IN THE MIDST of all the committee-produced and consultant-shaped verbiage of John Kerry’s “major” speech on Iraq today, one paragraph stands out as being truly Kerry’s own:

“It is never easy to discuss what has gone wrong while our troops are in constant danger. But it’s essential if we want to correct our course and do what’s right for our troops instead of repeating the same mistakes over and over again. I know this dilemma firsthand. After serving in war, I returned home to offer my own personal voice of dissent. I did so because I believed strongly that we owed it to those risking their lives to speak truth to power. We still do.”