"Fair enough, but what do I tell the people?"

Blustering, Kerry disagrees. Last night, John F. Kerry had a long, hard meeting with his staffers.

"How do we respond to Bush's troop withdrawal?" - "Well, isn't this exactly what we've been asking for?" - "Yeah, but it's the election that counts, not the issues" - "Fair enough, but what do I tell the people?" - "That Bush is wrong" - "OK, and the reasons?" - "Who said anything about reasons? Make something up!" - "OK".

Bad advice, boys. Kerry said: "Let's be clear — the president's vaguely stated plan does not strengthen our hand in the war on terror. It in no way relieves the strain on our overextended military personnel. It doesn't even begin until 2006 and it takes 10 years to achieve. And this hastily announced plan raises more doubts about our intentions and our commitments than it provides real answers."

John F., InstantReplay has some questions for you. First of all, let's be clear, is this too fast or too slow? Second, should it be done at all? If the military is overextended, what else can be done?

Let's be clear.