Political Quotes

“Madam President, in 1988, after speaking with Bobby Muller, a Vietnam veteran who was wounded and later founded the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation--VVAF--to help alleviate the suffering of Vietnamese and Cambodians who were badly injured in the war, I met with President George H. W. Bush and Secretary of State James Baker at the White House. At the time, the United States and Vietnam did not have diplomatic relations. Vietnam's economy had been devastated by the war, but the U.S. had a trade embargo against the country which remained in effect for another 15 years. There were many hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who had been severely disabled due to war injuries, with no access to rehabilitation services. President Bush and Secretary Baker and I agreed that it was in the interest of the United States to begin reconciling with Vietnam by addressing some of the worst legacies of the war and that the way to begin was to use what later became known as the ``Leahy War Victims Fund,'' administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development, to provide artificial limbs and wheelchairs to victims of landmines and other unexploded ordnance--UXO. That initiative, beginning in Vietnam, was expanded over the years to many other countries whose people have been harmed by armed conflict, and it continues to this day.…”