Kerry to meet soldiers, leaders in Iraq

WASHINGTON - Sen.

John Kerry, whose botched joke about U.S. troops in

Iraq dealt a blow to his presidential ambitions, will travel to Iraq this weekend to meet with soldiers, political leaders and military officials.

"I've talked to plenty of guys who've come back from Iraq, who are there now, who understand exactly what happened," Kerry said of his joke in a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. "They laugh at it."