US Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry says the ideology and arrogance of the Bush administration had created gridlock in Iraq that has made it "a lot tougher" for the United States to succeed there.
On the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein's fall, Iraq was in turmoil yesterday, with Sunni and Shi'ite rebels battling US-led forces and holding several foreign hostages.
Fierce fighting has claimed the lives of at least three dozen Americans in Iraq since last weekend while, at home, television screens are filled with images of battlefield violence and bloodied US soldiers.
On a campaign swing through industrial states that have suffered significant job losses on Bush's watch, Kerry sought to focus on his economic agenda. But for the second consecutive day, he was sidetracked by questions about the deteriorating situation in Iraq.
"This administration has been gridlocked by its own ideology and its own arrogance," Kerry told about two dozen Democratic donors at a breakfast meeting. "Yes, we can succeed but, boy I tell you, it's a lot tougher."
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said President George W. Bush should admit the conduct of the war in Iraq and the country's subsequent reconstruction "is more complicated than they thought it was."
Critics have complained that Bush rushed into war with Iraq on the advice of hawks in his administration like Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and without a realistic plan for its aftermath.