[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 91 (Thursday, July 14, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          THE TIME TO LIFT THE ARMS EMBARGO ON BOSNIA HAS COME

                                 ______


                         HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 14, 1994

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for 
lifting the arms embargo on the Government of Bosnia.
  The history of the tragic conflict in the former Yugoslavia is well 
known. The scale of the slaughter in Bosnia is unsurpassed in Europe 
since the days of the Second World War. Yet while thousands of Moslems 
continue to suffer and die at the hands of the Serbian aggressors, the 
United States, the European community, and the United Nations sit by, 
unwilling or unable to do anything about it.
  This tragedy cannot be stopped by waiting for a diplomatic solution 
to appear out of thin air. For negotiations to work, diplomacy must be 
backed up by some penalty for refusing to negotiate a settlement. The 
Serbs, who have a virtual monopoly on firepower and little regard for 
international opinion, have no incentive to reach such an agreement. At 
the dawn of the cold war, George Kennan, one of this country's most 
distinguished diplomats, described Stalin's Russia as ``impervious to 
the logic of reason, but highly sensitive to the logic of force.'' The 
same could be said of today's Serbia. Hand ringing rhetoric, and stern 
warnings will do nothing to help the Bosnia Moslems. The only way to 
stop the Serbian onslaught is to resist it with credible force. And 
there are only two ways to do that.
  The first is direct military involvement. While the U.S. air strikes 
around Gorazde and our shooting down three Serbian aircraft suggest 
that the administration may have already started down that path, it 
still appears unwilling to put credible force on the ground. The United 
States public also does not seem ready to support sending United States 
troops into Bosnia.
  The second option is to allow the Bosnian Moslems to defend 
themselves by lifting the arms embargo. The Bosnian Government has 
repeatedly called on us to take this step. They understand the risks 
that lifting the embargo will present. But they also understand that 
ending the genocide will require confronting the Serbs with credible 
military resistance. Only then will the Serbs have anything to fear for 
continuing their campaign. Only then will they have an incentive to 
negotiate and abide by a peaceful settlement.
  There are those who contend that the United States should not act 
unilaterally, but should instead wait for the United Nations to lift 
the embargo. Mr. Speaker, we have been waiting for the United Nations 
to provide leadership in Bosnia for over 2 years. Nothing has been 
done. Every day, every minute that we wait for the United Nations to 
make up its mind, more people die. United States leadership in Bosnia 
is critical.
  The argument that withdrawing from the embargo on Bosnia will 
encourage our allies to drop out of other embargoes we support, such as 
Iraq, is absurd. Iraq was embargoed because it was an aggressor. Bosnia 
is the victim of aggression. There is no reasonable comparison between 
the two cases.
  Finally, the Bosnia embargo is not only immoral, it is also illegal. 
Article 51 of the U.N. Charter guarantees every state the right to 
defend itself against aggression. This Congress has already reached the 
decision that the U.N. arms embargo violates article 51 and is 
therefore prohibited by international law. In light of this, the 
argument that we should not act because of a U.N. policy that is 
antithetical to one of the most important tenets of its own charter, is 
doubly absurd.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no simple solution to the Bosnian tragedy. The 
day when we could have hoped for a happy ending are long passed. 
Lifting the embargo now will not bring the victims of Serbia's ethnic 
cleansing back to their families. It will not even guarantee a 
completely fair and equitable peace settlement. But it will give the 
Bosnian Moslems the strength to stand up for themselves and resist. 
Only then is there any hope of ending the conflict.

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