Political Quotes

“I consider it a privilege to follow the distinguished Speaker of the House in recognizing our support for the people of Pakistan and our remorse that the world community of peacemakers has lost the great Benazir Bhutto. I, too, considered her a personal friend. I spent many hours with her, mostly associated with the National Prayer Breakfast here. During the years she was in exile, she came many times to our National Prayer Breakfast, which is always the first Thursday in February. She was a proud participant in the Islamic tradition. However, she was always interested in the teachings of Jesus, and she was very much fascinated by the concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation, and the principles that the last would be first and basically the way that the teachings of Jesus turned the world upside down. And we had coffee with her. We had lunches with her. My wife and I had dinner with her and her controversial husband and got to know him when he was here the last time she was here and visited with us. She was truly a courageous human being, someone who understood the West, yet maintained her solid heartfelt conviction to her favorite country, Pakistan. She spent a lot of time with us, and she truly was a peacemaker. I believe the greatest way to honor her courageous death would be for us to work tirelessly to empower the moderates within Islam to stand with us against radicalization, in any faith, frankly.”