[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 45 (Thursday, April 21, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                           TRAGEDY IN GORAZDE

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I wish to address the situation in Bosnia 
and Herzegovina--a situation that currently threatens to result in a 
humiliation for the United States at the hands of a third-rate power. 
If we fail to change course, it will be an indictment of our judgment 
as a world power and of our moral character as the leader of the 
democratic world.
  Gorazde is a glimpse of the future under the administration's policy. 
Today, 65,000 defenseless Bosnian civilians in Gorazde are at the mercy 
of Serbian forces who have proven to be world-class genocidal 
executioners. A more abject failure of policy could not be scripted.
  It will get worse. The number of defenseless civilians in Gorazde is 
higher than the population Ogden or Orem, UT. I predict that we will 
see hundreds or thousands of Bosnians who fought to defend their land 
and their families summarily executed or shipped off to camps in 
Serbia. This happened at Vukovar in Croatia, and there is no reason to 
believe the Serbs at Gorazde will be any less brutal.
  What the President proposed the other day is totally inadequate. He 
himself admitted in his press conference that additional airstrikes 
alone cannot stop further Serbian aggression or silence Serbian guns.
  The Serbs know what they want--that is, to conquer Bosnia. The 
Clinton administration has no idea of what it wants to do or how to do 
it. It has hesitated, vacillated, and equivocated. As a result, the 
United States and the world community have been outfoxed and outwitted 
at every turn.
  You cannot stop deadly projectiles from Serbian guns with words. The 
Serbs have exposed their aggressive intent, have responded to 
negotiations in a duplicitous manner, and even infuriated its biggest 
supporter--Russia--with its total disregard for diplomacy and economic 
pressure. We have been bogged down in conferences for 2 years. It is 
time to take care of business.
  What needs to be done is simple: remove the U.N. peacekeepers, lift 
the arms embargo against the Croatian-Bosnian confederation, arm and 
train the confederation forces to counter the Serbs, and conduct air 
strikes against strategic Serbian targets, such as their supply lines, 
fuel and arms depots, and command and control centers.
  The moment is right. The world is outraged. Europe's policy of 
appeasing Serbia has been discredited. Russian leaders have denounced 
the Serbs. If the United States leads, if we insist in the U.N. 
Security Council that the arms embargo must be lifted, the Europeans 
and the Russians will follow our lead.
  Mr. President, Europe cannot solve Bosnia without United States 
military support. I call on the administration to put on the table 
today a Security Council resolution to repeal the arms embargo against 
Croatia and Bosnia. I do not want Americans involved in the matter 
other than to help the Bosnians and Croatians to arm themselves and to 
protect themselves.
  Moreover, if the Security Council balks, the United States must act 
unilaterally. No Security Council resolution--including the one 
imposing the arms embargo--can override the inherent right of the 
Croatian-Bosnian conferation to individual and collective self-defense 
that is embodied in article 51 of the U.N. Charter. Just as the 
Congress may not pass a law that overrides the Constitution, the 
Security Council may not pass a resolution that negates a fundamental 
principle of international law.
  When speaking about lifting the embargo, President Clinton has 
reiterated that ``this is what I've wanted all along.'' In the past, he 
has said that the objections of the international community prevented 
such action. But in light of the utter failure of U.N. policy, we can 
overcome those objections if we play hard ball.
  Even the Russians are fed up with the Serbian aggression. Vitaly 
Churkin, the Russian trouble shooter in Bosnia, said that he heard more 
broken promises from the Serbs in the past 2 days than in his entire 
life. In the New York Times, he was quoted as saying, ``It's about time 
for Russia to stop all negotiations with the Bosnian Serbs. The time 
for talking is over.''
  If President Clinton means what he says about lifting the arms 
embargo, he must step up to the mark. The moment is right, but it might 
be fleeting.
  We must lift the embargo for moral reasons. Speaking on Gorazde 
yesterday, Bosnian Prime Minister Silajdzic asked, ``Why have these 
people had to die in such a humiliating way? What have the people of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina done to the world to deserve this treatment from 
the world?''
  The world disarmed the Bosnians. It did not permit them to defend 
themselves, despite the vast amounts of arms inherited by the Serbian 
side. Bosnian moslems were not given the right to defend themselves. 
Those who denounce any United States involvement in the Bosnian 
conflict overlook one fact: We have been intervening--through the arms 
embargo--but we have been intervening on behalf of the wrong side.
  I am exasperated with those who have argued that we should not take 
sides in this conflict. A policy of neutrality makes no sense when one 
side--Serbia--is overwhelmingly responsible for the war, for the 
atrocities, for frustrating every effort to negotiate peace. There is 
no doubt about their culpability--no gray area.
  Why are we afraid of taking sides? Why are we afraid to stand up for 
justice? Why are we unwilling to stand up for human rights and 
international law? Why are we tacitly helping the Serbians by keeping 
the Croatians and Bosnians unarmed?
  Nothing short of removing the arms embargo will work. U.N. General 
Rose stated yesterday, ``Further air strikes alone will not deter the 
Serbs.'' Economic sanctions have crippled Serbia's economy. 
International condemnation has isolated Serbia. The no-fly zone has 
shut down the Serbian air force. U.N. forces have taken into custody 
some Serbian weapons around Sarajevo. Limited air strikes have 
destroyed a Serbian command post outside Gorazde.
  Yet, none of the administration's or the United Nations actions to 
date have worked. They are nothing more than tokenism, as long as the 
balance of power on the ground overwhelmingly favors the Serbs.
  Our new policy should have three points of reference. First, we must 
become the partner of the new Croatian-Bosnian confederation in this 
regional conflict. President Clinton deserves great praise for 
facilitating the diplomacy that resulted in this confederation, which 
is the sine qua non of containment against Serbia. I attended the 
Bosnian-Croatian confederation signing ceremony, and I give the 
President credit.

