Political Quotes

“I had said earlier here on the floor that this administration apparently wants to compensate Iraqi prisoners who were abused in the prison in Baghdad, and I understand why Secretary Rumsfeld has reached that conclusion, but I also pointed out that I was puzzled that the administration, on the other hand, was opposing American ex-POWs who had been held in captivity in Iraq during the first Gulf War getting compensation from the Iraqi Government. So there seems to be a double standard. On the one hand, the administration is willing to compensate the Iraqi prisoners who were abused and opposes the American prisoners who were abused from getting compensation. But there is a second contradiction, a second example of where this administration seems to favor people in Iraq versus the good old, homegrown American. An example is the fact that just last week it was reported that, back in December, Paul Bremer, who is our point man in Iraq, had gone to the Department of Labor and secured $5 million, and this was $5 million that the Congress had no awareness of, in order to pay unemployment compensation to former Iraqi soldiers.”