I object. I see no reason why they shouldn't have to repay the money.
There absolutely is, Congressman, and I must strongly encourage you to lift that objection.
This measure was agreed upon after discussions on the National Security Council and talks with the government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, all of this in the context of normalizing our relationship with Cambodia and securing a number of relevant objectives in our foreign policy in the Far East that far outweigh the cost of this particular debt - there is, sadly, a limit to the level of detail I can go on due to classified information being a factor -.
And even if the argument of a measure critical to our foreign policy in the region - and I do not exaggerate - was not enough to warrant passage of this resolution, there is certainly both a realistic need and a moral imperative for it. A simple brief look at the context will display how it was the U.S foreign policy in Southeast Asia which caused significant harm to the Kingdom of Cambodia, one of the consecuences being the very same famine a government which took control following a coup d'etat tried to combat by requesting a U.S loan for food aid.
Not only it has ceased to be realistic to persist on payment attempts following decades of Cambodian refusals to repay a loan partly caused by the U.S intervention - even at a high economic cost for them to continue refusing -, it is a permanent problem in an appropiate restoration of a relationship with a relevant partner in a particularly key region in the current context. Much as it isn't our normal policy to forgive such debts, this is a pretty unique situation - the resolution makes it clear - and it is justified on moral grounds, on realistic grounds, and on the necessities of our foreign policy in the region, which I may note (if you can forgive my attitude) has thus far been a success.
I urge you, Congressman, not to block or oppose a necessary measure.
