Political Quotes

“central to the Senate's debate on lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia must be our understanding of the U.N. Charter. There could hardly be a more appropriate anniversary for this debate. Exactly 50 years ago--throughout April and May of 1944-- Secretary of State Cordell Hull met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to develop the American negotiating positions on the U.N. Charter. The U.S. proposals hammered out in those meetings were presented at Dumbarton Oaks not 4 miles from here in the summer of 1944 and then refined at the San Francisco Conference the following year. Does the U.N. Charter--the product of these prodigious labors-- provide the legal authority to the Security Council to forbid the United States to come to the aid of another sovereign state which is indisputably the subject of an armed attack? Mr. President, let me address two quite separate topics which have often been merged in this debate: Can we legally disregard the Security Council embargo on providing arms to Bosnia? And, quite a separate question, should we do so? First, has the Security Council exceeded its legal authority by forbidding members of the United Nations to come to Bosnia's defense? Put a different way, does the United States have the legal right to provide arms to Bosnia? The answer is yes. I do not relish making this case. The Security Council is the crown jewel of the U.N. Charter.…”