Political Quotes

“NATO is probably arguably one of the most important organizations now in this post-cold war period. NATO, our allies in Europe and Canada, have presently almost 17,000 troops on the ground in Kosovo and 35,000 in Afghanistan. The alliance is strong, and it is very important from the standpoint of being an international organization that can go anywhere and bring order to chaos and back it up with some military capability. That is unique and critical, in my judgment, in this post- Cold War world. NATO itself symbolizes really the cooperative effort across the Atlantic to promote regional and area-wide stability and also to encourage fledgling democracies, particularly in Eastern Europe. This legislation before us recognizes the continuing efforts of Albania, Croatia, Georgia, Macedonia and Ukraine to become members of NATO and encourages them to continue on that path. It is a statement from the Congress that we believe that what they are doing is important, and we believe that they are moving in the right direction.”