Political Quotes

“today's vote on the resolution of disapproval is really a vote on if we are truly dedicated to the hard work of getting a full accounting of the missing in action from the Vietnam War. As the Veterans of Foreign Wars has argued, passing this resolution of disapproval will only hurt our efforts at a time that they are receiving the access and cooperation we need from the Vietnamese to determine the fate of our POW/MIAs. There is no more authoritative voice on this issue than our former colleague and now Ambassador to Vietnam, Pete Peterson, who supports the waiver. As a prisoner of war who underwent years of imprisonment in the notorious Hanoi Hilton, he should have every right to be skeptical and harbor bitterness against the Vietnamese. Yet he believes the best course of action is to develop better relations between our countries. We have achieved progress on the POW/MIA issue because of our evolving relationship with the Vietnamese, not despite it. Without access to the jungles and rice paddies, to the archival information and documents, and to the witnesses of these tragic incidents, we cannot give the families of the missing the answers they deserve. Our Nation is making progress in providing these answers. Much of this is due to the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, our military presence in Vietnam who are looking into missing issues.…”