[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 150 (Thursday, October 4, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S12701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 BURMA

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I have come to the floor every day this 
week to highlight the plight of the Burmese citizens who have bravely 
protested for democratic reform. I have also tried to focus attention 
on the brutal actions that the ruling military junta, the State Peace 
and Development Council, or SPDC, has taken to crack down on its own 
people.
  The whole world watched with horror as Buddhist monks, armed with 
nothing but prayers for peace, met uniformed thugs armed with rifles 
sent to do their Government's bidding. Untold numbers have been 
slaughtered, more are unjustly imprisoned, and the Burmese citizens who 
are left are afraid to step outside of their homes. The SPDC's swift 
and barbaric punishment of the Burmese people seems like a relic from 
another era. But what we have seen on our television sets is all too 
real.
  I thank my fellow Senators for shining a spotlight on the actions of 
the SPDC this week to reveal them for the despots they are.
  I was encouraged when, on Monday, my colleagues adopted a sense-of-
the-Senate resolution we offered with Senator Kerry condemning the SPDC 
for its violent crackdown against the peaceful protesters. And 
yesterday, Senators Boxer and Murkowski held a hearing of the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific 
Affairs on the atrocities in Burma. I appreciated the opportunity to be 
over there and testify at that hearing, along with others. Democratic 
reform in Burma is an issue that has received far too little interest 
for a very long time. But the strong bipartisan support in Congress is 
encouraging.
  To see significant change in Burma, ultimately the U.N. Security 
Council will have to enact meaningful sanctions on the SPDC. Only then 
will the Government be pressured to move toward peaceful 
reconciliation. And for the U.N. Security Council to move, China must 
be persuaded to move. Many changes need to happen in Burma, but until 
they do, I will continue to act and to advocate on behalf of the 
Burmese people on the Senate floor.

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