00:00If we need to go to war to defend this country, then those who've signed up to do that, knowing
00:06that that might be a possibility, they're ready to serve us to defend the nation.
00:11But an optional war at the whim of a president, ordering troops here and there around the
00:17globe as if they're a poundless guard for no articulated rationale, puts our kids at
00:23risk in a completely unacceptable way.
00:26My time as governor from 2006 to 2010 coincided with the mass deployment of Virginians into
00:35wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:37And as the governor of Virginia, I had an authority over members of the Virginia National Guard.
00:42And the Virginia National Guard deployed in the thousands to Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:48And I went to the deployments and I went to the homecomings and I went to the wakes and
00:55I went to the funerals.
00:58Some of these are too emotional for me to describe on the floor.
01:01But in an odd way, one of the most emotional was the day that I went to the Virginia War
01:07Memorial to watch a homecoming.
01:09U.S. troops coming out of Afghanistan had landed at a base in New Jersey and they had hopped
01:14on a bus to come back to Virginia to reunite with their families.
01:20They exited the bus.
01:22They got in formation and their commander announced that this National Guard unit was now returned,
01:29all present and accounted for.
01:32I knew that commander.
01:33He had been a Richmond police officer and he was deployed with his unit.
01:39And I saw in his face that for that entire six month deployment, he labored under the incredible
01:48strain of wanting to be able to say those words at the end of the deployment, all present
01:55and accounted for.
01:56And I saw him say those words and I saw the care and the tension and the fear melt away.
02:05And it made me think of the other homecomings I had been to where the commander couldn't
02:11say those words.
02:12And it made me think about them and what they had labored under.
02:15I made a vow when I came to this body that I would do everything in my power to fight
02:22tooth
02:22and nail against sending our sons and daughters into unnecessary wars.
02:27I'm on the Armed Services Committee.
02:29I voted for war authorizations.
02:31If we need to go to war to defend this country, then those who've signed up to do that, knowing
02:38that that might be a possibility, they're ready to serve us to defend the nation.
02:43But an optional war at the whim of a president, ordering troops here and there around the globe
02:49as if they're a poundless guard for no articulated rationale puts our kids at risk in a completely
02:57unacceptable way.
02:59We will have a vote next week on something that I believe is just bedrock constitutional
03:04law.
03:04We shouldn't be at war without a vote of Congress.
03:06We shouldn't be at war with Iran unless members of this body have the guts to have a debate and
03:12vote and put their thumbprint on it and say this is in the national interest.
03:17No shortcuts.
03:19No end runs around Congress.
03:21No end runs around debate in front of the American people and laying out the stakes for
03:25them.
03:26I can't believe that Virginia, one of the most military states in the country, is so different
03:31than other parts of this nation.
03:33I can't believe that this nation is like itching for another war in the Middle East.
03:38Haven't we learned something from a quarter of century of war in the Middle East?
03:44I hope we have.
03:45I hope my colleagues will join me next week in suggesting no war unless we vote to authorize
03:52it, Mr. President.
03:52I yield the floor.
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