i've worked with republican senator dick lugar to pass a law that will secure and destroy some of the world's deadliest, unguarded weapons. we can work together to track terrorists down with a stronger military, we can tighten the net around their finances, and we can improve our intelligence capabilities. but let us also understand that ultimate victory against our enemies will come only by rebuilding our alliances and exporting those ideals that bring hope and opportunity to millions around the globe. we can do those things. but all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in iraq. most of you know i opposed this war from the start. i thought it was a tragic mistake. today we grieve for the families who have lost loved ones, the hearts that have been broken and the young lives that could have been. america, it's time to start bringing our troops home. it's time to admit that no amount of american lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war. that's why i have a plan that will bring our combat troops home by marc

to dick lugar, thank you. as you noted, there are special people in our life. that we benefit from. vice president biden thank you , for your years of service as well. senator dempsey, it has been a great privilege for this little sergeant to have worked side-by-side with a general of your character injured worker and. i have been very fortunate to have you as a partner in this job. especially during those self-help into educational opportunities called congressional hearings. [laughter] i was always reassured in each of those hearings as will drive to the hill in the morning knowing that marty dempsey was next to me. what you have meant to our military, marty, and what you continue to do for this country, thank you very much. i see another great icon of the united states senate with us today. senator john warner, who we all worked closely with and benefited from. to our distinguished colleagues senators legal and warner, thank you. i am grateful that you would take the time to visit us on this location. -- occasion. to the civilians and commanders, thank you. thank you for your unf

our former chairman chairman oliver is here as well and to dick lugar, thank you. as you have noted there are special people in our lives that we benefit from, and certainly dick lugar is one of those. i think that we all have benefited a great deal from. and vice president biden thank you for your years of service to the country as well. chairman dempsey it's been a great privilege for this little sergeant to have worked side-by-side with the general of your character and your courage. i've been very fortunate to have you as my partner in this job especially during those self-help and educational opportunities called congressional hearings. [laughter] i was always reassured in each of those hearings as we would drive to the hill in the morning, knowing that marty dempsey was next to me. and for which you have meant to our military marty and which you continue to do for this country, thank you very much. i see another great icon of the united states senate with us today senator john warner who we all worked closely with and benefit from and to our distinguished col

we knew that dick lugar on foreign policy was good for six or seven votes, they were leaders in their area. all of you on this committee know who the half a dozen leaders are. i don't know, but you know. certainly, the ranking member and chairman know. and there's -- a ko lig of those can be put together, but the key is, you have the leadership, does the little leadership group agree on the goal they want to reach? if they don't agree on the goal, no quantity thety of leadership is going to make any difference. >> thank you. >> second question deals with you know, did all this work in '86, ink dry on the legislation for all those years and we started changing it. a whole lot over time. did you ever think of the time that we'd see this kind of change that quickly in such, to such an extent and did you ever think at the time about what can we do to sort of preserve what we have, at least for a while? i don't mean how many changes we've seen, but i'm told like 15,000 or something or mb since '86. should we keep looking for the federal reserve for a while, just a >> tom, that was a real l

we knew that dick lugar on foreign policy was good for six or seven votes they were leaders in their area. all of you on this committee know who the half a dozen leaders are. i don't know, but you know. certainly, the ranking member an chairman now. and there's -- a ko lig of those can be put together, but the key is, you have the leadership, does the little leadership group agree on the goal they want to reach? if they don't agree on the goal, no quantity thety of leadership is going to make any difference. >> thank you. >> second question deals with you know, did all this work in '86, ink dry on the legislation for all those years and we started changing it. a whole lot over time. did you ever think of the time that we'd see this kind of change that quickly in such, to such an extent and did you ever think at the time about what can we do to sort of preserve what we have, at least for a while? i don't mean how many changes we've seen, but i'm told like 15,000 or something or mb since '86. should we keep looking for the federal reserve for a while just a -- >> tom, that was a real l

we knew that dick lugar on foreign policy was good for six or seven votes. they were leaders in their area. all of you on this committee know who the half a dozen leaders of this committee are. i don't know who they r but you know. and the -- certainly the ranking member and chairman know who they are. and there's -- and a coalition of those can be put together. but the key is not do you have the leadership. does the little leadership group agree on the goal that they want to reach? if they don't agree on the goal, no quantity of leadership is going to make any difference. >> all right. thank you. second question deals with, you know, you did all this work in '86, the ink dry on the legislation you labored on for all those years, and we started changing it. started changing it. a whole lot over time. and did you ever think at a time that we'd see this kind of change that quickly and in such -- to such an axe tent? and did you ever think at the time about what can question do to sort of preserve what we have for at least a while? i don't know how many changes