And The Bush administration went on the offensive in dealing with the crisis Paul Bremer, the head of the US occupation, and Secretary of State Colin Powell blasted Senator Ted Kennedy for claiming Iraq had become George Bush’s Vietnam. Bremer said, “There is nothing in common with Vietnam.”

President Bush downplayed the resistance as being carried out by “thugs and terrorists” who don’t have values.

The Bush administration also continued to maintain that power would be handed over to Iraq on June 30.

But Senator John Kerry said he is concerned Bush is pushing for the transfer of power solely for political reasons.

Kerry told reporters “I think they wanted to get the troops out, get the transfer out of the way as fast as possible without regard to the stability of Iraq. It is a mistake to set an arbitrary date and I hope that date has nothing to do with the elections here in the United States.”