Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from Texas for speaking with me on this issue. We have been working on it together. Exhibit 1 U.S. Senate, Washington, DC, March 12, 2012. Hon. Leon R. Panetta, Secretary of Defense, Washington, DC. Dear Secretary Panetta: We write to express our grave concern regarding the Department of Defense's ongoing business dealings with Rosoboronexport, the same Russian state-controlled arms export firm that continues to provide the Syrian government with the means to perpetrate widespread and systematic attacks on its own people. According to the United Nations, over 7,500 Syrian civilians have reportedly been killed in the attacks by the desperate regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and we continue to receive grisly accounts that his government forces are summarily executing, imprisoning, and torturing demonstrators and innocent by-standers. Russia remains the top supplier of weapons to Syria, selling reportedly $1 billion or more worth of arms to Syria in 2011 alone. Its arms shipments to Syria have continued unabated during the ongoing popular uprising there. According to Thomson Reuters shipping data, since December 2011, at least four cargo ships have travelled from the Russian port used by Rosoboronexport to the Syrian port of Tutus.…”