Political Quotes

“two of the greatest challenges we face today are how to address the needs of post-conflict countries, and countries that are suffering from large-scale natural disasters. These are critical issues, and ones that we cannot afford to get wrong--for the sake of the people living in those nations, and for the sake of our own security. On the post-conflict front, a 2004 commission organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Association of the U.S. Army found, to no one's surprise, that ``failed states matter--for national security as well as for humanitarian reasons. If left to their own devices, such states can become sanctuaries for terrorist networks, organized crime and drug traffickers, as well as posing grave humanitarian challenges and threats to regional stability.'' The most obvious case in point is the reconstruction of Iraq. I've spent many hours on this floor, for three years, making clear that we have to get it right in Iraq. And in addition to Iraq, unfortunately, we can talk about many other states that are either unstable, or are tenuously recovering from past conflicts including Liberia, Afghanistan, East Timor, Kosovo, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Earthquakes, floods, drought and landslides often have the most dire impacts in developing countries that are the least equipped to respond.…”