Joe Biden: “on October 18 the Voice of America broadcast an editorial entitled ``Terrorism Will Fail,'' strongly condemning the…”

“on October 18 the Voice of America broadcast an editorial entitled ``Terrorism Will Fail,'' strongly condemning the terrorist bomb attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Aden harbor, which took the lives of 17 U.S. sailors. The editorial concluded: ``U.S. policy remains unchanged. The U.S. will make no concessions to terrorists. The U.S. will bring to justice those who attack its citizens and interests. The U.S. will hold state sponsors of terrorism fully accountable.'' This is unambiguous language, which reflects not only United States government policy but also the feelings of all Americans. Unfortunately, however, the bureaucratic road from writing, to approval, to broadcasting this editorial was anything but unambiguous. In fact, it revealed both initial bad judgment by the State Department, and the need for better vetting procedures of VOA editorials by the appropriate authorities. VOA editorials are statements of American policy, so they are rightly cleared by the State Department for consistency with official U.S. Government policy. Regrettably, in this case the State Department initially vetoed the editorial's language. The reason for stopping the editorial was totally unjustified. It was dead wrong to stop the editorial because of fighting and casualties that were occurring elsewhere in the Middle East.”