This from the NYTimes:
"Mr. Kerry's problems began last week when President Bush challenged him for a yes-or-no answer on a critical campaign issue: If Mr. Kerry knew more than a year ago what he knows today about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, would he still have voted to authorize the use of military force to oust Saddam Hussein?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/12/politics/campaign/12memo.html
His response should be something like:
"Mr Bush has asked me to clarify my position, and to declare if I would vote today for the authorization of the use of force, knowing that there are no WMD as had been predicted. And I feel now I can respond."
"Mr Bush asks me if I would vote today with the benefit of hindsight as I voted in 2002. But hindsight includes not only the knowledge that no WMD existed. I would also know that on credible links existed between Saddam and al Qaeda, between Saddam and 9/11. I would also know that we are approaching a year and a half since the beginning of the war, with over a thousand of our own and our allies dead, many times that wounded, and still no end in sight, no exit strategy. More than a year since Mr Bush declared the end of major combat operations, and our troops are still dying in the same numbers as then."
"So I answer you: No, Mr Bush, I would not vote the same way today as I did then, not because I do not think that Saddam was a problem that needed to be dealt with. I would not vote for the war because I would know how terribly it would be executed by you and your administration."
"Then I had the faith, as did many of my colleagues and a good part of the American people, that you would take the responsibilities of your office seriously. We had faith that you would properly plan for the war and its aftermath, that you would not carelessly send our young servicemen and woman into danger, that you would not needlessly offend those allies who might help us, nor foolheartedly encourage our enemies to attack our troops."
"I, like many American, have lost faith in you, Mr Bush, and given a chance, would not allow you to make such a mess of things."
At least, something to that effect. I think it sounds good.
