Washington ? Democrat John Kerry assailed President Bush on Wednesday for clinging to a failed policy that leaves Americans mired in Iraq “with the target squarely on their backs” while Vice President Dick Cheney argued that his boss’ rival lacked the judgment to be commander in chief.

Marking the first anniversary of the invasion of the Persian Gulf nation, Kerry delivered a broadside to the incumbent’s strategy toward Iraq, focusing on the unending hostilities, alienated allies and the loss of lives. As the presumptive nominee spoke, an explosion at a Baghdad hotel that killed more than two dozen was a stark reminder of the perils in postwar Iraq.

Cheney, speaking on the other side of the country, praised Bush’s victories in the war on terror and portrayed his boss as a strong, decisive leader — characteristics required for a wartime president and ones, he argued, that the Democrat lacks. The vice president devoted much of his speech to criticizing Kerry, citing his Senate votes against weapons and defense spending, and his opposite stands on Iraq.

Kerry voted against using military force in the 1991 Persian Gulf War to oust Iraq from Kuwait but the Massachusetts senator supported giving Bush the congressional authorization for war in 2002.

“Whatever the explanation … it is not an impressive record for someone who aspires to become commander in chief in this time of testing for our country,” Cheney said at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. “Senator Kerry has been one vote of 100 in the United States Senate, and fortunately on matters of national security he was very often in the minority.

“But the presidency is an entirely different proposition. The president always casts the deciding vote, and the senator from Massachusetts has given us ample doubts about his judgment and the attitude he brings to bear on vital issues of national security.”

Cheney added that if the decision had been Kerry’s to make, deposed leader Saddam Hussein would still be in power in Iraq. “In fact, Saddam Hussein would almost certainly still be in control of Kuwait,” the vice president said.

Kerry, speaking at George Washington University, faulted Bush for leaving the nation’s military “overextended and waiting for help” in an era of international crisis.

“We are still bogged down in Iraq and the administration stubbornly holds to failed policies that drive potential allies away,” Kerry said. “What we have seen is a steady loss of lives and mounting cost in dollars with no end in sight.”