With disputes raging about Iraq, domestic surveillance and the Patriot Act, President Bush faces more resistance from Democrats on a range of his national security policies than at any point since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

And that's just the way many Republicans like it.

Although the heightened Democratic assertiveness has created legislative headaches for the White House, it also has sharpened the differences between the parties on security issues - something many Republican strategists see as essential to rebuilding the GOP's strength as the 2006 political season gears up.

These strategists believe that despite widespread public unease about the war in Iraq, a heightened contrast on defense and terrorism issues will make it easier for them to portray Democrats as the party of "defeat and retreat abroad," as Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican and former executive director of the Republican National Committee, wrote in a recent memo to colleagues.

Fear of such counterattacks contributed to the Democrats'caution in criticizing Bush's national security policies during his first term, many analysts agree. But that caution is dissipating, as Democrats demonstrated last week by almost unanimously supporting a Senate filibuster to block extension of the Patriot Act and quickly condemning Bush for authorizing the National Security Agency to intercept international communications by targets linked to al-Qaida.

"The terrain has just shifted dramatically," said veteran Democratic strategist Jim Jordan. "Bush is not in the same place, personally or politically. The public is better informed and less scared."

Yet the White House seems at least as comfortable as Democrats with the escalation of arguments over national security policies, especially with recent surveys showing Bush's job approval ratings rebounding from all-time lows. "There is much more relief in the White House in terms of (the GOP's) political prospects . . . because now the public has a choice to make," said one senior GOP strategist who requested anonymity when discussing White House planning.

One sign of Bush's confidence might be his refusal so far to negotiate with Democrats a short-term extension of the Patriot Act, the law passed after Sept. 11 that provided law enforcement enhanced authority to monitor terrorism suspects.

To some, Bush's position echoes the hard line he took against Democratic demands to include union protections in the 2002 legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security. Eventually, Bush and Republican candidates used that dispute to portray Democrats as soft on terrorism during a 2002 congressional campaign that ended with the GOP making unexpected gains.

Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman said Democrats could face the same risk over their moves to block the Patriot Act and criticism of Bush on the wiretapping issue. Compared to the 2002 dispute, he charged, "What they are doing now is far more dangerous, in my opinion, to our ability to fight the war on terror."

Public opinion appears conflicted on Iraq and other national security issues - and thus open to influence by the parties' contending arguments.

Polls register widespread dissatisfaction with Bush's management of the Iraq war and support for removing at least some American troops. But the surveys also show resistance to a precipitous withdrawal that might plummet Iraq into deeper chaos.

Polling by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has found that the share of Americans who say average people have to surrender some civil liberties to curb terrorism has fallen markedly since 2001 - from around 55 percent then to 40 percent earlier this year. But in the more recent survey, a narrow majority said they worried less that the government had gone too far in restricting civil liberties than that it hadn't done enough to secure the nation against terrorism.

Democrats have not coalesced around a unified alternative on Iraq; several party leaders recently have urged Bush to begin a withdrawal of American troops, while others have called for him to establish a timetable for ending the American presence.

On both the disputes over the Patriot Act and the wiretapping program, Democrats have insisted the government can defend America from attack while providing greater protection for civil liberties.

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