Political Quotes

“the debate on this amendment is not about whether there is evidence that U.S. servicemen were left behind in Indochina. That question was the one that the POW-MIA Select Committee grappled with in 1991-1992. We tried to answer that question. We left a very extensive record to deal with on that question. We had disagreements on certain issues. And we found consensus on a lot of other issues. Rather, I think the debate on this Kerry amendment is about whether we can truthfully say that the families of our missing have received the fullest possible accounting of their loved ones. I think the answer is, obviously, no. There are some who say that the Vietnamese have shown somehow incredible rare openness and a rare amount of cooperation to provide us with information. As a matter of fact, you can say Vietnam has provided us with some information, helmets, photographs, artifacts and the like. But my colleagues and the public cannot fully understand what it is that the Vietnamese gave us unless they also know what the Vietnamese did not give us. So let me explain. To say that the Vietnamese are cooperating is a relative assertion. Compared to what, I ask? Certainly photos and helmets are an enormous breakthrough compared to nothing, which is what we were getting prior to that unseemly exhibition last October. Those who fell all over themselves to assign a great significance to the Vietnamese gesture must certainly recognize its hollowness now.”