Jim Webb: “first I say I think there is a lot of misunderstanding and misrepresentation that has been made over the past couple of…”

“first I say I think there is a lot of misunderstanding and misrepresentation that has been made over the past couple of days with respect to this amendment. Before I get into the amendment, I wish also to express, again, my admiration for the Senator from Arizona--we have been friends for many years--and my appreciation for his service. I watched his comments yesterday with respect to the end of the time in Southeast Asia. I think he knows I still adamantly support what we attempted to do in Vietnam and I have written about those days with some frequency and clarity over the years. In my view, this is not about the situation in Southeast Asia. I warned against what I believe is the strategic blundering of going into Iraq in the first place, but I will set that aside today. There was a lot of talk this morning and yesterday, some of it about process--the Senator from New Hampshire mentioning he wanted to see side by side, that he was going to oppose this amendment based on the cloture process itself. The Senator from South Carolina--I want to address some of the things he said. He keeps talking about the political moment here. I don't think there is a political moment in this issue. There may be on other issues.…”