[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 93 (Thursday, June 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5743-H5744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BOSNIA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Gonzalez] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in order to report on my actions
and activities with respect to the ongoing situation in Bosnia and my
letter to President Clinton, which I had prepared immediately, that
that became a crisis point, and it looked as if the President might
take unilateral action without any real consultation with the Congress.
So in my letter I said: ``The preparations currently underway for the
possible involvement of U.S. military forces on the ground in Bosnia
impel me once again''--because I have previously ``to urge you in the
strongest possible terms to seriously consider this matter before
committing our troops to any such action and to abide in the closest
possible way to the laws of the land with regard to the use of U.S.
military force abroad.''
Let me say, this has been the story of my career since I first came
to the Congress, beginning with then-President Kennedy, believe it or
not, who was probably one of the most intimate personal friends I have
had as a President, and then with President Johnson, [[Page H5744]] who
succeeded him, whom, of course, I had known from the beginning back in
Texas. And more so with President Johnson, I became a gadfly, as the
drum beats rose in noise and the urge to propel our armed services into
action became irresistible.
So in this letter I say, as I said in my letter to you last year--and
this reflects my consistency ``air strikes will not accomplish the goal
of peace in the former Yugoslavia.''
Fortunately, of course, we know now that the president has been
restrained, and I compliment him. But as I said in this letter, in my
last paragraph: ``As I have expressed to you with regard to Somalia,
Haiti, and before in Bosnia, as I have with previous presidents about
other situations, the Constitution and the War Powers Resolutions''--
which I had the great honor of first evolving and developing in this
House and eventually, unfortunately too late, enacted ``the
Constitution and the War Powers Resolution clearly afford Congress an
important role to play in the use of U.S. military force overseas, and,
as you know, I have long struggled to uphold this balance of powers
among co-equal branches of government. I was heartened by your comments
today that Congress would be consulted in this matter and that you
continue to exercise restraint in deploying United States forces on the
ground in Bosnia. I fully hope and trust that you will continue to do
so.''
{time} 1900
I am happy to say that up until now that seems to be the case.
However, I do want to point out that one of the things that in fact
has made me an irritant to be even friends, like President Johnson, is
the fact that we have become inured more and more to an excessive
weight in that coequal branch, which should be a coequal branch, the
presidency.
After all, the Constitution itself does not make the office of the
presidency Article 1. It is the Congress, and it was deliberately done.
There was a reason for it. The men who wrote the Constitution were the
first to protest that the king made wars. Now in democracies, we have
the equivalent. The only thing is that it is not the king declaring
then, but as far as the will of the people expressing itself and the
idea of the fundamental nature of a justified war having been lost
sight of, makes it impelling that we review this matter.
I want to terminate by saying that I will place a copy of this letter
in the Record, so that those of my colleagues interested will have a
chance to review it.
The material referred to is as follows:
Congress of the United States,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, May 31, 1995.
Hon. William J. Clinton,
President, The White House, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. President: The preparations currently underway for
the possible involvement of U.S. military forces on the
ground in Bosnia impel me once again to urge you in the
strongest possible terms to seriously consider this matter
before committing our troops to any such action and to abide
in the closest possible way to the laws of the land with
regard to the use of U.S. military force abroad.
As I said in my letter to you last year, airstrikes will
not accomplish the goal of peace in the former Yugoslavia. I
am truly sad to say that recent events make this all the more
clear. The Serbian forces in Bosnia have shown that they will
exact as high a toll as possible from their adversaries in
their pursuit of their military goals. In this situation
where the Serbs are waging a war against the Bosnian
government and where they consider the United Nations an
enemy in their fight, deploying U.S. forces on the ground,
whether it be in support of a reorganization of U.N. forces
or in a related effort, will surely put our troops in a
hostile situation and in imminent danger of being involved in
combat. With the Bosnian Serb's recent demonstration of their
grotesque lack of respect for civilian life and for U.N.
peacekeeping forces, there can be little doubt that American
forces would likewise be a target for attack.
As I have expressed to you with regard to Somalia, Haiti
and before on Bosnia, as I have with previous presidents
about other situations, the Constitution and the War Powers
Resolution clearly afford Congress an important role to play
in the use of U.S. military force overseas, and, as you know,
I have long struggled to uphold this balance of powers among
co-equal branches of government. I was heartened by your
comments today that Congress would be consulted in this
matter and that you continue to exercise restraint in
deploying U.S. forces on the ground in Bosnia. I fully hope
and trust that you will continue to do so.
Sincerely,
Henry B. Gonzalez.
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