"....
On the other hand if President Bush is reelected, this will prove to them that the American people are not intimidated despite all their brutality, and that their cause is quite futile. Yes there is little doubt that an election victory by President Bush would be a severe blow and a great disappointment for all the terrorists in the World and all the enemies of America. I believe that such an outcome would result in despair and demoralization of the “insurgent elements” here in Iraq, and would lead to the pro-democracy forces gaining the upper hand eventually. Note that we are not saying that President Bush is perfect, nor even that he is better than the Senator, just that the present situation is such that a change of leadership at this crucial point is going to send an entirely wrong message to all the enemies. Unfortunately, it seems to me that many in the U.S. don’t quite appreciate how high the stakes are. The challenge is mortal, and you and we are locked in a War, a National Emergency; and in such circumstances partisan considerations must be of secondary importance. If you lose this war, you are no more, and you will have to withdraw within you boundaries cringing and waiting for terror to strike you in your homeland, afraid to move around, afraid to travel, afraid to do business abroad. You will have to see all your friends abroad annihilated and intimidated and nobody will have any confidence or trust in you anymore. And you will have to watch from far with bitterness the forces of darkness and evil taking over in many parts of this earth, with feelings of impotence and inability to do anything about it. In other words you would lose all credibility, and the fiends of terror and obscurantism would go triumphantly dancing the macabre dance of mayhem and death, and darkness would descend and obliterate the light and the hope. You think I am exaggerating, you think I am being paranoid? I just pray that destiny would not prove all these things; I pray that these horrors will not come to pass. And all this for what? For failing to confront few thousands ex-baathists and demented religious fanatics and some common criminals, concentrated in some rural areas of a country of the size of just one of your states; and that for a nation that has defeated Natzism, Imperial Japan and the Soviet Empire!

Well if Senator Kerry is such a good man, and he may well be, then it would be prudent to wait just another four years to elect him, after the job is done. And if this is interference in your national affairs by a foreigner, I am not going to give you any apology for it.

Salaam"

Well, I don't have this dramatic of a view. Salaam and perhaps others should realize that each new president will for the most part continue at least for a while the current policy- it would take some time get the Kerry replacements settled in office [even if Kerry plans on radical changes as a politican he will begin by saying there aren't going to be immediate changes].
And even if replaced, Bush is still the commander in cheif until Jan 20- though no doubt he will listen to Kerry, but Kerry is not the President until he is formally Inaugurated.
After the election regardless of who wins it, US forces will step up offensive operations in Iraq [assuming the Iraqi president is in favor of this]. Kerry would probably prefer that Bush be aggressive- so he has less to deal with when his term actually begins. I think that it is possible that the terrorists and others might mistaken think they have a chance- but if they become more active they will only get hammered in the near term.

Now, there is the factor that even "would be terrorists" or insurgents shouldn't to killed and that if not "excited by false hope" they might manage calm down and become somewhat reasonable [seems fairly unlikely]. I guess another way to look at it is to ask the the question will there cheering in the "Arab streets" because Bush is defeated. I doubt there will be much reaction. [Though I think N Korea leadership might find hope- since Kerry said he wants bialateral talks- and this would throw a wrench into the 6 party talks.] I don't think the Arab street is going to cheer about the increased possiblity of the long term prospects of civil war engulfing the middle east due to Kerry's possible [probable] lack of long term commitment to the region.