Bob Kerrey: “in 1968 I had the good fortune, or misfortune, to be given the chance to go down to Fort Benning and go through Army…”

“in 1968 I had the good fortune, or misfortune, to be given the chance to go down to Fort Benning and go through Army Ranger School. We had a little joke that was keying in on a line from a John Wayne movie. We looked out in the darkness and said: It sure is quiet out there. Somebody else would come back with a punchline: Too quiet. That is precisely my instinct when it comes to strategic nuclear weapons. There is a real danger. For some reason, we understand the danger if it is North Korea maybe getting nuclear weapons or Iraq maybe getting nuclear weapons or Iran maybe getting nuclear weapons. Russia has 7,000 strategic nuclear weapons and 12,000 tactical. These are not inaccurate, unreliable systems. These are very accurate, reliable, and deadly systems. They have more than they need, and we have more than we need. Instead of pressing the President to go to lower levels, the current language of law and this amendment says we want further delay; we want to push the President in the opposite direction. We are pushing this President in the wrong way. We should be pushing the President to go to lower levels because it keeps America safe if we do.”