Political Quotes

“the Senator from Missouri wants accountability. That is fine. But from a slew of career Foreign Service officers who had absolutely nothing--nothing--to do with whatever decisions were made in Afghanistan, that is where the accountability is going to come from? These are people who have committed their lives to serving the United States of America. They have committed their lives either in Republican or Democratic administrations. It doesn't matter. They carry out the mission of the United States and its foreign policy as dictated by the President and Congress. They had nothing--nothing--Sao Tome and Principe? The Congo? Somalia? Algeria? Lesotho? Cameroon? Vietnam?--to do with the decisions in Afghanistan. Yet they are the ones we are going to extract a pound of flesh of accountability from--on people who had absolutely nothing to do with the decisions on Afghanistan and who have committed their lives to the career Foreign Service. These aren't political nominees. These are career Foreign Service officers. I heard my colleague talk about--that our enemies around the world are emboldened. Well, guess what. They are really going to be emboldened when we have no Ambassador to counter them in these countries, because they have gotten clear sailing. They can do whatever they want. They can talk to those heads of state. There is no American Ambassador to go in and talk to that head of state and say: Mr. President or Mr.…”