Max Cleland: “these are not the ``seven deadly sins,'' but I think in many ways it is a sin if we violate these basic fundamental…”

“these are not the ``seven deadly sins,'' but I think in many ways it is a sin if we violate these basic fundamental lessons that we have learned. First and foremost, we believe as a nation--including government, media, academia, personalities, and other leaders--we need to engage in a serious and sustained national dialog to do several things: First, define our national interests and differentiate the level of interest involved, spell out what we should be prepared to do in defense of those interests; second, build a bipartisan consensus in support of the resulting set of interests and policies. As a starting point, within the Senate, we would encourage the Foreign Relations Committee and our own Armed Services Committee upon which we both sit to hold hearings on the finished products of the Commission on America's National Interests, the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century and other relevant considerations of these critical topics.”