On the recordSeptember 9, 2015
I would like to respond very briefly--very briefly--before yielding to Senator Nelson of Florida. I would say to the junior Senator from Texas that I hope he listened carefully last Sunday when General Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--a man who risked his life in battle for America, a man who served as Secretary of State under Republican President George W. Bush--came forward and endorsed this agreement that has been proposed before the Senate. So to suggest that General Powell and so many others are not aware of the security aspects of this agreement I don't believe is a fair characterization. General Powell and others understand better than I can, better than the Senator from Texas can what it means to face these security issues. I would like to quote what he said. He said that ``with respect to the Iranians, don't trust, never trust, and always verify.'' So he comes to his conclusion supporting this agreement with the same degree of skepticism that many of us do. I would not discount for a minute some of the activities that have been cataloged by the junior Senator from Texas when it comes to Iran, but if you think those were terrible--and they were--imagine Iran with a nuclear weapon. That is what is at stake in this debate. Currently Iran has the capacity to build 10 nuclear weapons--10. We want to stop them from doing that, put inspectors in place.…
