[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 113 (Thursday, July 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9879-S9880]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ATROCITIES IN BOSNIA

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I do not know how many of my colleagues 
saw the picture on the front page of the New York Times this morning. 
It is an unusual and historic picture. When you first look at it, all 
you see is a group of refugees. If you look a little closer, you will 
see men in military uniform. Those men are part of what has been called 
the U.N. Protection Force. They are standing by observing men being 
taken out of Srebrenica who are suspected, by Bosnian Serb forces of 
``war crimes,'' young women being taken out for purposes that I cannot 
describe, old women and children who are starving to death and being 
forced to walk unknown distances.
  Rather than describe it in my words, let me just read:

       In what has been a ritual of previous ``ethnic cleansing'' 
     campaigns by the Bosnian Serbs to rid territories of Muslim 
     populations, the Serbs who took Srebrenica separated the 
     military-age men from the refugees and said they would be 
     ``screened for war crimes,'' a United Nations spokesman here 
     said.
      The air was filled with anguished cries as the Bosnian Serbs 
     loaded the first 3,000 women, children and elderly . . .

  Mr. President, we have gone from a situation where the Europeans were 
supposed to be protecting people to now sitting by and watching 
atrocities and war crimes being perpetrated before their very eyes. And 
they stand by helpless. What could possibly be the effect throughout 
the world of scenes such as this?
  Mr. President, as Senator Dole said in his recent statement, it is 
over. It is over, Mr. President.
  ``It was quite a horrifying scene,'' said Steven Oberreit of Doctors 
Without Borders. ``There was screaming and crying and panic. They 
didn't know where they were being taken to.''

       The refugees fled to Potocari on Tuesday night after 
     Bosnian Serb troops swept into the town of Srebrenica, the 
     heart of the United Nations safe area . . .
       Today, 1,500 Bosnian Serb troops, backed by tanks . . . 
     overran the base with no resistance after they threatened to 
     shell the refugees and kill the Dutch peacekeepers they were 
     holding hostage if NATO warplanes intervened.

  Mr. President, we have crossed the line from danger to humiliation. 
We have crossed the line from attempts to do the right thing to 
degradation and dishonor.
  Mr. President, we cannot allow this to continue. And if events follow 
unchecked, next will be the enclave of Zepa, and then Gorazde, and 
next 

[[Page S 9880]]

