President George W. Bush last night accused Senator John Kerry of attacking the credibility of Iraq's leader and branded his Democratic rival unfit to lead America.
Mr Bush lashed out at Mr Kerry a day after the Democrat charged that upbeat comments about Iraq by the president and Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi were glossing over the problems in the war-torn country.
"You can't lead this country if your ally in Iraq feels like you questioned his credibility," Mr Bush said during a bus tour in this battleground state.
With just over five weeks to go before the November 2nd election, Mr Kerry has made his critique of Mr Bush's Iraq policies the focal point of his rhetoric as he tries to wrest back Mr Bush's post-convention advantage in the polls.
"My opponent chose to criticize the prime minister of Iraq," Mr Bush said. "This brave man came to talk about how he's risking his life for a free Iraq - which helps America - and Senator Kerry held a press conference and questioned Prime Minister Allawi's credibility," he added.
A new Time magazine poll showed Mr Bush's lead over Kerry narrowing to six percentage points from the 11-point edge he had two weeks ago in the same survey. The poll indicated a credibility gap on Iraq for Mr Bush. Just 37 per cent of registered voters thought he was being truthful in describing conditions in Iraq and 55 per cent thought conditions were worse than he made them out to be.