IYAD ALLAWI, the Iraqi Prime Minister, delivered a giant pre-election boost to President Bush yesterday, painting a rosy picture of his country’s postwar progress and telling Americans to ignore anyone who said otherwise.

Speaking in Washington, Dr Allawi vowed to confound sceptics and stage Iraq’s first democratic elections in January, though he conceded that they might not be “perfect”. Terrorists would target the elections, he warned, “but they will take place and they will be free and fair”.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, took a less sanguine view, however, admitting for the first time yesterday that some Iraqis might not be able to vote because of the raging insurgency. “Let’s say you tried to have an election and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country. But in some places you couldn’t because the violence was too great,” Mr Rumsfeld said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“Well, so be it. Nothing’s perfect in life, so you have an election that’s not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet,” Mr Rumsfeld said.

Dr Allawi tried to focus on the positive. “We are succeeding in Iraq,” he declared. “I have come here to thank you and to promise you that your sacrifices are not in vain. The overwhelming majority of Iraqis are grateful.” Dr Allawi was fêted on Capitol Hill, where he addressed a joint session of Congress before appearing with Mr Bush in the White House Rose Garden.

He mourned the deaths suffered by coalition forces, but insisted the violence in Iraq was “disruptive but small” and did not resonate with the Iraqi people. The killers were trying to intimidate Iraqis but were only a “tiny fraction” of the country’s 27 million people. “I can tell you they will not succeed.”

Although he was officially in town to convey his thanks to American legislators and military families, Dr Allawi found himself in the centre of the presidential campaign. Within minutes of his speech, he was contradicted by John Kerry, the Democratic presidential challenger, who said he was trying to put his “best face” on events.

In a speech that could have been written at the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign headquarters, Dr Allawi issued a ringing endorsement of the decision to topple Saddam Hussein. Three days after Mr Kerry tried to kickstart his stalled campaign, saying he would not have gone to war in Iraq had he known Baghdad had no weapons of mass destruction or al-Qaeda links, Dr Allawi said Mr Bush had been right.

He said the struggle in Iraq was central to the global War on Terror, echoing Mr Bush's efforts to present them as the same fight. He said he did not want more US troops in Iraq but, rather, trained Iraqi forces.

And he gave forceful backing to Mr Bush’s initiative to spread democracy through the Middle East. He urged Americans to ignore those who suggested Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims understood only brutal dictatorship and religious extremism. “This is wrong. Like Americans, we Iraqis already enjoy the fruits of liberty.”

His comments presented difficulties for Mr Kerry, who is basing his campaign around an aggressive critique of Iraq.

Mr Kerry has accused Mr Bush of being dishonest with voters, covering up deteriorating security on the ground and focusing on banalities about Iraq’s progress towards democracy.

Yet he was faced yesterday with Dr Allawi, the most vivid symbol of post-Saddam Iraq, agreeing with Mr Bush. Campaigning in Columbus, Ohio, Mr Kerry said Dr Allawi appeared to be “contradicting his own statement of a few days ago where he said the terrorists are pouring into the country”.

He said that Mr Bush and Dr Allawi were “obviously putting their best face on the policy”, but doubted whether Iraqi elections could be held without a change in strategy. “Most people would tell you that the United States and the Iraqis have retreated from whole areas of Iraq.

“There are ‘no go’ zones in Iraq today. You can’t hold an election in a ‘no go’ zone.”

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