DISPATCH:
If it went your way, would we be in war with Iraq today?

KERRY:
Quite possibly if Saddam Hussein didn't comply. But it would have been smart. At the time, I said and I supported the president, but I said look, you ought to take an extra period of time, if the French have some reservations, let's put it on the table. Let's have a U.N. Security Council meeting. I met with the security council personally one week before the vote, and I asked the French ambassador and the British and the Germans and the others, 'What are you prepared to do?' And all of them said they were prepared to stand up and enforce the resolutions of the United Nations, but they wanted the time to do it properly.

[...]

DISPATCH:
The issue now is what is achievable in Iraq and what is realistic in Iraq and beyond. President Bush said that his goal is to democratize Iraq, to remake Iraq perhaps to remake the Middle East, and make the world safe for democracy. What do you think is a realistic vision for what is possible in Iraq and the Middle East?

KERRY:
We should have a summit. We should sit down with the European leaders and the Arab countries and really lay it on the table, say, "Yes, some miscalculations and misjudgments were made, but we all have a stake in this. The outcome is critical, not just to America but to the world." And that you cannot afford to have a failed Iraq. And that while some may not now want to put their soldiers at risk, and trade their bodies for ours, there are things they can do that are less risky that would be very significant in helping to show a global, concerted effort to win. This is a time for global statesmanship.