[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 58 (Thursday, May 12, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           LIFTING THE ARMS EMBARGO ON BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, we should take a minute to examine exactly 
what the Senate has done today in passing both the amendments offered 
by the distinguished majority and minority leaders. The amendments 
offer a rather different approach to the question of lifting the arms 
embargo on the Moslems of Bosnia. They also offer rather different 
approaches to the question of the United States providing military aid 
itself in the case that the arms embargo were lifted. Section (b) of 
the Dole amendment instructs the President to unilaterally terminate an 
internationally supported arms embargo. The amendment offered by the 
majority leader suggests that we attempt to enlist the support of our 
allies, who have vulnerable forces on the ground in Bosnia, before we 
take unilateral action. My colleagues have enumerated the many 
drawbacks of a go-it-alone approach.
  Section (a) of the amendment by Mr. Dole is particularly troubling. 
The language purports to bar the President from enforcing the Bosnian 
embargo, but in fact it also prohibits the President from carrying out 
his legal responsibilities to regulate the export of weapons under the 
Arms Export Control Act and possibly other statutes as well. This 
blanket language says ``Neither the President nor any other member of 
the Executive Branch of the United States Government shall interfere 
with the transfer of conventional arms appropriate to the self defense 
needs of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina.'' If enacted, and I 
hope it is not, this prohibition would prevent the State Department, 
the Defense Department and Customs Service from regulating what 
weapons, as long as they are conventional, would go to Bosnia.
  Do we really want defense contractors, who are suffering from 
declining United States purchases, turned loose to sell anything and 
everything to the Bosnians? Some may argue that this is a far-fetched 
scenario given the lack of resources available to the Bosnian 
Government. But I do not think it is unrealistic to assume that the 
Bosnians could find a deep pocket benefactor among the oil-rich Moslem 
states of the Middle East, eager to fund such purchases and possibly 
gain access to weapons and technology that would otherwise be off-
limits.
  And what do we do if the Bosnians seek to purchase the most 
sophisticated weapons in our arsenal, weapons that the United States 
may not sell to any other nation, and those items clearly qualify as 
conventional and defensive. Section (a) leaves the President no 
options. The same would apply to third country transfers. The Israelis 
or the Koreans may decide to sell the Bosnians advance United States 
fighter aircraft for ``self-defense.'' Such a transfer would normally 
require U.S. Government approval. But under the amendment by Mr. Dole, 
the executive branch could not take any action to stop this sale.
  The intelligence community has advised us in briefings that a lifting 
of the arms embargo would widen the war, and embolden the Serbs to 
increase the level of activity against the Bosnians. More deaths would 
result. The role of the United Nations in providing humanitarian relief 
would probably become untenable. The Bosnian Moslems would most likely 
interpret our action as a reason to stall their efforts to reach a 
negotiated settlement at the peace table, hoping that they can, with 
fresh weapons, now win on the ground what they could not win at the 
table. So it is a formula for more war, more deaths, and diminished 
prospects for a negotiated settlement.
  Our allies would probably leave the scene. The French are openly 
pushing for a stronger effort by the United States and the Russians to 
move the parties to a negotiated settlement.
  Lifting the embargo and providing new weapons in the region will 
change the scenario dramatically. Are Senators who vote to lift the 
embargo unilaterally prepared to begin the process of voting for 
weapons aid? Is that where it will stop if the Serbs begin major 
advances against the Bosnian enclaves, promising levels of carnage 
unpalatable to us? Is that where we start talking about U.S. trainers, 
and ground combat forces?
  I do not believe that we in the Senate have really thought through 
the consequences of our votes on this matter. We have, by slim 
majorities, supported policies and outcomes dramatically different. It 
is confusing and each side in the conflict can interpret it 
differently. It is not clear policy, it is a muddled message. We need 
to do better than we have today in fashioning our views on the Bosnian 
conflict.
  Mr. President, when the bill is up for final passage this evening, I 
understand there will not be a rollcall vote on it. I want the Record 
to show that I would vote against the bill on final passage.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. I yield the floor.

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