John Kerry: “the vote that will occur later this afternoon on the resolution of ratification for the START II Treaty is a truly…”

“the vote that will occur later this afternoon on the resolution of ratification for the START II Treaty is a truly historical event in the course of man's attempt to curtail conflict and violence and resolve differences by peaceful means. It is an especially historical event in the much briefer but arguably more frightful history of the world's effort to prevent use in anger of the terrifying power of nuclear fission and fusion, power that was initially unleashed only five decades ago. When the Senate took up this this treaty on the floor on December 22, I spoke at some length concerning the potential benefits of this treaty for the United States, Russia, and, indeed, the entire world. I spoke of the great leap forward that this treaty represents as it is added to the foundation of earlier arms control agreements, notably including the original START Treaty signed by the United States and the Russian Federation in 1991 that provided for the first real reductions, rather than just limits on further growth, of strategic offensive arms of both nations. The leap forward that START II represents will increase the stability of the nuclear balance, ban deployment of the most destabilizing type of nuclear weapons system--land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles with multiple independently targetable nuclear warheads [or MIRVs], and reduce the number of nuclear weapons the United States and Russia each possess to 3,500.”