Countering Cheney's claim that the Bush administration had "made significant progress in Iraq", Sen Edwards said, "Mr Vice-President, you are still not being straight with the American people.
"I mean, the reality you and George Bush continue to tell people, first, that things are going well in Iraq -- the American people don't need us to explain this to them, they see it on their television every single day. We lost more troops in September than we lost in August; lost more in August than we lost in July; lost more in July than we lost in June."
Arguing that the US is bearing 90 per cent of the cost of the conflict as well as suffering 90 per cent of the coalition's dead and wounded, he said: "We need a fresh start."
Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images and JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty Images