Political Quotes

“18 years ago I wrote a law that has been repeated annually ever since and is now codified as section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act. It has become widely known as the ``Leahy Law'' and it has two primary purposes. The first is to prevent U.S. taxpayer funded training, equipment, or other assistance from going to units of foreign security forces that have committed heinous crimes. We saw many instances when U.S. aid ended up in the hands of foreign military or police forces that had engaged in rape, murder, torture, or other gross violations of human rights, and the U.S. was tainted by association with those crimes. The second is to encourage foreign governments to bring to justice the individual members of units responsible for such atrocities. In many countries that receive U.S. aid there is a long history of impunity for crimes committed by government security forces. Rather than protect their citizens, they abuse them, and then they beat up or kill witnesses and threaten prosecutors and judges. They act outside the law and literally get away with murder. They are the antithesis of professional, accountable military or police forces. A similar, although not identical, provision that is also known as the Leahy Law is contained in the annual Defense Appropriations Act. Both Leahy Laws serve important national interests and they have become increasingly institutionalized within the U.S. government.…”