Political Quotes

“I visited Nagorno Karabagh in August of 1994. It was one of the grimmest places that I had ever, ever been. The Russian ground missiles have been thrown in there daily for year after year after year. Many people were living down in the basement, people that had lost arms and legs and everything else. This is a difficult issue, and I heard the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) in the committee. I agreed. And just let me say to my colleague, I agree with all of his rationale up until getting away with 907. I also want to say that I want the western oil companies to have this opportunity. But to remove 907 now would send the wrong message and take the pressure off the Azeri Government to come to the peace table. Now, we can lift the blockade and get 907 to go away today by doing one thing: Let the Azeris lift the blockade, and 907 goes. The poor people in Nagorno Karabagh have suffered too much, and the message that this would send would be, I believe, to keep this issue going on longer and longer. Secondly, the administration has failed that had a low level person dealing with this issue. It goes through the Minsk treaty agreement, and we have Russia, and Russia does not want to end this. So what should we do? We should call the Azeris together, call the Armenians together, and have a representative on Nagorno Karabagh come, bring them to Washington, go over to the Eastern Shore, sit down, break bread together. Reconciliation.”