Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007

SUDAN ACCOUNTABILITY AND DIVESTMENT ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - December 18, 2007)

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Mr. CLEAVER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the fact that this Congress is taking some action. And if this cause is just, it will eventually triumph, in spite of all of the deaths, disease, doubts and disappointments. If this cause is just, and I believe that it is, it will eventually triumph, in spite of all of the rapes, all of the apathy, all of the cynicism, and all of the ``look the other way'' by nations in the region and, in fact, around the world.

This tragedy in Darfur shows that genocide is better at abolishing people than people are at abolishing genocide. One speaker earlier mentioned the Balkans. And so genocide is not new. This is not new. The main reason history repeats itself is because the world didn't pay attention the first time. And it seems to me that this provides us with an opportunity to stand up any time we begin to see that genocide is occurring anywhere around this planet.

In the war of right and wrong, the United States of America, and certainly this Congress, cannot afford to be neutral. Some businesses in the United States and around the world are probably like a catsup bottle. We may need to slap them on the bottoms a few times to get them moving. I think this legislation will, in fact, do that; and I commend the sponsors and the chairman and the ranking member of our committee, as well as Ms. Lee from California, for standing up and making sure that when the United States can make an impact in the world, we, in fact, do.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I didn't want to just echo what my friend has said, and so I yield myself 30 seconds. My appreciation for the fact that we on both sides here, the majority and minority on the committee, were able to work so well together, and I mentioned some staffers, Mr. Pinder of the minority staff working well with Mr. Segel, Mr. McGlinchey and Mr. Tsentas and this is very well drafted legislation. I am very proud of it. It achieves a moral purpose in a very thoughtful way.

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