[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21835]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      THE CHILDREN OF SIERRA LEONE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN F. TIERNEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 5, 2000

  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, if you are paying attention to the House 
floor at this moment, please listen very closely to what some of my 
colleagues and I are discussing. Because we are talking about saving 
children who are being savaged and we desperately need your help.
  If you can, please stop what you are doing for a second--I know we're 
all very busy right now, but again this is important. So, please, stop 
what you are doing and remember for a moment what you felt like when 
you were a child, especially if you had moments in which you felt very 
vulnerable in any way.
  Now, take that feeling, and try to imagine living in a community 
ripped by the throes of war--your parents are missing, friends, sisters 
and brothers beaten, broken and battered, if even still alive.
  And as you imagine this life, now look down at your arms and legs. 
Imagine an arm or a leg or more mutilated and even severed from your 
body. Think about that. Can you even bear to imagine it?
  As hard as it is to believe, there are children today who don't have 
to imagine this horror because they live it. They see where their arms 
and legs once were. They know that their family has been destroyed.
  They are the children of Sierra Leone.
  And no matter what your politics are, humanity calls us to act. 
Support funding for peacekeeping now. Support Tony Hall's bill to halt 
the illegal diamond trade that funds this butchering now. Don't wait. 
Support ending the horrific suffering of these children now.

                          ____________________