Jeremiah Smith: “with all due respect of my colleague, on that last point, this is a document entitled the Comprehensive Report of the…”

“with all due respect of my colleague, on that last point, this is a document entitled the Comprehensive Report of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POWs/MIAs, of which Senator John Kerry is a member, and I am, as well as others. In that document, which Senator Kerry signed, is this phrase: There is debate within the U.S. side of the commission as to whether the numbers cited in these reports are plausible. The U.S. Government has concluded that there probably is more information in Vietnamese party and military archives that could shed light on these documents. But, to date, such information has not been provided by the Vietnamese government. That is an absolute statement signed by Senator Kerry, which goes exactly in the opposite direction of what the Senator is trying to do by striking the language. It says simply that the Vietnamese have not provided all of the information. This commission says so and it was signed by the Senator himself. So I do not understand how the Senator can sign one document and come to the floor and try to strike all the language that supports the document that he signed. I think the whole matter is just subject to great criticism in that regard alone. In addition, I have a letter from Sandy Berger, the President's National Security Adviser, that says, ``Vietnam's full faith efforts in cooperating on this issue are essential to the development of the relationship.'' We have that in our language.…”