Political Quotes

“I offer this amendment today, an amendment to the Defense bill, along with Senators Cantwell, Grassley, Dayton, Reed, Craig, Landrieu, Harkin, and Boxer, to rectify a DOD policy that is, frankly, unfair, inequitable, inexplicable, and which violates our basic values and beliefs as a nation that believes in freedom of expression and freedom of religion. We are seeking to eliminate the abaya policy still being imposed upon our female soldiers in Saudi Arabia. For those who do not know what this is, the abaya outfit covers, from head to toe, the person wearing it, and this abaya covers the entire military uniform of female officers who serve in Saudi Arabia. This policy is unfair, and it is inexplicable. More than a year ago, I wrote to Secretary Rumsfeld, along with four of my colleagues: Senators Helms, Craig, Nickles, and Collins, and I asked for an explanation from the Department of Defense regarding the abaya mandate upon females stationed in Saudi Arabia. We received interim responses to the letter but never a substantive reply. Finally, the letter was bucked down to General Shelton and then to General Franks. I wrote a second letter to Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz many weeks after our first letter went unanswered. Eventually, we discovered the reason we never received a reply. Frankly, it was too hard for anyone to defend the policy. Everyone was so surprised when they got the letter.…”