Political Quotes

“Several years ago, I and a number of my colleagues took a trip. One of the places we went to was Angola. It was a beautiful country. It is a country that has been devastated by war. We did not see the wild animals roaming the plains as they did at one time. We did not see the oil fields pumping as well as they should have. What we did see were hundreds of people who had been injured by landmines. Their legs were gone, their arms were gone. We, of course, did not see the people who were killed on a daily basis in Angola from landmines. If Angola were the only place in the world that had been devastated by landmines, perhaps we should not take the time of this body by looking at it. But Angola is important, and where the antipersonnel landmines have ravaged the countryside, we in this body must be concerned. I rise today, having introduced an amendment to accelerate the removal of millions of abandoned antipersonnel landmines. This is just one more important step in the long and difficult job of stopping forever the killing and maiming of innocent men, women and children, by these useless relics of warfare and terrorism.”