US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld last night raised the possibility that some areas of Iraq might be excluded from elections scheduled for January if security could not be guaranteed.
"If there were to be an area where the extremists focused during the election period, and an election was not possible in that area at that time, so be it. You have the rest of the election and you go on. Life's not perfect," Mr Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Mr Rumsfeld was testifying hours after Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and President Bush both insisted national elections would be held on schedule in January despite the ongoing insurgency.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has suggested elections may have to be delayed because of security concerns.
Under questioning on prospects for elections amid the rising violence, Mr Rumsfeld first said, "I shouldn't be saying this because I just don't know enough about it. It's something the ambassador is working on."
But the Pentagon chief said there could be a situation where an election could be held in "three-quarters or four-fifths of the country. But in some places you couldn't because the violence was too great."
Mr Rumsfeld said the January target for elections was plausible because the Iraqis "have met every single benchmark politically" since the transfer of sovereignty from US-led occupation forces in June.
"They are making progress at a time when the extremists are chopping people's heads off," he said.
Pressed by senators on whether there were sufficient troops to face down the insurgency, Mr Rumsfeld said General John Abizaid, the top US commander in the region, might decide he needed extra forces, as he had requested the 700 to 1,000 extra US airborne troops headed for Afghanistan before its October 9th election.
In testy exchanges with committee Democrats, Mr Rumsfeld denied that the Pentagon had painted an unrealistically optimistic picture of Iraq. "I don't believe it's a rosy picture. I think it's a dirty, tough, ugly business, and I've said so from the beginning."
Mr Allawi was in Washington amid rising violence in Iraq from suicide bombings, kidnappings and the beheading of hostages.