And I'm going to turn to Anthony Baldi with a question for Senator Kerry.

Mr. Baldi?

BALDI: Senator Kerry, the U.S. is preparing a new Iraq government and will proceed to withdraw U.S. troops.

Would you proceed with the same plans as President Bush?

KERRY: Anthony, I would not.  I have laid out a different plan, because the president's plan is not working.  You see that every night on television.

There's chaos in Iraq.  King Abdullah of Jordan said just yesterday or the day before you can't hold elections in Iraq with the chaos that's going on today.

Senator Richard Lugar, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said that the handling of the reconstruction aid in Iraq by this administration has been incompetent.  Those are the Republican chairman's words.

Senator Hagel of Nebraska said that the handling of Iraq is beyond pitiful, beyond embarrassing; it's in the zone of dangerous.

Those are the words of two Republicans, respected, both on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Now, I have to tell you, I would do something different.  I would reach out to our allies in a way that this president hasn't.  He pushed them away time and again, pushed them away at the U.N., pushed them away individually.

Two weeks ago, there was a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, which is the political arm of NATO.  They discussed the possibility of a small training unit or having a total takeover of the training in Iraq.

Did our administration push for the total training of Iraq?  No.  Were they silent?  Yes.  Was there an effort to bring all the allies together around that?  No, because they've always wanted this to be an American effort.

You know, they even had the Defense Department issue a memorandum saying, "Don't bother applying for assistance or for being part of the reconstruction if you weren't part of our original coalition."

Now, that's not a good way to build support and reduce the risk for our troops and make America safer.

I'm going to get the training done for our troops.  I'm going to get the training of Iraqis done faster.  And I'm going to get our allies back to the table.

BUSH: Two days ago in the Oval Office, I met with the finance minister from Iraq.  He came to see me.  And he talked about how optimistic he was and the country was about heading toward elections.

Think about it: They're going from tyranny to elections.

He talked about the reconstruction efforts that are beginning to take hold.  He talked about the fact that Iraqis love to be free.

He said he was optimistic when he came here, then he turned on the TV and listened to the political rhetoric and all of a sudden he was pessimistic.

Now, this is guy a who, along with others, has taken great risk for great freedom.  And we need to stand with him.

My opponent says he has a plan; it sounds familiar, because it's called the Bush plan.  We're going to train troops, and we are.  We'll have 125,000 trained by the end of December.  We're spending about $7 billion.

He talks about a grand idea: Let's have a summit; we're going to solve the problem in Iraq by holding a summit.

And what is he going to say to those people that show up at the summit?  Join me in the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place.  Risk your troops in a war you've called a mistake.

Nobody is going to follow somebody who doesn't believe we can succeed and with somebody who says that war where we are is a mistake.

I know how these people think.  I meet with them all the time.  I talk to Tony Blair all the time.  I talk to Silvio Berlusconi.  They're not going to follow an American president who says follow me into a mistake.  Our plan is working.  We're going to make elections.  And Iraq is going to be free, and America will be better off for it.

GIBSON: Do you want to follow up, Senator?

KERRY: Yes, sir, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, the right war was Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan.  That was the right place.  And the right time was Tora Bora, when we had him cornered in the mountains.

Now, everyone in the world knows that there were no weapons of mass destruction.  That was the reason Congress gave him the authority to use force, not after excuse to get rid of the regime.

Now we have to succeed.  I've always said that.  I have been consistent.  Yes, we have to succeed, and I have a better plan to help us do it.

BUSH: First of all, we didn't find out he didn't have weapons until we got there, and my opponent thought he had weapons and told everybody he thought he had weapons.

And secondly, it's a fundamental misunderstanding to say that the war on terror is only Osama bin Laden.  The war on terror is to make sure that these terrorist organizations do not end up with weapons of mass destruction.  That's what the war on terror is about.

Of course, we're going to find Osama bin Laden.  We've already 75 percent of his people.  And we're on the hunt for him.

But this is a global conflict that requires firm resolve.

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