Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I support the amendment of the Senator from Tennessee. It is a balanced amendment which deals with a very complex situation. What Senator Corker is doing is pointing out very important facts. One is that Pakistan has received a lot of funds from the United States for this particular purpose which is aimed at helping the success of our operations in Afghanistan. The whole purpose of the coalition support fund is to reimburse Pakistan for the support they provide--for instance, in providing security for trucks and other equipment that is going through Pakistan that have oil, fuel, food going into Afghanistan to support the effort in Afghanistan. That is the purpose of these funds. It is a good purpose. This is not a foreign aid deal; this is a reimbursement deal. The problem is that while on the one hand the Pakistanis are assisting us, on the other hand they are assisting our enemy and the enemy of mankind and the enemy of the Afghan people and the enemy of the coalition forces in Afghanistan. That is the problem. That is the dilemma which we all face and which this amendment seeks to address. Again, it does so in a way which doesn't prejudge the outcome of the assessment, but it makes a very important point, which is, as is now stated in the amended final paragraph, that we need recommendations given this ``on the one hand they are with us, on the other hand they are against us'' situation.…”