Political Quotes

“We are seeing some very dangerous signs coming from Saudi Arabia. There is a lot of corruption over there, signs relative to the stability of the Royal Family. And there is concern over Bin Laden. There is concern that he could get into their oilfields and disrupt them through terrorist activities, or even sink a couple of ships in the Straits of Hormuz, or even try to overthrow the Royal Family. Remember what happened in Iran? Iran and the Shah were our best of friends, but the Shah did not believe that charity began at home. In other words, he was not taking care of his people. That has happened over the decades in Saudi Arabia. If that happened, we would pass this bill tomorrow because we react to the squeaky wheel and that is the crisis. There is absolutely no question about it. Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait--here is our friend Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Bahrain, and a little from Indonesia. We are dependent. I am not standing here and saying if you pass ANWR you will not be dependent, but we will be less dependent and we will send a message that we are doing something positive to relieve our dependence. There is an article here in the New Yorker called 'Kings Ransom' by Seymour Hersh, and he talks about the true threat associated with Saudi Arabia and the plight of the people and the instability of the Royal Family. When we see these things, it behooves us to initiate some action.”