Political Quotes

“Is this it? A modest turnout. [Laughter] First, I want to thank everybody for coming here because the importance that I place on this Fast Track negotiating authority is critical, a highest priority. I look around this room and I see many who know of my interest in and have been terribly supportive in strengthening a relationship with Mexico. Mexico is in the big middle of this, and so is our free trade with the Europeans. The Uruguay round relies on our getting Fast Track authority. So, I'm glad to see so many of you again. And what I wanted to do on this point, this business point, is to encourage your strong support to the Members of the Congress for Fast Track negotiating authority. And if we get it, I believe we can get a free-trade agreement with Mexico. I think it will be good for the United States of America, I think it will be good for jobs in this country, and I think it will be darn good for Mexico as well. We're starting down that free-trading hemisphere, which is a wonderful concept. Those that worry about loss of jobs, they don't need--take a look at history. When you get this kind of an agreement, it expands job opportunities. And in this case, it also strengthens a friend, President Salinas of Mexico, who's seen on his end relations between Mexico and the United States have never been better. They really have never been better. So, that's one point. The second point I wanted to make--and we can talk about it in a minute--is about the human suffering in Iraq. I've just put out a statement that shows that we will be doing more. We've already tried to help with the refugees, but we're going to step that way up, and we are going to be dropping supplies to these Kurdish refugees. Jim Baker will be going to the area to talk to other countries, but starting with the conversations in Turkey itself--Turkey threatened by an enormous amount of refugees pouring across their border. I made my positions clear yesterday, and I'll say it again here, that I have no intention of putting American troops into this situation. We've fulfilled our objectives in that regard. But we are going to do what America has always done, and that is, when people are hurting and being brutalized, we're going to help. We're going to continue to help. I saluted in this statement I put out to the British and the-- [applause]. And you know, it's heartbreaking when you see these families on the road, pushed out by a brutal dictator. So, we will do what we can to help there without being bogged down into a ground force action in Iraq. That is not our intention, never has been, and won't be. But we can help a lot, and we will. And we are, as a matter of fact. Aid to Iraqi Refugees”