Douglas Alexander: “I hope he will not mind my saying that I have seen him agonize over this war. We have talked about it privately, going…”

“I hope he will not mind my saying that I have seen him agonize over this war. We have talked about it privately, going many months back before many Senators did, about how do we reconcile our national interests with the lives of young men and women from Virginia and Tennessee, which we have to think about every day. He was one of the first to raise questions about our strategy. Because he did and because of his background as Navy Secretary and his service in World War II and in the Korean War and his senior position on Armed Services, everyone paid attention when John Warner spoke. We have paid attention to his advice every step of the way. What I would like to say, very briefly, in response to my friend from Virginia, is this: I would hope that over the next few days as we consider this, that he will think a little differently about his own contribution to the shift in direction our country needs. His first contribution, in addition to his statement, is the Iraq Study Group report. He was a little too modest about it. He had a major role in getting it started.”