John Kerry on Iraq

July 29, 2002, Kerry spoke to the moderate Democratic Leadership Council and said, "I agree completely with (the Bush) administration's goal of a regime change in Iraq. . . . Saddam Hussein is a renegade and outlaw who turned his back on tough conditions of surrender put in place by the United Nations in 1991."

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In an op-ed in the Sept. 6, 2002, New York Times, Kerry wrote: "If Saddam Hussein is unwilling to bend to the international community's already existing order, then he will have invited enforcement, even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act."

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During a May 3, 2003, debate among Democratic presidential candidates, Kerry said President Bush made "the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the president made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact that we did disarm him."

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In a November 12, 1997, appearance on CNN's "Crossfire," Kerry criticized two U.S. allies for failing to oppose Saddam's failure to comply with the agreement that ended the Persian Gulf war: ".where's the backbone of Russia, where's the backbone of France, where are they in expressing their condemnation of such clearly illegal activity.?"