One of Ours

...Kerry said Bush has damaged relations with allies to the point that only a new president can repair them. The problem is evident in Iraq, said the decorated Vietnam War veteran who promised to avert a quagmire.

"It will not be like Vietnam," Kerry said. "I will get our troops home from Iraq with honor and with the interests of our country properly protected."

How soon? "It will not take long to do what is necessary. I'm not going to give you a specific date, but I'll tell you that I have a plan and I will put that plan in place." Republican Richard M. Nixon used similar language during the 1968 presidential race, but the war dragged on for years after his election.

Saying his goal would be achieved in his first term, Kerry explained, “Look, you may have some deployments of people for a long period of time in the Middle East depending on what the overall approach to the Middle East is. I’m not going to tell you we won’t shift deployments from one place to another, but we’re not going to be engaged in an active kind of death zone the way we are today.”...