On Bush's war in Iraq - "He did it in the worst possible way - without the United Nations, without our allies and without a plan to win the peace." "It's full speed ahead, and we're not playing cautious here. I'm going to take the fight to George Bush. We must take nothing for granted, but in November we will beat George W. Bush." "If the American people give me a shot at George Bush next November, I will give them back the White House." "I am John Kerry and I am reporting for duty." "I think 9/11 was the predominant overriding element. And I think that in the end, an awful lot of people were unwilling to switch commander-in-chief in midstream. And it just came down to, sort of, that perception." (Imus in the Morning, February 7, 2005 - on why he believes he lost the 2004 presidential election) "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." "We should not go to war because these things are in his past, but we should be prepared to go to war because of what they tell us about the future." "I have said publicly for years that weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam Hussein pose a real and grave threat to our security and that of our allies in the Persian Gulf region. Saddam Hussein's record bears this out." "It is clear that in the four years since the UNSCOM inspectors were forced out, Saddam Hussein has continued his quest for weapons of mass destruction." "Regime change has been an American policy under the Clinton administration, and it is the current policy. I support the policy."