Political Quotes

“I, too, like the distinguished minority leader, remember where I was when this tragic message came. I first thought to myself that not too many months prior thereto I was with our distinguished colleague on a similar mission in that region. Senator Bob Kerrey and I were over there, and we actually landed at the same airport. This was my fifth trip. I was the very first Senator to make a trip to Sarajevo some more than 3 rac{1}{2} years ago. The thought came to my mind where the Secretary had given his life, together with the aircrews'--aircrews that all of us have traveled with. I traveled with those crews and their predecessors for 20-plus years formerly as Secretary of the Navy and now in the U.S. Senate. They are a very dedicated and well trained group of officers and enlisted men. The finest the Air Force has, really, are dedicated to those missions. Those aircraft are somewhat old, but they are well kept. They are not palatial. Of course, with the Secretary were a very distinguished group of Americans from the private sector, and journalists also, who were going to examine that war-torn region, to help provide for those less fortunate than ourselves, who have suffered the tragedies of that conflict, a conflict of which to this day, although I have studied it, I cannot understand the root causes. But, nevertheless, I had known the Secretary. While we are of opposite political persuasions, I always remember him as a man of great humor.”