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“STATE DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S10705 on Oct. 18, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATE DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, yesterday, we learned that a memorandum from the Inter-Agency Coordinator for the State Department instructed the Voice of America to refrain from broadcasting an editorial denouncing the terrorist act that took the lives of seventeen American sailors on the U.S.S. Cole and expressing the United States' resolute opposition to all terrorism. Apparently she perceived in the editorial an insensitivity to the fact that ``the seventeen or so dead does not compare to the 100+ Palestinians who have died in recent weeks where we have remained silent.''
Mr. President, I was not aware that the United States had remained silent about the loss of life, both Israeli and Palestinian, in the current conflicts threatening the prospects for peace in the Middle East. Indeed, I believe the President and a good many members of Congress have been quite outspoken on the subject. Moreover, the losses incurred in that conflict and our responsibility to do what we can to help bring violence there to an end, does not preclude the United States from strongly, unequivocally addressing the first responsibility of any U.S. Government: the safety of American lives.
I understand that the State Department spokesman has issued a statement calling the official's extraordinarily offensive memorandum
``wrong,'' ``not approved through appropriate channels'' and assuring that it in ``no way reflects the views of the Secretary or the Department.'' Fine, we can let the matter rest there.
Let me add a thought, though. It's a free country, but the official in question is not free to represent her own controversial priorities as official U.S. policy. Should she be unable to meet this basic professional and civic responsibility, perhaps she should seek a place of employment that is more compatible with her views.
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