(2004-09-22) — John Forbes Kerry, the Democrat presidential nominee, got a warm reception from the United Nations General Assembly today as he laid out his plan to “fight the right war, and not the wrong war.”

To demonstrate his global perspective, Mr. Kerry addressed the assembly in several languages including French, Esperanto and Pig Latin.

“Ubya-day and-stay for ong-wray,” said Mr. Kerry, who is also a U.S. Senator. “Iraq was the wrong war in the wrong place with the wrong coalition.”

To swelling applause from the U.N. delegates, Mr. Kerry said, “If you want to invade a country that has proven stockpiles of WMD, actual al Qaeda terror cells, and a regime in power through fraudulent elections-let’s start here at home. With permission from His Excellency Kofi Annan, I will lead a real international coalition to disarm this rogue nation and then welcome her back into the community of peace-loving global citizens.”

Mr. Kerry’s speech was designed to counter an address by George W. Bush yesterday in which the president of the United States called on the U.N. to support freedom, oppose tyranny, prevent war through strength, and reach out to help oppressed people and AIDS victims.

“Defending our ideals is vital, but it is not enough,” said Mr. Bush, “Our broader mission as U.N. members is to apply these ideals to the great issues of our time…For too long, many nations, including my own, tolerated, even excused oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability. The oppression became common, but stability never arrived. We must take a different approach. We must help the reformers of the Middle East as they work for freedom and strive to build a community of peaceful, democratic nations.”

In Mr. Kerry’s rebuttal, he outlined his plan for fighting terror and encouraging global freedom “starting with this quagmire in Iraq.”

1) Withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq.
2) Replace U.S. troops with soldiers from France, Germany and Russia.
3) Win the peace.