Political Quotes

“Today I voted against both House resolutions that are the wrong response to the United States participation in an international coalition to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Libya. I do not, however, support an open-ended commitment. Additionally, my vote last week for the Conyers amendment to bar all funds from being used to deploy, establish, or maintain a presence of Members of the Armed Services or private security contractors on the ground in Libya makes clear I only support a limited U.S. role. Too often the greatest powers, including the United States, have failed to act when they could have intervened in a responsible way to stop the slaughter of innocents. In Libya, it was clear that there was a crisis developing and America, with our NATO allies, the Arab League, and the UN Security Council, appropriately provided limited support to rebel forces. That assistance included a no-fly zone that has undoubtedly saved thousands of lives. It would have been an unfortunate precedent and undermined key global institutions if we failed to act with such a clear, unified call for intervention. Inaction would have endangered the recent display of democratic aspirations by so many in the region. Our failure to act would have emboldened the despots of Syria, Iran, Yemen and others, suggesting there were no consequences for murdering peaceful protesters.…”