AP Soundite of Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel
"When you look at the record, it has to be at least past efforts haven't succeeded, you can draw two conclusions from that. One is don't try, two is to try but to be aware of just how difficult this is. And we go into this knowing fully well how difficult this is going to be. We are not under any illusions, but we feel that there are fifty to fifty-five million people in the country who deserve the efforts of the international community to try to help bring about progress, and we're very committed to that."
"The bottomline, I think is that if the political process...it's not just about the election, it's about the entire political process - before the election, during and after. If that is not a fully inclusive process that includes the participation of the party and parties that won the vast majority of the votes in the last election, it's very hard for me to see how it will be credible."
