Bob Kerrey: “I, too, rise to support the amendment that will be offered shortly by the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts.…”

“I, too, rise to support the amendment that will be offered shortly by the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts. First of all, we must, here in this Senate, be alert to the risk to lives of Americans in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. That is the first order of business of this resolution. We have lives at risk there. An Ambassador and his family's lives are at risk. Second, though, what we are saying here is, now is not the time to quit in Cambodia. For all the reasons cited by Senator McCain of Arizona, all the reasons that he has cited about the terrible suffering that has gone on in Cambodia for the last 30 years, in addition to that, we have a toehold of democracy there. The rule of law is at stake. An agreement was signed in Paris in 1991, and an election with 90 percent of the population voting in 1993, we have a great success possible in Cambodia, and now is not the time for us to say, 'Well, it's Cambodia, it's a long ways away, it is not important.' It is important. America needs to go to the Security Council of the United Nations and say that we want to consider all options to make certain that the rule of law and democracy survive inside Cambodia.”