Douglas L. Peterson: “today the President will announce the renewal of diplomatic relations to Vietnam. I applaud these efforts. It is time.…”

“today the President will announce the renewal of diplomatic relations to Vietnam. I applaud these efforts. It is time. For the record, I spent 6 rac{1}{2} years as a POW in Vietnam. I know about as much about Vietnam as anyone in the House. I am convinced that these efforts will enhance our search for the fate of the missing MIA's. We have made significant progress over the last 4 years in our joint efforts with the Vietnamese, searching all over Vietnam, with access to prisons, access to virtually anyone on the street, and certainly access to their archives. We have sincere, trustworthy, and competent people working together in Vietnam in this effort. But now we are at a point if we do not renew diplomatic relations, the Vietnamese could unilaterally just say get out of here, we quit. We do not want to lose the progress we have made. It is time for diplomatic relations. It is time to move on, with the world bringing Vietnam into the League of Nations.”