[...] Kerry and other Democratic presidential candidates have stepped up criticism of the president since the admission last week that a line in his State of the Union address alleging Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from Africa should not have been included. Other questions have been raised about prewar claims about Iraq by the administration.

Kerry criticized Bush on several fronts, accusing the administration of:

-Going to war with Iraq without a "plan to win the peace."

-Stalling investigations of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

-Failing to invest enough in the police, fire and emergency workers responsible for the safety of the homeland.

"We shouldn't be opening firehouses in Baghdad while closing them in Brooklyn," Kerry said.

Americans should trust the intelligence that guides them into war, he said. [...]

[...] Mr. President, I could explore other possible ominous consequences of letting Saddam Hussein proceed unchecked. The possible scenarios I have referenced really are only the most obvious possibilities. What is vital is that Americans understand, and that the Security Council understand, that there is no good outcome possible if he is permitted to do anything other than acquiesce to continuation of U.N. inspections.

As the world's only current superpower, we have the enormous responsibility not to exhibit arrogance, not to take any unwitting or unnecessary risks, and not to employ armed force casually. But at the same time it is our responsibility not to shy away from those confrontations that really matter in the long run. And this matters in the long run.

While our actions should be thoughtfully and carefully determined and structured, while we should always seek to use peaceful and diplomatic means to resolve serious problems before resorting to force, and while we should always seek to take significant international actions on a multilateral rather than a unilateral basis whenever that is possible, if in the final analysis we face what we truly believe to be a grave threat to the well-being of our Nation or the entire world and it cannot be removed peacefully, we must have the courage to do what we believe is right and wise. [...]