John Kerry: “this is obviously the most important issue facing the country today. I listened to my colleagues on the other side try…”

“this is obviously the most important issue facing the country today. I listened to my colleagues on the other side try to make this a debate about something that it is not about. All of us support the troops. The only question here is how do we most effectively support them. The best way to support the troops is to get this policy right. That is how we support the troops. There is nothing more disappointing than being a troop in the field and see you are doing missions that don't make sense or that the overall strategy doesn't make sense. And the record here--as the Senator from Wisconsin has said in quoting Robert Kennedy about past error justifying a perpetuation of the same--the record here is not good. Prediction after prediction after prediction has been wrong. Policy choice after policy choice after policy choice has been wrong. Young men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces have been wounded and killed because of bad policy decisions, and it is not enough to come to the floor of the Senate and insist: Oh, we have to stay the course because otherwise what our troops are doing would be lost or be in vain. What would be lost and be in vain is not to look at and think about what is happening over there and to adjust appropriately. Our troops want us and deserve for us to get this policy right.…”