Patrick Leahy: “Mr. President, back in the 1980s, about 15 years ago, I flew in a helicopter from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to the border of…”

“Mr. President, back in the 1980s, about 15 years ago, I flew in a helicopter from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to the border of Honduras and Nicaragua. It was at the height of the Iran-contra war. On the way I met with the contras there at their camp. And on the way back, there was a clearing in the jungle. You could see a Quonset hut with a red cross on the top. We landed there. It was a field hospital. There was a dirt floor inside, with beds, and an operating room next to it. Inside I met a little boy, probably about 12 years old, with one leg; he had a homemade crutch. He had no place to live, and the doctors let him stay there on sort of a makeshift bed of blankets and rags in the corner. He was a nice boy. He had no idea who I was or what I was doing there. He was just excited to see a helicopter come in. I talked with him through a translator. He had lost his leg from a landmine along one of the trails near where his family lived. They were farmers. I asked him if the landmine was placed there by a Sandinista or a contra. He didn't have the foggiest idea.”