Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the distinguished senior Senator from Alaska for yielding. I was interested in hearing her speech too. Landmines The Presiding Officer represents the beautiful Commonwealth of Massachusetts. But consider if 15 percent of the land area of Massachusetts was littered with 100,000 landmines or if my State of Vermont, with a slightly larger land area, was littered with landmines. Each one a tiny explosive buried a few inches beneath the surface of the ground, and it explodes when an unsuspecting person steps on it. Each one capable of killing a child or blowing the legs off of an adult. This may sound far-fetched, but it is not. It is the reality today for many countries--from Vietnam to Angola to Colombia. But if that were the reality in our States, I think we would all agree that these inherently indiscriminate weapons--designed to be triggered by the victim regardless of whether it is a civilian or combatant--do not belong in the arsenal of a civilized country. In fact, 161 nations have already agreed, and they have joined together in an international treaty banning antipersonnel mines. They include every member of NATO except one--the United States. They include every country in this hemisphere except two--the United States and Cuba. We condemn the use of IED's against our soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan, and of course we should. But why not condemn antipersonnel landmines? There is really no appreciable difference.…”