  However, we must take the next step. We should make the confederation 
our partner. The Croatians and Bosnians are willing to supply the 
manpower; we should be willing to supply the arms. They have 
approximately three times the military manpower of the Serbs. They can 
win this war on the ground if we give them the tools to finish the job.
  We do not have to carry the burden of ground combat or to deploy 
forces indefinitely as peacekeepers in a dangerous environment. Yet we 
can achieve our goals if we work as partners with the Croatians and 
Bosnians.
  I call on the administration to send air defense weapons, antiarmor 
missiles such as the TOW, observation and medium-lift helicopters, 
radar-guided heavy artillery, and other weapons to the confederation. 
In coming days, I will come forward with specific recommendations on 
what we need to send to enable the Croatians and Bosnians to fight and 
win. They can and are eager to handle their own ground war.
  Second, lifting the embargo should be coupled with a NATO air 
campaign against Serbian strategic targets, such as bridges, fuel and 
ammunition dumps, and other facilities. So far, the Serbs have had a 
free ride. It's time they pay a price for their aggression, as long as 
that's coupled with the enhancement of the military capabilities of the 
Croatian-Bosnian confederation.
  Our air strikes last week were nothing more than pinpricks. There is 
no reason to believe that the President's new air strike policy will 
involve a decisive change. It is pointless to target the Pfcs and 
corporals who man Serbia's guns if we do not also target the generals 
who give them their orders and the infrastructure that keeps Serbia's 
forces in the field.
  Third, do not even consider sending more peacekeepers. Even if a 
temporary cease-fire is reached in coming days, we should not bet the 
life of any American soldier on the trustworthiness of Serbian leaders.
  The Serbs have broken dozens of such agreements. Which one of us here 
believes that if they come forward with another peace proposal, they 
will comply? Why should we believe that the next promise will be more 
meaningful than all the rest? Why should we gamble with American lives 
when the Serbs have proven again and again that they are interested not 
in peace but in conquest? Why should we risk American troops when 
Croatians and Bosnians are more than willing to fight for their 
homeland?
  There is no need to send Americans as peacekeepers or combatants. The 
model for our policy should be United States support to the Afghan 
freedom fighters. By arming the Afghans, we not only forced the Soviets 
to withdraw but also helped bring down the Soviet Empire. And the 
Soviets were a far more formidable foe than the Serbs.
  Those who argue that we have no interests at stake in Bosnia are 
wrong. The war involves open--and so far unchallenged--aggression in 
Europe. It involves ethnic cleansing and other war crimes on an 
enormous scale. It has the potential for spreading into other parts of 
the Balkans.
  Successful Serbian aggression in Bosnia will create a blueprint for 
similar aggression in the former Soviet Union. If we do not think that 
Zhirinovsky--who has visited and praised the Serbs--is taking notes on 
how to roll the West, we are simply fooling ourselves. If we don't 
think that Saddam Hussein, Kim II-sung, and other international thugs 
are watching and learning from the Serbs, our capacity for self-
deception would appear to have no limits.
  Mr. President, I wish to read an excerpt from the text of a telegram 
to the President on April 16, 1994, from members of the executive 
committee of the Action Council for Peace in the Balkans. It is signed 
by Mort Arbamowitz, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Frank Carlucci, Hodding 
Carter, Max Kampelman, and Jeane Kirkpatrick. This bipartisan group of 
former senior policy makers understands exactly what is at stake. They 
wrote:

