Below are rough notes of Senator Mc Cain on the floor of the US Senate
SENATE FLOOR
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-AZ
TOPIC: Speaks of the 26-year old young woman, Neda Soltan, who was killed in Iran over the weekend. Her shooting was captured in dramatic video that has become an Internet sensation. McCain reads some of the posts -- and calls Neda "a kind of Joan of Arc" and says the incident "may be the defining moment" of the uprising. (Fox hasnt independently verified her identity.)
There is a news report from
14:14:51the associated press entitled "iranian police use force to break up protests. tehran, iran, riot police attack hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas and fired live bullets in the air to disperse a rally
14:15:07in central tehran monday, carrying out a threat by the country's most powerful security force to crush any further opposition protests over the disputed presidential election. witnesses said helicopters
14:15:22hovered over head as about 200 protesters gathered at a square, but hundreds of antiriot police quickly put an end to the demonstration and prevented any gathering, even small groups, at the scene. iran said at least 17 protesters
14:15:40 have been killed in a week of unrest after the electoral press said that ahmadinejad was the winner are of the elections. severe restrictions on reporters
14:15:55 have made it almost impossible to report on any demonstrations, clashes an casualties. iran has ordered reporters from foreign news agencies to stay in their offices barring them from any reporting on the streets. so the story goes on.
14:16:16 demonstrations followed by repression, followed by murder in the streets and as these things seem to evolve, an event took place which may be the
2:16:32 p.m.defining moment just yesterday in the struggle of the iranian people to be able to peacefully disagree with their government in this case because of a
14:16:46corrupt and fraudulent election without being killed in the streets and beaten and imprisoned. and it has to do with a woman named neda, and i quote from an nbc news story dated june 22,
14:17:082009. and i quote -- "she sinks to the ground and a few minutes later she's dead. a video that has been repeatedly posted on the internet reports to show the last moments of
14:17:24 neda, a young iranian woman shot in the heart by government sharp shooters." overnight she has become a symbol of the opposition. the shaky blurred images of a young woman collapses on to the pavement.
14:17:38a dark pool of blood spreads beneath her body. two men kneel against the -- next to the woman and press on her chest emscreaming. the camera filming him zooms in on her face, her face turns to the side and blood streams out
14:17:57of her nose an mouth. neda, don't be afraid says 1 man. another man seeks to put her in the car and the video stops.
the video appeared on the
14:18:13 network sites facebook and twitter saturday evening and it became a viral sensation being forwarded repeatedly. user groups were determined to get around youtube's ability to get around the graphic film.
14:18:29 it became forwarded so often, that it became imresponsible for youtube to remove it.
so -- so, mr. president, we've seen, as we have in cases of brutal repression throughout
14:18:46 history, the living example or the dying example of martyrdom. and by sunday morning neda became the fifth most commented topic on twitter.
14:19:00 she had already become a kind of joan of arc. -- quote -- "it took only one bullet to kill neda, it will take only one neda to stop iranian tyranny was one posting. quote neda died with opened
14:19:20eyes. shame on us who lived with closed eyes. they killed neda, but not her voice was another. during the day, people replaced their profile pictures with tributes to the young woman such as, "i am neda," or "neda
14:19:38forever." another posted images of a broken heart in green, the color of the opposition movement. so, mr. president, a debate has been going on as to how much the united states of america, its president, the congress, and the
14:19:53american people should speak out in favor and in support of these brave iranians, average age in tehran is 33 years of age, and their quest for the fundamentals
14:20:09of freedom and democracy that we have enjoyed for more than a couple of centuries.
so, mr. president, today i, and all america, pays tribute to a brave young woman who was trying
14:20:26to exercise her fundamental human rights and was killed on the streets of tehran. all americans are with her. our thoughts and our prayers for her, her family, and her
14:20:41countrymen.
