[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 13 (Thursday, February 10, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
         FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH SHOULD CHECK THE FACTS ON BOSNIA

  (Mr. WISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, today as the hell of Bosnia once again forces 
our country to evaluate the consequences of military action, I was 
appalled to see former President George Bush state, in a grab for 
applause lines in his remarks:

       The United States can't wait for somebody else to decide 
     what we have to do. If I had sat around and waited before 
     Desert Storm for the Congress to come along, Saddam Hussein 
     would be in Riyadh today.

  I urge former President Bush to use the fact check in his computer 
before writing his memoirs.
  The fact is that checking with the Congress and the American people 
is something we call democracy. The fact is that before Desert Storm, 
President Bush did not send our children to the Persian Gulf without 
consulting Congress and, in fact, that was one of the high points of 
the Congress, that debate on Desert Storm. It was not his decision. It 
was the Nation's decision.
  The fact is that Bosnian tragedy has been on President Bush's watch 
as long as it was on President Clinton's watch, and indeed one of the 
tragedies is that President Bush did not seek to engage the American 
people in a discussion of Bosnia.
  So I would suggest that former President Bush think more carefully 
before criticizing President Clinton for fulfilling his most sacred 
trust of all, and that is involving the people and their 
representatives in the very crucial decisions of military engagement.

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