       As Gorazde is about to fall, we strongly protest this 
     posture of moral and political abdication. It dishonors 
     America and it damages our national interests globally. It 
     undermines international order and repudiates the rule of 
     law. This policy can only weaken the vital security links 
     between American and Europe. The attack on Gorazde--a part of 
     Serbia's 2 year aggression against Bosnia--is also an attack 
     on collective security.''

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the complete text of this 
telegram be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the telegram was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                               [Telegram]

                                          Action Council For Peace


                                               in the Balkans,

                                   Washington, DC, April 16, 1994.
       Dear Mr. President: Fifty years ago, the world watched 
     while innocents were being slaughtered. Only a week ago, Vice 
     President Gore condemned in the strongest terms the moral 
     culpability of those who were then indifferent in the face of 
     evil. Yesterday, in a fundamental shift in U.S. policy, you 
     declared this country's neutrality in the face of a new 
     slaughter in the very heart of Europe. In so doing, you have 
     given a green light for Serbian aggression and war crimes to 
     prevail and for genocide to continue.
       As Gorazde is about to fall, we strongly protest this 
     posture of moral and political abdication. It dishonors 
     America and it damages our national interests globally. It 
     undermines international order and repudiates the rule of 
     law. This policy can only weaken the vital security links 
     between America and Europe. The attack on Gorazde--a part of 
     Serbia's two-year aggression against Bosnia--is also an 
     attack on collective security.
       It is not too late to retrieve the moral standing and to 
     reassert the political leadership of the U.S. That is your 
     historical responsibility and you must not evade it. 
     Accordingly, we urge you:
       To issue a categorical warning to the Bosnian Serbs that 
     they will be subject to NATO air action unless the attacks on 
     Gorazde and other besieged Bosnian areas are halted and 
     Serbian forces withdraw forthwith; as we have already seen, 
     extremely limited strikes have extremely limited effects; and
       To announce that the existing embargo on arms supplies for 
     Bosnia is null and void due to the UN's failure to protect 
     the Bosnian state and its citizens against aggression. 
     Victims have the inalienable right to self-defense, and 
     Bosnia must be allowed to exercise this right as guaranteed 
     under the UN Charter.
       Mr. President, you have the means and the authority to act 
     decisively. Fundamental human values and core American 
     interests are at stake. The time has come to lift the death 
     sentence on Bosnia.
           Sincerely,
     Mort Abramowitz
     Zbigniew Brzezinski
     Frank Carlucci
     Hodding Carter
     Max Kampelman
     Jeane Kirkpatrick
                                              Executive Committee.

  Mr. HATCH. If my arguments on Bosnia sound familiar, it is because we 
have been in this position before. And, we should have learned, Mr. 
President, that unless we act, thousands of people are going to die 
needlessly in Bosnia. We have the power to do something about it. With 
that power comes the moral responsibility to act. We can vindicate 
justice without risking the lives of American ground troops if we lift 
the arms embargo to allow the victims of aggression to defend 
themselves.
  I yield back whatever time I have.

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