Speaking to reporters at news conference here, Democratic Senator and presidential hopeful John Kerry said the United States now needs help from its allies, and Bush needs to be held accountable for a lack of planning for the military occupation.

"It's time for the president to step up and tell the truth, that the war is continuing and so are the casualties," said Kerry, who is running for his party's nomination for president in the 2004 elections.

"I'm now concerned that we have the world's best-trained soldiers serving as policemen in what seems to be a shooting gallery," he added.

Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel of New York told a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday that Bush needs to bring NATO and other allies into Iraq soon, or risk becoming involved in a guerrilla conflict similar to the war in Vietnam.

After intense questioning at the hearing, General Tommy Franks, former commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, said US forces must remain in Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2003)