Political Quotes

“I want to report today on a visit I made to Haiti 2 weeks ago. It was a very brief visit, but I came away from it profoundly moved. I saw people, lots of people. Haiti, one of our closest neighbors, is crowded to bursting with people. It has the highest population density in the Western Hemisphere. And most of these people are poor, incredibly poor. Haiti's unemployment rate must be 50 percent. The people have no jobs, so they jam the streets. They are struggling to survive on a few cents a day. In the vast Cite Soleil slum, they line up to get water from truck-supplied tanks--if and when the truck comes to deliver the water. Garbage and sewage are everywhere. Disease, including AIDS, is a pervasive threat. And yet, Mr. President, in the midst of all this suffering, I found people anxious to shake my hand, to smile, and to say 'thank you.' Thank you? Why would they thank me, a foreigner surrounded by soldiers and policemen? Mr. President, they were thanking me because I am an American. They were thanking me because we, the American people, have given them the thing that is even more valuable than food to eat. Mr. President, we have given the Haitian people security. For the first time in 3 years, the Haitian people do not have to cower in corners fearing that they will be assaulted by thugs or dragged off to be tortured. For the first time in 3 years, they are free to go into the streets, laugh, dance, celebrate freedom.”