By John F. Harris and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 18, 2004; Page A01

Vice President Cheney assailed the national security credentials of Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) yesterday, accusing President Bush's Democratic rival of leaving a years-long trail of contradictory statements and votes on Iraq that he said reveal a weak-willed politician who would be a dangerous choice as commander in chief.

"At least this much is clear: Had the decision belonged to Senator Kerry, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today in Iraq," Cheney said, in an aggressive defense of Bush's record as a war president. "In fact, Saddam Hussein would almost certainly still be in Kuwait."

In a major national security speech of his own, the presumptive Democratic nominee offered a multi-count indictment of the Bush record in Iraq and elsewhere, saying Bush's diplomatic and military failures "have left the real interests of our country and of the world in tatters across this planet."

He also accused the administration of giving short shift to the nation's fighting forces, which he said are "more extended than at any time in a generation," and have been sent to battle without adequate body armor and other protections.

Yesterday, an explosion reduced a Baghdad hotel to rubble, killing dozens. The bloodshed abroad and the sharp partisan exchanges at home -- both coming on the first anniversary of Bush's ultimatum to Hussein to leave power or be forcibly evicted -- suggested the degree to which Iraq could dominate this fall's election, just as it has shadowed U.S. politics for much of the past two years.

Although harsh in tone, the dueling speeches were also more detailed and sustained arguments than typical campaign speeches, reflecting the genuine philosophical divides being presented to voters this election. Cheney said the 2004 election will offer a choice as clear as any "since the election of 1984," when Ronald Reagan routed Democrat Walter F. Mondale. He spoke at the Reagan presidential library in California, the same place candidate Bush in 1999 made his first major foreign policy statement.

Kerry said the physical dangers and financial costs should be shared by a broader international coalition, which he said Bush's "stubborn pursuit of the same arrogant policies" has not made possible.

"If we had built a true coalition, those troops would not have to fight almost alone, and Americans would not have to bear, almost alone, all of the costs in Iraq," Kerry said.

This view is the essence of the Democratic critique of Bush's handling of Iraq. As if to underscore it, Kerry was surrounded on stage at George Washington University by three major figures from the Democratic national security establishment of the Clinton administration: former defense secretary William J. Perry, former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright, and former Joint Chiefs chairman John M. Shalikashvili.

Perry, who was a notably nonpolitical defense chief who won bipartisan praise during his tenure, said he has never participated prominently in campaign politics but was stirred to action by what he called Bush's "arrogant" foreign policy, and his failure to address constructively nuclear proliferation by North Korea.

In a rejoinder that began a half-hour after Kerry finished, Cheney mocked the Massachusetts senator's disparaging comments about nations that have joined the United States. By calling the Iraq alliance "window dressing" and a "coalition of the coerced and the bribed," as Kerry has done, Cheney said the Democrat was "ungrateful to nations that have withstood danger, hardship and insult for standing with America in the cause of freedom."

"Many questions come to mind, but the first is this: How would Senator Kerry describe Great Britain -- coerced or bribed?" Cheney taunted.

"If such dismissive terms are the vernacular of the golden age of diplomacy Senator Kerry promises, we are left to wonder which nations would care to join any future coalition," he said. "He speaks as if only those who openly oppose America's objectives have a chance of earning his respect."

Kerry's campaign said that his comment about the coalition countries being "really window dressing to the greatest degree," which he made in a CNN interview earlier this month, was in the context of arguing that the United States needs more allies in Iraq.

Cheney cited Kerry's vote against authorizing President George H.W. Bush to start the Persian Gulf War of 1991, which ended Hussein's occupation of Kuwait, but later referred to the countries that joined the United States as a "strong coalition." Kerry voted for the 2002 resolution authorizing the second Iraq war, but against an $87 billion funding request for operations there and in Afghanistan.

Cheney also ridiculed Kerry's statement Tuesday in West Virginia, when Kerry said, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it."

The vice president said, "Whatever the explanation, whatever nuances he might fault us for neglecting, it is not an impressive record for someone who aspires to become commander in chief in this time of testing for our country."

In his speech, Kerry presented what he called a "bill of rights" for military families. His program, most of which had been unveiled in separate speeches, includes a proposal to increase the size of the active-duty Army by 40,000 troops. Many important Iraq jobs, such as interpreters and civil affairs experts, are being performed by reserve troops who want to go back to their stateside civilian duties but cannot because of high demand for their services. In addition, the Bush Pentagon has kept more than 30,000 troops in service after their enlistments expired under "stop-loss" programs.

Kerry said the new full-time troops can be paid for without raising the military budget by cutting weapons programs. He has yet to detail the reductions, other than suggesting that spending on missile defense deployment can be curbed until there is better evidence the system works. He also called for various other measures to improve life for service members and their families, including better health care, and a new rule allowing families of people killed on duty to remain in military housing for as much as a year. Kerry also called for reimbursement of families who have sent body armor to troops with their own money.

In what he described as a reflection of Bush's failure to plan properly before launching hostilities, he cited the case of a newlywed from Virginia who sent her husband armor for Valentine's Day.

"I can tell you right now, in a Kerry administration no one will be getting body armor as a gift from a loved one," the senator said. "It will come from the armed forces of the United States of America, which is where it should come from."

By condemning the administration's handling of family issues in the military, Kerry advisers said, the candidate hopes to buttress his national security standing -- traditionally a vulnerability for Democrats -- while also casting Bush as uncompassionate.

Cheney, too, was engaging in personal politics, beyond defending his boss. Campaign officials said the speech signaled a more prominent and aggressive role, as his advisers continue working to elevate him above questions about his ties to industry and other controversies that have dragged down his public image.

"This is the beginning of the process of trying to detoxify him and make him back into the political asset that he should be and that we know he will be," said an adviser to the Bush-Cheney campaign spoke on the condition of anonymity so that he could speak candidly about strategy.

A poll released yesterday by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey put Cheney's favorable rating at 35 percent.