Political Quotes

“I address the Senate today because I have done my very best as one Senator to bring this to the attention of our President, and hopefully, through this floor speech, to the attention of the other heads of state and government who will come to Washington. Again, I continue to urge my plea not to put this 'Strategic Concept' in final form in this forthcoming Summit. I encourage my colleagues who may share my views on this critical issue to likewise speak out before it is too late, in an effort to prevent a rush to judgment on NATO's future. NATO is simply too important to our national security to do any less. On a related issue, I am distressed to hear statements by my colleagues, and some in the administration, which tie NATO's future to a successful--I repeat successful--outcome in Kosovo. I personally support the objectives that have been stated time and time again by the NATO ministers, and indeed our President, our Secretaries of State and Defense. We all know we have to create a situation so the refugees can be returned. We know we have to have in place a military force, the composition of which I think should be flexible. It does not have to be all United States--absolutely not. Maybe other nations not in NATO will join. We need flexibility there to allow these people to return in a secure environment and to have a measure of self-government, of autonomy. They deserve no less. Those are the basics.…”