"In my 61 years on this planet, I thought I had seen most things. I have been married and divorced. I have children and have seen a child die. I have grandchildren and have seen a grandchild die. I watched my Mother suffer with Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia for years before passing away in 2005. I have spent 16 miserable days on a troopship from Oakland, California to Da Nang, Viet Nam. I witnessed Tet of 1968 up close and personal. In April 1970, I was in a forward base camp 100 meters inside the Cambodian border. I have learned to fly a helicopter, shoot a 4.2 mortar, repair teletype machines, high frequency and tactical radios, land mine detectors and pretty much everything in between. I have teed off a round of golf at midnight in Tronheim, Norway. I was at the 1972 Olympics in Munich when the unthinkable happened. Today I have been listening to the Senate debate about redefining Common Article Three of the Geneva Convention and revocation of habeas corpus. I have watched Senators argue that secret trials and secret evidence is good. Today our values may be time warped to pre-1215 values. I just can’t get my brain around what is being done to our dignity today. I can truthfully say I think I have seen everything. Something is really, really wrong here."
