[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 44 (Wednesday, April 20, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
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]

 
                           BOSNIAN CIVIL WAR

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, today's news accounts reveal that the 
President now intends to seek wider NATO involvement in the Bosnian 
civil war. President Clinton has endorsed U.N. Secretary General 
Boutros Ghali's request for a NATO ultimatum to the Bosnian Serbs 
threatening wider air strikes to protect all of the Moslem enclaves or 
so-called safe areas.
  I have made no secret of my very grave concerns about such a move. My 
opposition to last week's limited and unsuccessful use of American air 
power in Bosnia was, in part, premised on the presumption that it would 
lead inevitably to our deeper military engagement in that terrible 
conflict. And if the President succeeds in securing NATO agreement for 
this more extensive use of air power, I fear that we will become 
further enmeshed in incremental escalation until such point where we 
face a choice between deploying American ground troops or withdrawing 
in abject defeat.
  Mr. President, I do not now intend to discuss all my reservations 
about the administration's ever evolving Bosnia policy. But I do want 
to express my doubts about public supports for this proposed course of 
action. And I feel very certain that the American people rightfully 
expect their elected representatives to consider very carefully any 
decision by the President that places the lives of their sons and 
daughters at grave risk.
  Accordingly, Mr. President, I urge the leaders of the Senate to 
quickly schedule a debate and vote on a resolution of approval or 
disapproval for the future use of American force in Bosnia. I make this 
call not as a supporter of the legal validity of the War Powers 
Resolution, but as an elected representative who feels strongly that 
the public is owed Congress' consideration of its views.
  There are many strong, compelling arguments on both sides of this 
issue which, as is apparent to all, is not divided along partisan 
lines. At a minimum, Congress should be responsible for providing the 
public with all the dimensions of this difficult argument--something 
which the administration has utterly failed to do. Should Congress 
approve the use of force--which I am fairly certain it would--than at 
least we will have attempted to enlist the support of the public. As 
any of us who lived through the Vietnam war know, no military action is 
sustainable without the support of a majority of the American people.
  So, I respectfully request that the majority and minority leaders at 
their earliest convenience discuss scheduling a debate and vote before 
the United States takes another action toward war.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority leader, the Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, was leader time reserved this morning?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. DOLE. I ask that I may use my leader time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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