[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 65 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S5557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S5557]]
                             BOSNIA SPRING

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, spring has arrived here in 
Washington, the Grounds of the Capitol are looking their best and we 
welcome the change. Unfortunately, spring in Bosnia is not a welcome 
event. Spring in Bosnia means the cease-fires of winter melt away and 
the war will resume with all its ferocity.
  I have taken this floor many times to decry the ethnic cleansing that 
continues in Bosnia and to urge our Government, and the U.N. Security 
Council, to act more responsibly in addressing this terrible tragedy. 
It comes as no surprise that those affected by our inaction are 
astonished at our apparent indifference, and chastise us for failing to 
uphold basic moral and legal norms.
  On Wednesday, the Washington Post printed a portion of a statement by 
Vinko Cardinal Puljic, archbishop of Sarajevo. While the United States, 
along with the U.N. Security Council and NATO sit on our hands, we 
cannot also cover our ears. The archbishop of Sarajevo knows of what he 
speaks. The Senate would do well to listen.
  I ask that the article be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

                [From the Washington Post, Apr. 5, 1995]

                             For the Record

                       (By Vinko Cardinal Puljic)

       I, like so many in Bosnia-Herzegovina, am astonished and 
     bewildered . . . at the international community's 
     indifferent, half-hearted, inconsistent and ineffectual 
     response to aggression and ``ethnic cleansing.'' Not only has 
     [it] not acted decisively, it has even contributed to the 
     ethnic division of Bosnia and has legitimized aggression by 
     failing to uphold basic moral and legal norms.
       If the principles of peace and international justice are 
     buried in the soil of the Balkans, Western civilization will 
     be threatened. . . . I am convinced that there are moral 
     means to thwart immoral aggression. The international 
     community must have the will to use the means available to it 
     to protect threatened populations, to encourage 
     demilitarization and to establish other conditions necessary 
     for progress toward peace. The solution cannot be simply to 
     give up and withdraw. If the United Nations and the 
     international community do not now have effective means to 
     respond to the humanitarian crisis in Bosnia and elsewhere--
     and it is clear that they do not--then nations have the 
     responsibility to take the steps necessary to develop more 
     effective international structures.
       This is not a religious conflict, but some would misuse 
     religion in support of ethnic division and extreme 
     nationalism. Therefore, as a religious leader, I believe I 
     have a special responsibility to stand beside those who are 
     victims of injustice and aggression, regardless of their 
     religious, ethnic or national identity. I also believe that, 
     even though a just peace seems far off, religious and other 
     leaders must not wait for an end to war to begin the daunting 
     task of reconciling deeply divided communities.
     

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