Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I returned Monday from a very successful bipartisan congressional delegation that included meetings with the Russian Duma, the exiled king of Afghanistan, representatives of the United Front fighting the Taliban, and Turkish foreign and military affairs officials. I want to praise my colleagues, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz), for chairing this trip. I also want to commend all of my colleagues for their hard work and dedication to these meetings. We had a real team working together, and I think because of our teamwork, we were very successful. Mr. Speaker, I want to say also that this is not a battle between the East versus West, it is not a battle that is Muslim versus Christian. It comes down to a travesty that happened September 11 that hurt, injured, and lost the lives of many Americans. But what I learned on this trip when we traveled to Russia and Italy and Turkey is that most of the world has experienced terrorism for a number of years. We have been immune from terrorism, but not anymore. Now we have to face up to our responsibilities, knowing that other countries have had to live with it for many years, and now we, as the superpower. We are the only superpower now. It used to be the Soviet Union and the United States, so now it has come down to just the United States. It puts us in a position where we must act, and we will act.”