Doug Bereuter: “I do rise as a cosponsor in strong support of H. Res. 282, a resolution congratulating ASEAN on the occasion of its 30th…”

“I do rise as a cosponsor in strong support of H. Res. 282, a resolution congratulating ASEAN on the occasion of its 30th anniversary of creation. I would, however, like to take a few minutes here or a part of a minute or so to speak extemporaneously on what took place on this floor just a minute or two ago when we were debating an Iraqi resolution. What we say and what we do on this floor on international relations does matter, and we ought to be careful with what we say to make sure it is accurate. Now it was said a few minutes ago, in some hyperbole no doubt, that the U.S. taxpayer stands behind tens of billions of dollars of assistance to Indonesia. That is not factual. There is a standby allocation to assist with the financial problems and the currency exchange rates in Indonesia. The U.S. is willing to be a backup to the IMF, but it is nothing approaching that amount, and perhaps that backup will not be used. We also heard a lot of rhetoric here about evenhandedness when it comes to Turkey and the Kurds and Iraq. Well, we also might have said we need evenhandedness when it comes to terrorist organizations like the PKK, and I think it is inappropriate for us to demonize countries unless the facts are on our side.”