Barbara Boxer: “Continuing to quote Senator Gravel: What would happen if Cambodia fell tomorrow? It may well fall. . . . Obviously, it…”

“Continuing to quote Senator Gravel: What would happen if Cambodia fell tomorrow? It may well fall. . . . Obviously, it would become communistic. We would have some gnashing of teeth, but life would go on. We would have our traffic jams and everything else. There were no traffic jams in Phnom Penh, Madam President, not a one. In fact, all of the people were killed or told to walk out of the city. Life would go on. Basically, that would increase the casualties of Americans in South Vietnam. That would be the difference, except the American people are going to get up and say, ``We do not want Americans getting killed at that rate.'' . . . it means we are going to put more money in, and if there is a danger that Cambodia will be overrun 6 months from now, we would have to escalate to the next higher step, and they will devise some way of getting American troops in there. Or they would go the mercenary route until they butcher enough of those people. Interesting. This, to my mind, is wrong, and adds nothing to our security. Supposing South Vietnam fell, and became totally Communist tomorrow, and then Cambodia fell and became totally Communist; would that appreciably change the life of my colleague from Kansas? Would that change his life? The debate goes on and on.…”