Political Quotes

“At the conclusion of the hearing, we agreed to press forward with this legislation to create a special envoy at the State Department, someone at the ambassador level to elevate this issue for the attention it deserves. We need a high-level official dedicated to religious freedom in the region, committed to addressing the concerns of the minority communities. I am very, very pleased that this legislation has attracted very solid bipartisan support. We have 78 cosponsors, an even split between Republicans and Democrats, all calling for the State Department to elevate religious freedom in the Middle East as a diplomatic priority. There is a history for this. Senator John Danforth served our Nation as special envoy to Sudan, and Senator George Mitchell as special envoy to Northern Ireland, so there is precedent for this. I want to speak of a meeting I had in my office last week. Three Dominican nuns, sisters who traveled from Iraq, and they once again relayed their story of what is happening to them. They have been dispersed across Iraq. They teach everyone regardless of their background, Muslims, Christians, no matter what the background is. And in their hospitals, they care for whomever is sick and wounded. And yet their convents have been burned, the statute of the Blessed Mother's hands chopped off and placed at their door. So these threats are very real. They are very real. That is just one example of it. So this history of violence must and should be dealt with.…”