Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Joins Operation Yellow Elephant!

This exchange is all over the news and the blogs. It arose in a discussion of the lack of casualty estimates for the Surge in Iraq. Here it is:

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SENATOR BARBARA BOXER:

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Now, the issue is who pays the price, who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young. You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, within immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families, and I just want to bring us back to that fact.

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So who pays the price? Not me. Not you. These are the people who pay the price.

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SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE:

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And let me just say, you know, I fully understand the sacrifice that the American people are making, and especially the sacrifice that our soldiers are making, men and women in uniform. I visit them. I know what they're going through. I talk to their families. I see it.

I could never -- and I can never -- do anything to replace any of those lost men and women in uniform, or the diplomats, some of whom --

SENATOR BARBARA BOXER: Madame Secretary, please, I know you feel terrible about it. That's not the point. I was making the case as to who pays the price for your decisions.

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OYE Comment: Well, we would have observed that it appears that neither Sen. Boxer nor Secretary of State Rice personally know any enlisted servicemembers or junior officers, who are most at risk in combat. [We welcome any factual clarifications.] Looking at the broader context of personal connections to anyone actually doing the fighting, this is a legitimate question and we therefore welcome Senator Boxer to Operation Yellow Elephant.