Chris Dodd: “I commend my colleague from Arkansas for her very eloquent remarks. While she addressed them to four specific…”

“I commend my colleague from Arkansas for her very eloquent remarks. While she addressed them to four specific individuals from her State, she could have been speaking for any one of our States in talking about any one of the several hundred young men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq over the last year. I thank her for the eloquence of her remarks, the sense of passion and commitment she brought to them. I know she is joined by all of us-- certainly this Senator--in expressing deep sorrow for the loss of these Arkansans. We will certainly keep them in our thoughts and prayers. My remarks follow on a little bit with the remarks of my colleague from Arkansas. Later today or tomorrow, this body will be asked to vote on the confirmation of the first Ambassador to be sent to post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, John Negroponte. Presently, he is our Ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador Negroponte has a very distinguished diplomatic career and is well suited to undertake what is surely going to be an extremely difficult and complex assignment, likely the most difficult one of his career, and certainly one of the most difficult in the history of the diplomatic corps, going back over the more than 200-year history of our Nation.”