WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean (news - web sites) called on Friday for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign, citing a "pattern of deception" in his statements on Iraq (news - web sites) and a failure to plan for the postwar period.

Dean is the second Democratic candidate for the 2004 presidential nomination to seek Rumsfeld's resignation as critics of the Bush administration turn up the heat on the Pentagon (news - web sites) amid continued violence in Iraq.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) called on Thursday for Rumsfeld to step down, saying he proceeded in Iraq "in an arrogant, inappropriate way that has frankly put America at jeopardy."

Dean, the former governor of Vermont, also said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz should resign and announced he was starting a national petition drive on the Internet to demonstrate support for their resignations.

Republican National Committee (news - web sites) spokeswoman Christine Iverson said Dean and Kerry were "playing a game of political copy cat. If John Kerry calls for one administration official to resign, Howard Dean has to call for two."

Dean accused the Bush administration of "a long line of problematic statements" on Iraq, from his disputed State of the Union message about Iraq's attempts to acquire uranium for a nuclear weapon to claims of ties between Iraq and al Qaeda.

"This pattern of deception is but one major reason that this administration deserves to be fired by the American people," said Dean, who also cited the "abject failure" to plan for a postwar Iraq.

"There is no need to wait until the next election to hold the major architects of this disaster responsible for their gross incompetence," he said. "The time has come for the president to fire them."

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