Don Nickles: “I would conclude that to prohibit U.S. contributions involved in any way dealing with, I think--we have exceptions for…”

“I would conclude that to prohibit U.S. contributions involved in any way dealing with, I think--we have exceptions for drug interdiction. Can we spend money in Burma for drug interdiction, drug identification, undercover or otherwise? I think we should have an opportunity. Existing law says no U.S. cooperation with SLORC on the drug issue, frankly because we don't trust them. So the Cohen amendment would actually weaken existing law in terms of the U.S. relationship with SLORC. Let me point out to my colleagues what action has been taken this month in the European Parliament. First, the European Parliament has condemned torture, arrests, detentions, and human rights abuses perpetrated by SLORC. Obviously, that is an easy thing to do. It supports the suspension of concessional lending to SLORC, a little tougher step.”