Doug Bereuter: “when people's lives and safety are involved no one should take pleasure in saying, ``I told you so'', and I take no such…”

“when people's lives and safety are involved no one should take pleasure in saying, ``I told you so'', and I take no such pleasure. But any Member who reads, in an objective manner, this morning's Washington Times article about violence in the refugee camps should feel some remorse for this body's role in the debacle currently unfolding in Southeast Asia. Let me briefly catalog the damage wrought so far by section 2104 of H.R. 1561, the American Overseas Interests Act and the rejection of my amendment to delete that section. Two days of rioting by 3,000 boat people in refugee camps in Malaysia have caused at least 13 injuries. Earlier riots in Hong Kong's camps caused more than 200 injuries; of the 1,400 boat people in Thailand camps who had volunteered to return peacefully to Vietnam, most are now resisting repatriation; 1,000 volunteers at camps in Indonesia have withdrawn their requests to return, and voluntary repatriation has also ceased in Hong King with 196 of 200 volunteers now refusing to board a scheduled flight to Vietnam. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other objective observers lay the blame squarely on this legislation for this violence and for the collapse of orderly voluntary repatriation.”