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My friends, today we are bearing the cost of the war in Iraq almost alone: $200 billion and counting.
Nearly two years after George W. Bush spoke to the nation from this very place, we know how wrong his choices were. He says he miscalculated. He calls Iraq a catastrophic success.
But a glance at the front pages or a look at the nightly news shows brings home the hard reality: rising instability, spreading violence, growing extremism, havens now created that weren't there for terrorists who weren't even in the country before we went there.
And today even the Pentagon has admitted this very reality: that entire regions of Iraq are controlled by insurgents and terrorists.
KERRY: I call this course a catastrophic course that has cost us $200 billion because we went it alone, and we've paid an even more unbearable price in young American lives and the risks our soldiers take.
We need a new direction. We need statesmanship. We need leadership. We need the ability of a president with a fresh start and new credibility to open up the channels of communication.
We need to do a whole bunch of things in Iraq that this president could have done and hasn't even tried to do. We need to really bring our allies to our side because they do have a stake in the outcome of Iraq and one of the great failures of this administration is in not convincing the world of that reality.
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We need to share the burdens, share the responsibility and the decision-making, share the reconstruction, reduce the cost to the American taxpayer and reduce the risk to the American soldier.
We need to train Iraqi military and police. We need to train them more rapidly. We need to behave like we really are a nation at war and we need to get other people to behave that way with us.
We need to get more people in greater numbers ready to take over the job of protecting their own country.
That's what I'll do as commander in chief, because that's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home.
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You know, this president said one thing in his convention speech that's true. He said, "We all need to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations." But, you know, it's George W. Bush who has set low expectations and he's met them.
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He doesn't believe that American can be strong in the world while we also make progress here at home. He believes that we have to choose one or the other, and that's a false choice and I reject it.
I believe we can lead in the world and lead America to greater progress and prosperity than we've ever known before.
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Half a century ago, from here in Union Terminal, thousands of soldiers waved one last goodbye to their families before heading off to the Second World War. In that war their bravery and the leaders made the right choices and they brought victory over tyranny and they brought prosperity here at home.
When I'm president, America will once again stand up to our enemies without destroying or denying our best hopes here at home. We'll strengthen our military in order to meet new threats, but we'll also build and lead strong, new alliances around the world.
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We will build a stronger America with good jobs and better wages. Not paying you less money than the job you had for the job you lost overseas, but pushing the curve of technology and creativity, doing stem cell research, alternative and renewable energy, doing the things that begin to open up the avenues and opportunities of the future.
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With the right choices and the right leadership, we're going to set a new direction for America. We're going to build an America that's stronger at home and respected in the world.
As Franklin Roosevelt once said, "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." Well, I'll tell you, I believe there are no limits for tomorrow, but we need to make the right choices today. And with your help, we're going to restore the true greatness of our nation and we are going to set a new direction for the future.
Thank you. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.
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