Kit Bond on the Kerry amendment:
Speaking for young men and women who had served in Iraq, their first question is, how does that help our mission? What does that do to help us win the war?
What it does is give a calendar for the terrorists to know they can declare victory, lie low until one day after the withdrawal date.
Now they understand that withdrawal before Iraq is ready for through security forces to take over can lead to chaos and the reestablishment of a terrorist government that could visit WMD on the United States.
My son returned from over a year in Iraq and is preparing to go back again with another Marine unit. And he said, Dad, none of us are wild about going to Iraq, but I’ll tell you, it’s a heck of a lot better than cutting and running and letting Iraq disintegrate and chaos resume.