US Democratic candidate John Kerry on Tuesday accused President George W. Bush of not being straightforward with the American people with the reality of the Iraq war, saying the president was hiding bad decisions.

During a speech at University of Wisconsin in Green Bay, Kerry seized on Bush's silence on the disappearance of nearly 380 tons of high explosives in Iraq as fresh ammunition of attacks.

"What did the president have to say about the missing explosives? Not a word. Complete silence," Kerry said. He added that the silence confirms what he had been saying for months about the failure of the Bush administration in handling the war.

"President Bush rushed to war without a plan to win the peace. He didn't have enough troops on the ground to get the job done. He didn't have enough allies to get the job done. He failed to secure Iraq and keep it from becoming what it is today - a haven for terrorists," Kerry said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday that Bush had ordered an investigation of the missing explosives. The Pentagon has directed the multinational forces and the Iraqi survey group, a CIA task force looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to look into the case, he said.

But neither Bush nor his running mate, Vice President Dick Cheney, has mentioned the missing cache during their campaign rallies.

Kerry also pointed to a Washington Post report Tuesday that the Bush administration intends to seek about 70 billion dollars in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year, pushing total war costs close to 225 billion dollars.

"Mr. President, what else are you being silent about? What else are you keeping from the American people? How much more will the American people have to pay? " Kerry asked.

"When the President is faced with the consequences of his own wrong decisions, he doesn't confront them, he tries to hide them, " the senator said. "The American people deserve a commander in chief who will tell the truth in good times and bad. This president has failed that fundamental test. "