Charles, the most central thing to me about Mike Gravel was how he came to be Senator, by belittling and dragging our former gutsy, smart, dedicated-to-Alaska Senator Ernest Gruening through the Viet Nam war mud. Gruening was one of only two U.S. Senators (Wayne Morse was the other) who stood up to Lyndon Johnson and rabid pro-war "domino" theorists, and refused to vote for the pro-invasion Gulf of Tonkin resolution that led to sending a half-million U.S. troops to fight a near-decade long "police action" (not a war), and cost the lives of over 50,000 American soldiers, and has left tens of thousands more physically damaged and emotionally/spiritually scarred. And, to what end? I don't understand how you could leave that out - It has so many parallels to Iraq and all that has followed..