Mark Dayton: “I rise also in support of Senator Corzine's amendment. Yesterday was a very grim day in Minnesota. We had the funeral…”

“I rise also in support of Senator Corzine's amendment. Yesterday was a very grim day in Minnesota. We had the funeral service of the first Minnesotan to be killed in Iraq this year in the line of duty, PVT Edward James Herrgott. It is a grim reminder that 63 days after the President declared the hostilities almost over in Iraq, this young man lost his life on July 3, standing out in front, guarding the Baghdad Museum, the site where some of my colleagues and I had swept by, well protected, just 2 days before. He was killed, murdered by a sniper's bullet. At the age of 20, his life and all of its promise was snuffed out. We learned last week from the Secretary of Defense that, in his judgment, the military presence, some major component of which will have to be from the United States--hopefully much less will be, when we do as we must, which is to internationalize the continued development and hopefully economic recovery in Iraq--but as long as there is going to be a presence there, United States troops are going to be a big part of that, and it is almost unavoidable under the circumstances, especially as they exist today, the number of men and women who have lost their lives since May 1--which stands now at 79--will only increase.”