Thomas Daschle: “I must say, passage of this amendment, as well intended as it might be, is unwise. First, as the Senator from Alaska has…”

“I must say, passage of this amendment, as well intended as it might be, is unwise. First, as the Senator from Alaska has noted, this amendment has no real legislative effect because it appropriates money only for this fiscal year ending September 30, 1997. But it does have a profound effect in the message it sends to people around the world, especially in that part of the world most directly affected by our actions and by our intentions. For us to say unequivocally that regardless of circumstance, regardless of the situation, regardless of whether or not there is peace and the kind of stability we have been able to achieve now in the last couple of years, that we are removing every vestige of U.S. military presence, in my view, sends exactly the wrong message. We need to be very careful about the message we send. We need to ensure that our military presence there has the maximum effect for as long as it may be required.”