maybe even Sarajevo. Mr. President, it is time they got out, and it is 
time we helped them out, and it is time we help the Bosnian Muslims 
defend themselves.
  Mr. BIDEN. Will the Senator yield for an observation?
  Mr. McCAIN.  Yes.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I am glad to hear the Senator on the floor 
speaking to this. Would the Senator acknowledge what everybody forgets? 
I know the Senator is angry about it, as well. I want to remind 
everybody that the reason why the U.N. observers are there is that the 
United Nations went in and disarmed--disarmed--not only did we fail to 
allow the Bosnian Government to get arms, the arms that existed, we 
went into Srebrenica--the United Nations did, with our support--and 
disarmed the Bosnian Government, disarmed the Muslims, disarmed the 
Croats, in return for a promise that we would protect them. And when, 
in fact, it was clear and the Dutch were called in for air strikes by 
NATO, Mr. Akashi said no.
  I want everybody to remember what the Senator from Arizona is saying 
here. Not only did we not protect, we affirmatively--the United Nations 
and the West--disarmed those safe areas, took their weapons and said, 
``We promise you in return that we will keep the Serbs from the door.'' 
But they knocked on the door, knocked it down, and there was nothing 
there for them to defend themselves with.
  Now, as the Senator from Arizona said, they stand by and watch. And 
it is not the fault of those Dutch blue helmets. It is the fault of the 
contact group. It is the fault of the West for failing to intervene, at 
a minimum with air power, significant air power. But I think the 
Senator is absolutely correct. This is an atrocity. We should lift the 
embargo immediately and we should make available what, under the law, 
the President is allowed to do.
  Two years ago, this Senate and Congress passed a piece of legislation 
authorizing the President, in his discretion, to make available up to 
50 million dollars worth of weapons off the shelf now for those people.
  I stood in Tuzla the last time this happened and watched trucks come 
into Tuzla loaded with women and children, and I thought they were 
celebrating when I first saw them because they were holding up children 
in these dump trucks above their heads. As they unloaded the dump 
trucks, I understood why the children were being held above their heads 
and held outside of the dump truck. Do you know why, Mr. President? 
Because when they opened the gate and got out, there were three 
children smothered to death in the bottom of those 1995 versions of 
cattle cars being dragged into Auschwitz. If these were not Moslems, 
the world would be reacting, just like if it were not Jews in the 
thirties, the world would react. Shame on the West.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be granted 
an additional 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Bennett). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I appreciate the emotion of my friend from 
Delaware. I appreciate his compassion. I think the challenge before us 
now is to try to devise, working with the administration, a way to end 
this tragedy as quickly as possible for a minimum loss of human life, 
recognizing at this point that there are no good options. There are no 
good options in Bosnia today. What we need to do is choose the least 
bad option if we expect to stop this ongoing tragedy.
  The reason I pointed out this picture again--this is the first time, 
I think, in history we have ever seen a picture of people who are in 
uniform, designated as peacekeepers, standing by and watching people 
being ethnically cleansed, mass rape, and, of course, the arrest and 
probable torture of young men. That is what the U.N. Protection Force 
has been reduced to. That is why, in my view, this was ill-conceived 
and flawed from the beginning--because it was an attempt to keep peace 
where there was no peace.
  I wanted to give some facts as to how bad the situation is. Let me 
point out that I believe the United States should be prepared to assist 
in the effort to help remove the United Nations protection force and 
remove U.N. and allied forces from Bosnia. I want to just lay out the 
criteria. I hope at some time we can have a significant debate and 
discussion of this issue, possibly as early as next week. But I want to 
lay out the following criteria, because we have to be clear.
  The operation must be conducted under U.S. or NATO command. It must 
have a clear mission objective, precluding any danger of mission creep, 
and the operational rules of engagement must be established and 
approved by NATO. Under no circumstances should the United Nations be 
permitted to participate in any way in the planning or implementation 
of a withdrawal operation. To allow any U.N. influence would be to risk 
the same failed policies from which UNPROFOR so clearly suffers. To 
allow U.N. participation in command decisions would be to risk 
repeating the gutless refusal to destroy Serb air defenses, a U.N. 
decision which led to the shootdown of an American F-16 last month.
  Mr. President, the administration has committed 25,000 U.S. forces as 
part of an evacuation force. Once again, we must recognize that we must 
be willing to devote whatever forces in support that are necessary to 
successfully complete the mission--an overwhelming force to guarantee 
the safety of our men and women in uniform and those of our allies.
  Finally, Mr. President, clear warnings must be issued to all parties 
involved in the Bosnian conflict. Should one American be injured or 
killed while participating in a withdrawal operation, the United States 
will not hesitate to use its military might to punish such aggression.
  I would like to be specific. If the Bosnian Serbs harm Americans 
while this rescue operation is going on, I suggest the most punishing 
air strikes imaginable, and going as far away as Belgrade, if 
necessary.
  Mr. President, it is our obligation morally to rescue the U.N. 
Protection Forces. It is also our moral obligation to do everything 
necessary to protect the lives of our young men and women who are 
involved in that operation,
 and make the cost so extremely high that we can guarantee to a 
significant degree the safety of those men and women.

  Every day UNPROFOR stays, every hostage that is taken, every attack 
on the safe areas, every strategically ineffectual air strike and every 
sortie that has no mission but returns safely to base, creates the 
perception of a feeble Western alliance.
  Every day UNPROFOR is in place is another day that the Bosnian 
Government forces are precluded from protecting themselves against Serb 
aggression. Remove UNPROFOR, lift the arms embargo and allow the people 
of Bosnia to fight for their future.
  Unfortunately, harsh, cold, military facts will resolve this 
conflict. One side will prevail. I hope it is the lawful government of 
Bosnia. I find it very troubling that we have interfered with these 
realities to the benefit of the aggressor, by imposing an arms embargo 
on the victim. If we are unwilling to commit American forces to defend 
Bosnians, we cannot in good faith prevent the Bosnians from defending 
themselves.
  I want to thank Senator Dole for his proposal on this issue. I hope 
that next week we will take up this issue as soon as possible. Every 
hour that we delay, more innocent people will die. Every hour that we 
delay, will mean more humiliation and degradation of the United Nations 
and NATO. The repercussions of this kind of dishonor will reverberate 
around the world. We must bring it to a halt.
  I appreciate the indulgence of my colleagues.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, first let me commend my colleague from 
Arizona for his eloquent statement and my colleague from Delaware, 
Senator Biden. I certainly share the views they both expressed this 
evening.
  This is a tragedy I do not believe we will be able to measure for a 
long, long time. It will have an impact on the West for decades. I hope 
we can take up the Bosnia resolution as early as next Wednesday or 
Tuesday.

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