Senator Robert Byrd, 88, one of Congress's most eloquent and outspoken critics of the US military presence in Iraq, became the US Senate's longest-serving member. The frail octogenarian who hobbles through the corridors of the Senate with the aid of a cane in each hand was first elected to the legislature's upper chamber in 1958. Known for his florid oratory, in recent years he has given numerous speeches from the Senate floor against the upward spiraling cost of rebuilding Iraq and the US motives for invading that country. He has represented the eastern coal-mining state of West Virginia the Senate...
