[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16845]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ONGOING MILITARY OPERATIONS

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, this morning we had another meeting 
organized by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic 
leader, with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and the Vice Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs Staff, General Pace, together with representatives from 
the intelligence agencies.
  This is the third time Secretary Rumsfeld has been to the Senate this 
week. He has been in close consultation with the Senate during these 
perilous days for our Armed Forces around the world, and most 
particularly in Iraq. Our discussions, by necessity, were largely 
related to classified matters and were behind closed doors.
  I do share with my colleagues two thoughts. I sensed by those 
colleagues--quite a number--who joined us this morning a heartfelt 
concern for the men and women of the Armed Forces who, around the 
clock, 7 days, 7 nights, are in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan, 
most particularly, and we share in the bereavement of their families 
for those who are lost from time to time.
  Steadfast this Nation must remain in its resolve to bring to a 
conclusion the hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, such that the 
peoples of those two countries can themselves create a government free 
of oppression and persecution to enable them to have a very large 
measure of freedoms, freedoms we enjoy in the form of democracy, 
beginning with speech, privacy, and a sense of security in their homes, 
in their workplaces, and in the nation.
  This is a long and courageous struggle worldwide, headed by, if I may 
say most respectfully, a very strong and courageous President of the 
United States, George Bush, and those principal deputies and many 
others right down to the privates, sailors, airmen, and marines who are 
making possible this freedom throughout the world.
  We will stay the course. We will meet every challenge. We shall not 
waver in the mission of this country. I just pray and hope the American 
people have a complete and full understanding of the risks they are 
taking and the absolutely essential requirement that this Nation 
continue its leadership and succeed.

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