorists and dishearten US forces.
"You can embolden an enemy by sending mixed messages. You can dispirit the Iraqi people by sending mixed messages. You send the wrong message to our troops by sending mixed messages," Bush said.
US Vice President Richard Cheney also weighed into the fray saying he was apalled by what he described as the "lack of respect" shown by Kerry to Allawi.
"I must say I was appalled at the complete lack of respect Senator Kerry showed for this man of courage when he rushed to hold a press conference and attack the prime minister, a man America must stand beside to defeat the terrorists," Cheney told an audience in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Allawi is striving to steer Iraq toward planned elections in January as Bush and Kerry slug it out with just 40 days remaining before Americans go to the polls.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll gave Bush a 48-45 percent edge over Kerry among registered voters Thursday with independent Ralph Nader pulling two percent. Bush led 50-46 percent among likely voters.
The survey suggested a rebound for Kerry after polls in the last two weeks gave the president a lead of between two and 13 points after the Republican National Convention in New York.
Bush's main political strategist, Karl Rove, said in an interview published Thursday that the president was leading in key US swing states.
Some 16 "battleground" states are considered still up for grabs. It takes 270 electoral votes of the 538 apportioned among the states and awarded in separate, mostly winner-take-all contests in each state to win the election.
Nationally, Bush leads Kerry by five or six points, Rove said, citing internal campaign polls.