Mark Warner

We are going back and forth, and I am about to relinquish the management of the bill to my good friend from Alabama. The parliamentary situation is we remain on the bill, and debate can continue on the bill. We are not going to try and…

I admire the courage of the Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Senator from Massachusetts has seen it, and I have seen it. We are political figures, he and I. We understand when we see another leader. He has stood with our President and…

I say to my colleague, I think this has been a very worthwhile colloquy between us. I must say on this side, there are 55 who are going to stand tall and unify with no dissension on tomorrow at the time of the vote. At this time, can I…

We will conclude. I just say if we had more time, I would want to enter into another chapter of debate with the Senator on what would be the consequences if we saw failure; if this program of his, no matter how well conceived and how…

If you say the violence is not going to stop if this became law, if this becomes law, we have to make a movement in reduction in 2006. That is in there. There has to be a commencement. You would not wait and send out a platoon on Christmas…

The Senator is operating on a premise that if this became law and the President issued a timetable, suddenly the level of violence would begin to be lowered considerably.

I caution my colleague because that is saying to this new Iraqi Government that you are going to fail.

That may be true, but I will ask another question. Drop down to paragraph 3, ``maintenance of over-the-horizon troop presence.'' ``The President should maintain an over-the-horizon troop presence to prosecute the war on terror and protect…

It is the presence of our troops today that is probably holding it back from becoming a civil war.

I say to the Senator, I cannot see, for example, the governments of each country bordering Iraq suddenly beginning to rush in if they feel that a civil war could start. The pulling out of the troops, the setting of a timetable will be a…

I don't know what that fraction is. But in discussions with senior military, clearly, they have said the insurgents, the foreign invaders, the others who have come in have dropped in terms of--somewhat--numbers of incidents. And, indeed…

All right. We have the opportunity, Senator. Is there anything you wish to ask of me? And I will ask a few of you.

Well, I must say, I shared that on this side, but I was willing to take the heat.

If that is with no objection, the next 30 minutes is under the Senator's control.

That is a very reasonable request. I now ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Vermont and the Senator from Illinois be----

I say to my good friend, the order has been in for some 24 hours by which this is the amendment. The time allocation is under the control of the two managers. We will work that out momentarily, hopefully on an equitable basis. I do not at…

The amendment has been here for some time. I have had an opportunity to examine it. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

So we are back to the hour and 20 minutes on that side before we receive any time on this side?

Senator Lieberman. I didn't hear Senator Byrd mentioned. Let's hear from our senior colleague as to what his desires are.

So an hour and 20 minutes on this side to initiate the amendment. I will concede that we will do that. But it seems to me somewhat a departure from the way we normally manage things. Then it comes to this side for, let's say, an hour's…

I have no objection, if you wish to initiate with those two Senators beginning with 10 minutes each. Then what is to follow thereafter?

I do believe we ought to hear from our senior colleague as to what his desires might be.

I would be happy to do that at the conclusion of 1 hour and 20 minutes, that our side be recognized for a period of, let's say, 30 minutes, of which the first 10 will be given to Senator Lieberman.

I would be happy to say, when the time comes to this side, he can initiate on our time his remarks.

Fine. That is quite agreeable to me, take 30 minutes to present the amendment. Then we will on this side have an equal amount of time.