Steny Hoyer: “No region of the world in my opinion holds out more promise and presents more peril than the Middle East. Our Nation's…”

“No region of the world in my opinion holds out more promise and presents more peril than the Middle East. Our Nation's security is closely tied to the developments there, from our efforts in post-Hussein Iraq where 130,000 American troops are on the ground today, to our desire to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, to the continuing hunt for al Qaeda operatives, to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian crisis. The United States... has interests and allies throughout the region but we have only, in my opinion, one true friend there, the democratic state of Israel. As President Kennedy remarked 40 years ago, he said this, 'We will never turn our back on our steadfast friends in Israel whose alliance to the democratic way must be admired by all friends of freedom.'”