Wrong war, place, time: Kerry on Iraq

The Massachusetts senator, who has said he would have voted to give Bush the authority to use force if necessary against Iraq even if he had known at the time that Saddam Hussein had no WMDs, has struggled to draw clear contrasts with the President. 8216;8216;I would not have done just one thing differently than the President on Iraq, I would have done everything differently than the President on Iraq,8217;8217; Kerry said. He denied that he was 8216;8216;Monday morning quarterbacking8217;8217;. 8216;8216;I said this from the beginning of the debate to the walkup to the war. I said, Mr. President don8217;t rush to war, take time to build a coalition and a plan to win the peace.8217;8217;

Kerry said Bush had failed on all three counts. He called the President8217;s talk about a coalition fighting alongside about 125,000 US troops 8216;8216;the phoniest thing I8217;ve ever heard.8217;8217;

8216;8216;You8217;ve about 500 troops here, 500 troops there and it8217;s American troops that are 90 per cent of the combat casualties and it8217;s American taxpayers that are paying 90 per cent of the cost of the war,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;It8217;s the wrong war, in the wrong place at the wrong time.8217;8217; 8212; Reuters