Secretary of State highlights
treaty on first official trip
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright highlighted one of President Clinton�s top priorities,
the Chemical Weapons Convention, on a visit to Houston Feb. 7-8. Her first official trip
garnered strong support for the treaty from former President George Bush and his Secretary
of State James Baker.
President Bush said, �I ... strongly support ... efforts to get
this chemical weapons treaty approved. This should be beyond partisanship. ... I think it
is vitally important for the United States to be out front.... We don�t need chemical
weapons, and we ought to get out front and make clear that we are opposed to others having
them.�
Secretary Albright was in Houston to deliver a speech at Rice University, where she
addressed the James Baker Public Policy Institute Friday.
Former Secretary of State James Baker said, �I continue today to believe in a bipartisan
foreign policy. One example of that is the Chemical Weapons Convention, a treaty that was
negotiated under |
Presidents Reagan and Bush, and that is currently awaiting ratification
by the Senate.
�I support that Convention, for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with domestic
politics, and everything to do with the national interest. I support it because it will
make America and Americans more secure, in a world of terrorists and a world of rogue
states.�
In her address to the Baker Institute, Secretary Albright said: �The President
has asked the Senate to give its approval to a Convention intended to ban chemical weapons from the
face of the Earth. That agreement, known as the Chemical Weapons Convention, will enter
into force on April 29....
�The Convention makes it less likely that our armed forces
will ever again encounter chemical weapons on the battlefield; less likely that rogue
states will have access to the materials needed to build chemical arms; and less likely
that such arms will fall into the hands of terrorists or others hostile to our interests.
�The result will be a safer America and a safer world.� |
