From the same spot where President Bush laid out his Iraq policy two years ago, Senator Kerry yesterday unleashed a withering attack on the president’s handling of the war and argued that spending on the conflict is shortchanging domestic priorities such as health care and education.

The Democratic presidential nominee’s more succinct critique came as a flurry of new press reports emerged questioning Mr. Bush’s service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. The combination-punch pushed the Bush campaign onto the defensive for the first time in weeks.

“Nearly two years after George W. Bush spoke to the nation from this very place, we know how wrong his choices were,” Mr. Kerry said during a morning speech at Cincinnati’s Union Terminal. “He says he miscalculated. He calls Iraq a catastrophic success. But a glance at the front pages or a look at the nightly news shows brings home the hard reality: rising instability, spreading violence, growing extremism, havens now created that weren’t there for terrorists who weren’t even in the country before we went there. And today even the Pentagon has admitted this very reality: that entire regions of Iraq are controlled by insurgents and terrorists.”

With some Democratic heavyweights such as President Clinton advising him to talk less about national security and more about domestic issues, Mr. Kerry sought yesterday to weave the two subjects together.

“The cost of the president’s go-it-alone policy in Iraq is now $200 billion and counting,” Mr. Kerry said. “$200 billion for Iraq, but they tell us we can’t afford health care for our veterans. $200 billion for Iraq, but they tell us we can’t afford to keep the 100,000 police officers we put on the streets during the 1990s.We’re here today to tell them they’re wrong.”

During a White House meeting with congressional leaders yesterday, Mr. Bush defended his pre-emptive military strategy.

“We’re still at war. We’ve got to find the enemy before they hurt us. We’ve got to do everything we can to protect the homeland. We’re still on the offense here in this country. We’re chasing down these killers overseas so we don’t have to face them here at home. We’re making good progress,” the president said.

Mr. Bush also seemed to take note of the grim milestone reached this week as the number of American military personnel killed in Iraq topped 1,000.

“We appreciate the sacrifice of the men and women who wear the uniform. They’re serving a great cause. We mourn every loss of life. We’ll honor their memories by completing the mission,” he said.

Soon after the meeting, Mr. Bush traveled to Florida to tour damage caused by the recent hurricanes. Flanked by one of his brothers, Governor Bush of Florida, the president loaded cases of bottled water and bags of ice into cars and trucks of residents who have been without power since Hurricane Frances swept through over the weekend.

The president signed legislation yesterday directing $2 billion in federal relief to Florida, a state likely to be key to the outcome of this year’s presidential contest.

Meanwhile yesterday, the Associated Press and Boston Globe said they had obtained records indicating that Mr. Bush failed to fulfill his obligations to the National Guard in the early 1970s. The Globe said Mr. Bush twice signed statements acknowledging that he could be sent to active duty if he did not fulfill his commitment. He was never assigned to active duty.

In an interview aired last night on CBS, a former lieutenant governor of Texas, Ben Barnes, said he now regrets having helped Mr. Bush and children of other prominent figures get slots in the Guard, which essentially saved them from the draft.

“Reflecting back, I’m very sorry about it, but you know, it happened and it was because of my ambition, my youth, and my lack of understanding. But it happened and it’s not…something I’m necessarily proud of,” Mr. Barnes said.

In a statement, the Republican National Committee noted that Mr. Barnes is a Democrat and a major fundraiser for Mr. Kerry.

Meanwhile, White House officials retreated somewhat from Vice President Cheney’s suggestion that the election of Mr. Kerry would lead to new terrorist attacks against America.

“It’s absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we’ll get hit again and we’ll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States,” Mr. Cheney told supporters in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

One of the vice president’s aides said later that the comment was misunderstood.

“The vice president is saying that we need to ensure the right policies are in place to protect America. That’s the choice,” said the aide, Anne Womack.

In Cincinnati, Mr. Kerry also accused the Bush administration of kowtowing to the regime in Saudi Arabia.

“A national news magazine just reported that a senior member of the Saudi royal family said that, as far as they’re concerned, in the U.S. presidential election, it’s Bush all the way,” Mr. Kerry said. “Well, I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity, on our own invention, not the Saudi royal family.”

Business Week recently quoted a senior Saudi royal as saying the family strongly supports Mr. Bush and was offended by Mr. Kerry’s criticism of the regime.

The Democratic candidate’s speech was interrupted by a man complaining about Mr. Kerry’s 1971 Senate testimony in which he suggested that he and other Americans in uniform regularly committed war crimes in Vietnam. Reporters on the scene said the man who shouted at Mr. Kerry was placed in a headlock by a nearby union worker and removed by the Secret Service. He was not arrested.

Mr. Kerry responded to the protest by referring to his history as an antiwar activist, a subject he rarely raises on the campaign trail.

“You know,” Mr. Kerry said, “I once stood up and spoke about what I thought our government was doing that was wrong.”