The key word here is "retired"

Since Kerry was broadsided by former members of the military decrying his wartime exploits and warning against electing him as president, an "independent" group of 26 retired ambassadors and military leaders have come out to criticize President Bush as endangering national security, etc. Before everyone starts huffing and puffing about how we should listen to their opinions, we need to remember one key word, "retired". These ambassadors and military officiers are all retired. Many served with Presidents Reagan, Bush I and Clinton and retired before the events of 9/11. Thinking that someone who served as the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Admiral Crowe) during the Reagan administration (around 20 years ago) knows more about combatting terrorism than President Bush or his administration is ludicrous. In case anyone here has forgotten, the world changed drastically after 9/11 in the same way that it changed drastically after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the same way that everything learned during World War I and before World War II became instantly obsolete on Sunday morning, 7 December 1941, everything learned during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War and Desert Storm became instantly obsolete when terrorists flew airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday morning, 11 September 2001. This is a new war and trying to use 20-, 10- or even 5-year old tactics on today's problems will fail everytime.

The US will win the war on terror, but only if we let the most qualified personnel (President Bush and his administration) fight the war wihtout being hamstringed by war protestors who really want the US to lose. However, if we want a "multi-cultural, non-homophobic, pan-European, environmentally-correct" war on terror, voting for John "War Hero" Kerry is the way to go. We will probably lose the war, but at least, all the Democratic special-interest groups will be happy, and for Senator Special-Interest, that's all that is important.