"Mr Kerry has been the only senior Democrat in Congress to take on President Bush over the administration's foreign policy and his pursuit of the "war on terror". The senator said he was running because "I have a different vision for where this country is going". A decorated navy veteran in the Vietnam war who threw away his combat ribbons on the steps of Congress in protest against the war, Mr Kerry's background gave him the credentials to issue a detailed critique of the Pentagon's strategy in Afghanistan. http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,861384,00.html