Posted on: Tuesday, January 8, 2002

Speaker Hastert encourages Pacific Rim to fight terror

By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press

U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert yesterday urged policy-makers in Asia and the Pacific to use their powers to support their governments' diplomatic, political and military responses to terrorism.

Hastert, who was on his way to Japan, was in Honolulu to address the 10th annual Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum.

"We as legislators can and must work in tandem to fight these terrorists. Because it is the job of the legislative branch ... to work to enact or modify laws that make these commitments a reality," Hastert, R-Ill., told more than 100 delegates from 25 Pacific Rim nations.

Hastert warned the delegates "to get the job done, or the horror that visited my nation on Sept. 11 will be repeated, perhaps in your nation."

Hastert has said that during his trip to Japan he will encourage the Japanese to visit Hawai'i and the rest of the United States.

Japan's former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, the forum's president, said it would good if Hastert gets a chance to make his appeal on television. "It would be very strong assurance that someone like the speaker of the House is coming all the way to Japan to assure ... it is safe to travel to the United States," he said.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific, were scheduled to address the forum at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa today.