[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 44 (Wednesday, April 20, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                                 BOSNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. McCloskey] is recognized for 5 minutes.

  Mr. McCLOSKEY. Mr. Speaker, I probably will take less than my 5 
minutes and have really no prepared remarks. As some may know, I did 
not take the House earlier today to talk about the terrible ongoing 
situation in Gorazde. My office is now patched for verbal discussion 
with the major of Gorazde and truly that has to be one of the most 
slaughter-prone tragic areas on the planet right now.
  Indeed, as some may know from my previous remarks, the mayor of 
Gorazde is essentially saying that it would be better if the west just 
bombed them, in essence the Moslems, period, to get over the agony. 
Because quite frankly, they cannot go on with it anymore.
  I do know that most of us know that in recent days, very, very 
recently, the President had reiterated his concern for safe havens and 
the fact that NATO air power would be brought in to save such areas as 
Gorazde and other places right now, perhaps such as Zepa and Srebrenica 
that await the Serb slaughter.

  As we all know, the hospital was hit today. The Bosnian Serbs 
deliberately hit the hospital. There were 25 casualties reported at 
that time some hours ago, 10 people dead, 15 other very unfortunate 
people, so to speak, re-wounded.
  The mayor is saying there is blood on the streets. Why is the world 
abandoning us. Surely something must be done.
  We have not allowed the Bosnians to be armed. We have made, in 
essence, guarantees and assertions about their security and the 
slaughter goes on.
  My hopes were up in the last several hours, realizing that the 
President was deliberating on this. As we all know, he had the press 
conference about 5 o'clock, essentially saying that he will continue to 
confer with our NATO allies, Mr. Yeltsin and so forth, about the 
situation, about air strikes, that he personally favors lifting the 
arms embargo, but indeed did not see much sense that that would happen.
  With all due respect to the President, his public statements conveyed 
no cognizance of the terrible agonies and realities of what is going 
on, not 3 or 4 days from now, not 2 weeks from now, but tonight, as I 
speak, on the ground in Gorazde. Surely the leader of the free world 
has enough leverage, enough resources, enough good staff at hand to 
immediately communicate and tonight, Mr. Speaker, do something about 
that.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Wolf], who 
is a hero on this issue.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to publicly identify myself and 
appreciate the gentleman's courage and his willingness to be the 
conscience of this Congress on this issue. There are people being 
slaughtered and, at a minimum, we ought to lift the arms embargo.
  I was in Mostar earlier this year. They have been slaughtered there, 
and they had no arms.
  I just want to commend the gentleman. I would hope that this 
administration will listen.
  We are not going to send troops. We know that. At a minimum, we 
should lift the arms embargo. When we were going through the same 
problem back in 1976, the French came to our assistance and helped us. 
At a minimum, we should help the Croats and the Muslins who are 
fighting valiantly but without arms against the onslaught of the Serbs.
  I just want to commend the gentleman and thank him for his comments 
and his leadership.
  Mr. McCLOSKEY. Mr. Speaker, I might say that one of the great ironies 
of this is that in recent weeks, the President has had very good 
successes in the area, the cease-fire and the safer zone around 
Sarajevo, the really brilliant achievement of the Bosnian-Croatian 
alliance. But now we see, quite frankly, all that on the verge of 
falling apart.
  Serbs, in essence, captured and murdered almost at will U.N. 
peacekeepers, in essence there is almost no serious response from us. 
In essence, before too long the Bosnian-Croatian alliance could be 
falling apart as the Bosnians get pressed one way or another to defend 
the people in their areas.
  I think it is very important to remember, and this is obvious in all 
this, that the Serbs have a particular plan. Their plan is for a 
greater Serbia to consolidate these areas.
  The more we give in against the interests of a united Bosnia and a 
democratic coterie of nations, so to speak, in the Balkans, the more 
trouble we are really setting up for the people of the Balkans and 
everyone involved.
  They can get it resolved in Bosnia, so to speak, at some point 
dilatorily, Milosevic et al will go on in Kosovo with ethnic cleansing. 
He will go on in the Sanjak.
  Tonight, as I speak, the entire democratic Muslin leadership, some of 
it Bosnia, in both Kosovo and Sanjak are in prison and subject to 
torture.

                              {time}  1750

  Mr. President, we need to act now, tonight. Let us get this done with 
air power worthy of the name, and not wait another 4 or 5 days, or 
there will be nobody to get the benefit of your aid come next Sunday or 
Monday. The time is now. This has been going on too long.

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