Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, of the hundreds of votes we cast in this Chamber each year I believe money is more important than the issue of deploying our troops abroad and placing them in harm's way. While I believe it is fully appropriate for Congress to have a voice in the crucial decisions, I also know that there are some in this debate who are motivated by questions of domestic politics rather than foreign policy. They want to score political points at the President's expense and I think that is regrettable. This important debate over the nature and extent of our military involvement in the Balkans should be driven by long-term national interests, not short-term political considerations. It is on the basis of our long-term national interests that I oppose the resolution to authorize the President to deploy American troops to Kosovo. I am not pleased to find myself at odds with a major foreign policy initiative of my President. But I come to this position based on a close evaluation of U.S. foreign policy in the Balkans. Mr. Chairman, the Balkans are a complicated, dangerous area. For six centuries Kosovo has marked the confluence of three vastly different cultures. Since the first battle of Kosovo in 1389, these cultures, Western, Slavic and Islamic, have clashed violently at this very spot. These battles are not over something so simple as land or even as valuable as mineral rights.…”