opposed to the war in iraq from the beginning. i'm not going to -- i'm not going to impugn him in any way. i'm just telling you from my experience, and i was rather close to the president when he was in the united states senate, that was absolutely not the case. >> as you can tell, this tap dancing around what to do about this gates memoir is fascinating. look at this statement from the white house that they put out last night from the national security council spokesperson. she writes, as as always been the case, the president welcomes differences of view among his national security team which broaden his options and enhance our policies. the strongest defense in there is reserved for vice president biden. more from this quote. from his leadership on the balkans in the senate, to his efforts to end the war in iraq, joe biden has been one of the leading statesmen of his time and has helped advance america's leadership in the world. president obama relies on his good counsel every day. there are others that say, by the way, that biden and the reason why he was the one