Byron Dorgan: “this morning and part of this afternoon Mr. David Kay who was the top U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq until he resigned…”

“this morning and part of this afternoon Mr. David Kay who was the top U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq until he resigned last week testified before the Armed Services Committee. Mr. Kay has been interviewed extensively on media programs, including the ``Today'' show, and interviewed by Reuters, and others, so I have read a substantial amount of what he has said. And I listened today to his testimony, at least in part, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The debate that has gone on, and I suspect the debate that will ensue from his testimony today, will perhaps be a debate about whether the right decision was made when this country decided to embark on this mission in Iraq with United States troops, which has resulted in the elimination and removal of Saddam Hussein as President of that country. In many ways, I think that is not the most relevant debate to have at this moment. I think the debate to have at this moment is on what the implications of what Mr. Kay has said to us are for the safety and the security of this country, and what its implications are for the ability of this country to understand where dangers exist around the rest of the world, and where our national security is at stake. Let me see if I can paraphrase some of what Mr. Kay has said. He told the Armed Services Committee that the failure to turn up weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has exposed weaknesses in America's intelligence-gathering apparatus.…”