WASHINGTON — A combination of escalating bloodshed, gloomy assessments and deteriorating security conditions in Iraq are challenging the Bush administration's upbeat view of the struggle to establish democracy in the beleaguered Middle East nation.
A growing sense of unease is visible among Republicans as well as Democrats in Congress as bombings and kidnappings continue to rise along with the death toll.
The new challenge to the administration's view of events comes at a crucial time for President Bush, as the interim Iraqi government struggles to prepare for elections in January and as the Iraq issue dominates his bid for reelection.
Campaigning Thursday in Minnesota and upstate New York, Bush acknowledged "ongoing acts of violence," but quickly returned to a central -- and positive -- message on Iraq: that U.S. policies are succeeding and Iraq is on the verge of democracy and free elections.
"It wasn't all that long ago that Saddam Hussein was in power with his torture chambers and mass graves, and today this country is headed toward elections," he said in St. Cloud.
To shore up that message, Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, will visit Washington next week and will address a joint session of Congress.
Amid the new disquiet over the administration's Iraq policy, Democratic presidential contender Sen. John F. Kerry charged during a campaign speech Thursday to the National Guard Assn. in Las Vegas that Bush was trying to hide the truth from the American people.
"Two days ago, the president stood right where I'm standing and did not even acknowledge that more than 1,000 men and women have lost their lives in Iraq," he said. "He did not tell you that with each passing day, we're seeing more chaos, more violence, more indiscriminate killings."
Kerry's remarks drew a sharp response from Vice President Dick Cheney a few hours later at a campaign rally in Reno, where Cheney said he was "stunned by the audacity of that statement."
He repeated an accusation that Kerry voted to deny combat troops "the support they needed once they were at war" -- referring to the senator's vote against an $87-billion supplemental bill to fund the deployment of U.S. forces to Iraq.
Against this backdrop, senior congressional aides Thursday sketched a growing mood of uncertainty and frustration after hearings a day earlier by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at which prominent senators from across the political spectrum voiced dismay over the course of events.
