WASHINGTON, March 18: Democrat John Kerry, marking the first anniversary of the Iraq invasion, accused US President George Bush on Wednesday of stubbornly pursuing a failed policy that has weakened the military and driven away allies.

In a speech delivered as a huge bomb blast destroyed a Baghdad hotel, Mr Kerry said there was "no end in sight" to the daily dangers faced by US soldiers in Iraq despite Mr Bush's declaration on an aircraft carrier last May of "mission accomplished".

"We are still bogged down in Iraq - and the administration stubbornly holds to failed, unilateral policies that drive ... allies away," the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said at George Washington University.

"But the answer is not a stubborn pursuit of the same arrogant policies; the answer to failure is not more of the same," Mr Kerry said. "Instead we have to return more effectively to the international community."

Mr Kerry's remarks were designed as a counter-balance to Vice President Dick Cheney, who delivered a harsh indictment of the Massachusetts senator's defence and foreign policy views during a speech in California.

"Senator Kerry's voting record on national security raises some important questions all by itself," Cheney said at the Reagan presidential library in California. -Reuters