[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 149 (Thursday, December 1, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: December 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         U.S. POLICY ON BOSNIA

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise to express my deepest 
concern over the appalling recent developments in Bosnia and the 
apparent new U.N. and European policy of offering yet another round of 
concessions to the aggressors. I am very disturbed that the United 
States appears to be acquiescing in this step. Bosnia, a member state 
of the United Nations, has been the victim of Serbian aggression for 
the past 32 months. The U.N.'s misguided effort to stem violence in the 
former Yugoslavia by prohibiting arms exports has helped make Bosnia a 
victim by preventing an effective self-defense and preserving a Serbian 
advantage in military equipment. Although the international community 
has adopted various other means to defend Bosnia--including a U.N. 
resolution to restrain the Serbs, a series of unsuccessful peace plans 
and an international peacekeeping force--none of these measures have 
proved a credible substitute for a Bosnian defensive capability.
  The events in Bihac this past week demonstrate that no amount of U.N. 
resolutions, peacekeeping troops or fine tuning of peace plans can stop 
the fighting in Bosnia until the warring parties want to stop fighting. 
Every new round of U.N. resolutions or diplomatic negotiations lowers 
the threshold for Serb cooperation. I understand that, following the 
latest Serbian aggression in Bihac, the administration is agreeing to 
yet another round of peace talks, which I fear will only be a cover for 
a continuation of war and for more concessions to the Serbs.
  The policy of the Contact Group, of which the U.S. is a party, is one 
of appeasement. Such a cynical policy is inconsistent with our national 
character. We know from experience that war is horrible. But to take 
responsibility for the welfare of another country like Bosnia and then 
cynically offer up ever-growing slices of its sovereignty for the sake 
of international comity is wrong, violative of international law, and 
unworkable. Such a policy will not end the fighting in Bosnia--the 
outgunned Bosnian army proved that last month in Bihac. It will not 
stop Serb aggression and nationalism. It will not prevent widening the 
war--weak U.N. enforcement of its own Security Council resolutions will 
encourage disregard for the U.N. What this policy will do is send a 
dangerous message that aggression will not only be tolerated but 
rewarded if the aggressor remains aggressive and uncooperative. Given 
all the volatile situations round the world, this is a signal we cannot 
afford to send.
  Mr. President, the United States should reject the course of 
appeasement. We should lift the arms embargo against Bosnia--with or 
without the cooperation of our NATO allies--and allow the self defense 
of Bosnia.

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