Kerry said that because of the Bush administration's mistakes, "the job has been made enormously harder."

Among the errors cited by the disgruntled Democrat: the decision by former U.S. occupation leader Paul Bremer's to disband the Iraqi army and purge the government of former members of Hussein's Baath Party.

Both moves were have fueled the Sunni insurgency, he claimed, lamenting, "Mistakes have been made."

Then, perhaps sensing he'd gone too far, the 2008 White House hopeful cut short the Bush-bashing, saying, "Now, it's a different time and different set of judgments that have to be made. I'm here to make judgments about what moves are available to us."

Editor's note: