LITITZ, Pennsylvania, Oct 27 (AFP) - President George W. Bush accused Democrat John Kerry on Wednesday of making "wild charges" about Iraq as they traded full-bore attacks on the war in the waning days of their vitriolic White House race.
Bush broke his silence on the disappearance of nearly 350 tonnes of explosives in Iraq and derided the Massachusetts senator's criticism as unsubstantiated political propaganda that made him unfit for the presidency.
"A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief," the Republican said while campaigning in the crucial eastern state of Pennsylvania.
Kerry, stumping the Midwestern battleground of Iowa, kept up the heat over the explosives, slamming Vice President Dick Cheney as "Minister of Disinformation" and accusing the White House of "dodging and bobbing and weaving" to evade blame.
The invasion and occupation of Iraq, which Bush calls a central front in the war on terror and Kerry brands a dangerous diversion, again took center stage in a race considered too close to call six days before Tuesday's balloting.
Kerry has been hitting hard at the missing explosives cache as proof of Bush's incompetence and lack of accountability. Bush tried Wednesday to turn the tables, arguing that his challenger would say or do anything to get elected.
He said his administration was investigating "a number of possible scenarios," including the chance the explosives may have been moved before US troops arrived at the dump south of Baghdad last year.
"The senator is making wild charges about missing explosives," said Bush. "Think about that: The senator is denigrating the action of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts."
The president also further honed a familiar campaign attack based on Kerry's assertion that preemptive US military action ought to be able to pass a "global test" of credibility.
"I want to remind the American people: If Senator Kerry had his way, we would still be taking our global test, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, he would control all those weapons and explosives, and could share them with our terrorist enemies," Bush said.
Kerry, meanwhile, sought to fan the controversy over the explosives, which inspired a new Democratic television commercial. He argued the issue was another example of irresponsibility that should rule out Bush's re-election.
"What we're seeing is this White House dodging and bobbing and weaving in their usual effort to avoid responsibility, just as they've done every step of the way in our involvement in Iraq," Kerry said at a rally in Iowa.
"Vice President Dick Cheney, who is becoming the Chief Minister of Disinformation, echoed that it's not the administration's fault and even criticised those who raised the subject.
"This is a growing scandal, and the American people deserve a full and honest explanation of how it happened and what the president is going to do about it."
Both candidates raced through the Midwestern United States chasing votes that could be crucial to next week's election, which appeared to be shaping up for the same type of photo finish seen in 2000.
Bush scheduled stops in Pennsylvania and Michigan, which went Democratic in the last presidential election, and Ohio, which he narrowly won. Kerry was stumping to hold onto Iowa and the north-central state of Minnesota.
Two tracking polls Wednesday showed Kerry inching up on Bush but left the overall race tantalizingly unpredictable.
A Washington Post daily tracking poll showed Kerry adding a point to gain a 50 percent to 48 percent lead over Bush among likely voters. Zogby International had him picking up two points to shave the president's edge to 48 percent to 47 percent.
Both were within the margin of error, and a third survey by the Rasmussen group had the Democrat falling back two points to a 48 percent to 48 percent tie. Independent candidate Ralph Nader was generally polling around one percent.
The current race also tightened on the state level, where the candidates labored to piece together a majority of the 538 electoral votes that actually decide the presidency and are awarded in separate, mostly winner-take-all contests.

10/27/2004 16:55 GMT - AFP