Byron Dorgan: “this country is reminded virtually every morning that we are at war. This morning we learned that additional…”

“this country is reminded virtually every morning that we are at war. This morning we learned that additional Americans--these, I believe, civilian contractors--have been killed in the country of Iraq. I have been listening in recent days to the discussions in the Senate and discussions from President Bush about where we find ourselves and what our obligations are. We not only are at war, we have just experienced the most significant natural disaster in the history of this country along the gulf coast, with a million people displaced from their homes. Yet the discussion in recent days from the President and others is that nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. Our agenda is the same. I went back and pulled out a speech of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a fireside chat on April 28, 1942. I want to read what the discussion was by someone who provided, I thought, great leadership to this country at a time of war. He said: As we here at home contemplate our own duties, our own responsibilities . . . our soldiers and sailors are members of well disciplined units. But they are still and forever individuals--free individuals. They are farmers, and workers, businessmen, professional men, artists, clerks. They are the United States of America. That is why they fight. We too are the United States of America. That is why we must work and sacrifice. It is for them. It is for us. It is for victory. That is from Franklin Delano Roosevelt.…”