Bill Lee: “If the Senator will yield, I will answer---- Mr. McCAIN. Let me finish. Don't you understand what is at stake here? Do…”

“If the Senator will yield, I will answer---- Mr. McCAIN. Let me finish. Don't you understand what is at stake here? Do you respect General Petraeus, General Nicholson, and General McChrystal? Every one of them has written to us and said that these people's lives are in danger and that this is a moral issue. So you are going to object because your amendment is being blocked, as so many amendments are blocked. Many, many amendments are blocked. If that is good or bad, I don't know, but people object. Now we are talking about a compelling humanitarian issue that is far more important than humanitarian because we abandon these people, and you can't expect people in future conflicts or in these conflicts we are in to cooperate and help the United States of America if we are going to abandon them to a cruel and terrible death. This is a serious issue. This is not something that we like to maneuver around what the steering committee wants and how we are going to do all these kinds of things we get mired down in, and we will have the Heritage Foundation write a letter or something like that. This is a matter of life and death, and that issue and challenge is immediate. So I appeal to the Senator from Utah's humanity, for his compassion, for his ability to save lives here, and let this go through, as the most respected military and diplomatic leaders in the world have urged us to do.…”