[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 98 (Monday, July 25, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   THE SERB MILITANTS HAVE CHOSEN WAR

  Mr. DeCONCINI. Mr. President, in the face of the Serbian aggression 
and genocide in former Yugoslavia, if anything, we have been patient, 
the United States and Europe. We have been patient with the former 
Yugoslavian Republics, particularly Serbia. We have been patient with 
our European allies and NATO allies. And we have been patient with the 
Russians, Moscow.
  Since 1991 when Yugoslavia's violent disintegration began, the 
international community tried to reason with Belgrade and its militant 
Serb puppets in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We regularly 
postponed or opposed action deemed ``confrontational,'' action that 
might ``jeopardize'' mediation efforts, action that would have, in 
fact, stopped the militants, in my judgment.
  Now the international community has proposed a plan that awards those 
who have instigated conflict with half of a country that did not need 
to be divided in the first place. Imagine, a proposal has been made by 
the international community to divide a sovereign country and to permit 
49 or 50 percent of it to be part of Serbia, or an independent Serbia 
and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  That plan was offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis by the United 
States, Russia, and the European countries. The Bosnians took it, 
surprisingly, and they have everything to lose and perhaps something to 
gain if it would stop the genocide and the murder.
  The Serbs, however, refused. This is the result of the ill-advised 
patience of the United States. This is outrageous and unacceptable.
  As former United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia Warren Zimmermann 
recently put it, the Serb militants surely know our weaknesses; it is 
now time that they know some of our strengths. Clearly, these are 
people with whom you cannot reason, at least not until they are made 
aware that they must face the consequences of their actions.
  These consequences are increased NATO involvement and action in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina; lifting the arms embargo on the Bosnians. Can 
you imagine a sovereign nation not being able to defend themselves? We 
have had votes and discussions on that, and I will not rehash that, but 
it is hopeful that now that the Serbs have thumbed their nose at the 
world, now taken 50 percent of a country in a legal treaty or division 
sanctioned by the international community, that the Bosnians could be 
able to defend themselves without an arms embargo against them.
  The Serbs were informed of these consequences, and to make them empty 
threats means the complete destruction of international credibility, 
not to mention additional Bosnian lives.
  The Serbs expect our threats of resolute action yet again to be 
meaningless, yet again to be thwarted by objections from our ally, our 
friend, Moscow, and yet again to be sacrificed along with the 
principles we and our allies nevertheless espouse.
  They not only reject a proposed settlement giving them more than they 
deserve, in my judgment, but they mock us by shooting at the relief 
flights coming into Sarajevo and by renewed ethnic cleansing in areas 
under their control.
  Are we going to confirm their expectations yet again? Are we going to 
cower in the face of their mockery?
  We must immediately, Mr. President, launch NATO airstrikes against 
Serb supply lines and bases, including their homebase of Pale, which 
would incapacitate the Serb militants. The Bosnians should immediately 
be enabled to arm themselves so that they can defend their people and, 
if need be, liberate territory the Serbs are required to give up under 
the agreement. And, of course, the sanctions on Serbia must stay.
  Finally, Mr. President, to Russia I must also say that our patience 
is wearing thin. Moscow called what everyone else clearly recognized as 
a poorly camouflaged Serb rejection of the peace plan as, in fact, a 
positive response. This is ridiculous. Every effort is made to include 
Russia in the peace process as a partner, and I compliment the 
President and our Western allies for including Russia.
  We went along with the plan; now Moscow must go along with the 
consequences of the Serbs' rejection of that plan. Russia must make up 
its mind whether it is with the democratic West and the principles it 
represents or yet, again, against them. Moscow cannot have it both 
ways. Either we are going to have a world based on commonly held 
principles, or we are going to have a world based on force. If the 
people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are not finally protected, then our 
own values and our own credibility are at risk, also. We cannot, Mr. 
President, let this aggression stand.

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