Political Quotes

“I want to bring Senators up to date on the progress of the past 2 months since the Leahy amendment for a moratorium on the use of antipersonnel landmines was signed into law. That amendment received bipartisan support from about two-thirds of the Senate. It was supported by the House-Senate conference committee, and it was signed by the President on February 12. I want to thank all those Senators who voted for it. I would also like to thank those Senators who have come up to me since the vote who did not vote for it and said now they wished they had because of the havoc that the mines have wreaked in Bosnia. In fact, in Bosnia just since December, 38 NATO soldiers have been injured, 7 have been killed by landmines, including 3 Americans. There are 3 million landmines left in Bosnia. To put that in perspective, there are 3 million landmines in a country about the size of Tennessee. They will kill and maim civilians for decades after our troops leave. Children going to school, farmers working in their fields, and people going to market will be dying long after most of us have left the U.S. Senate.”