John Kerry: “I interpret what the candidate, George W. Bush, said somewhat differently, and I read his speech closely the other day.…”

“I interpret what the candidate, George W. Bush, said somewhat differently, and I read his speech closely the other day. It was my understanding he said he is prepared to unilaterally reduce weapons no matter what the Russians do. He also wants to accompany that with a fairly robust national missile defense system. I again say to my colleague, I think the Senator from Nebraska is on target. Look, the former Soviet Union, what remains of it, Russia, has an extraordinarily weak command and control system. As a current member of the Intelligence Committee, and the Senator from Virginia shares that, we know full well that one of the greatest single threats to the United States of America today is threat reduction efforts. To suggest that the United States, that our citizens, are safer with more warheads and more active missiles being left in place, with an army that is not being paid, with command and control that is disintegrating and degrading, is a very hard thing for me to understand.”