John Kerry: “I say to my colleague from Arizona that a lot of us are scratching our heads trying to figure out what we have to do to…”

“I say to my colleague from Arizona that a lot of us are scratching our heads trying to figure out what we have to do to get the Senator from Arizona to accept yes for an answer--yes on modernization, yes on our willingness to go forward and build a missile defense. It has been said again and again and again by the highest officials of our government--and I think the President will make some further statement about this, hopefully, within the next hours or the next day--that can indicate the absolute total commitment to proceed forward and the irrelevance of what the Senator is referring to in the context of a statement that is not within the four corners of the agreement, that has no legal binding authority at all--none. Don't accept my word for it. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, whom I know the Senator respects enormously, said the following on May 25: So you know the Russians can say what they want. But as Secretary Clinton said, these unilateral statements are totally outside the treaty, and they have no standing. They are not binding. They never have been.”