[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 114 (Friday, July 14, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9979-S9981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          INHUMANITY IN BOSNIA

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am on the floor for the same reason that 
my colleague from the State of Minnesota is here. I have stood silently 
by for a long time now because I have the same feeling that a lot of us 
have, one of desperation, despair. I was forced to think about this as 
a result of the statement given yesterday by the Senator from the State 
of Arizona [Mr. McCain] a man who understands war, a man who spent more 
than 5 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, a man who spent more than 
half that time in solitary confinement. So I figure that when Senator 
McCain talks about war, I should listen. Senator McCain did not use the 
Washington Post. He used the New York Times as an illustration. I went 
and looked at the New York Times after he brought it to my attention. 
It showed a mass of humanity, but if you looked closely at the picture 
there were uniformed troops in there. Who were those troops? They were 
U.N. troops. My friend from the State of Minnesota today made the same 
statement. 

[[Page S9980]]

  Mr. President, each day now brings a whole new series of horrible 
stories of the inhumanity in Bosnia. I did not know Leon Wellstone. 
Obviously, with the sensitivity that the Senator from Minnesota has 
about issues generally, I am sure that Mr. Wellstone was a good teacher 
and certainly had some wisdom and philosophy about the nature of man as 
imparted by the Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. Wellstone would, I am sure, stare in amazement, with each day 
bringing a whole new series of horrible stories of inhumanity in that 
part of the world. The Bosnian Serbs are conducting offenses on one 
U.N. safe haven after another, and doing it with remarkable speed, 
reminding me of the blitzkrieg of 50-odd years ago. Why should they not 
move with remarkable speed? It is just like 50-plus years ago when 
Hitler moved into those areas; he had no opposition basically. They 
have no opposition basically. So why should they not move quickly?
  The safe haven's only protection--and I use that word very loosely--
is a small number of lightly armed U.N. troops who are quickly forced 
to surrender their positions. I think most of the time they are not 
asked to surrender; they wave the white flags very early, leaving 
Bosnian civilians defenseless to these aggressors. Srebrenica has 
fallen and has been ethnically cleansed, by their definition. Zepa is 
under heavy artillery fire and troops there were given an ultimatum to 
put down their weapons by what was 8 o'clock this morning local time. 
The Bosnian Serbs have openly declared that the safe area of Gorazde 
will be next. And 40,000 civilians were forced out of Srebrenica--
40,000, as many people as watched the all-star game. Where were they 
forced? Anyplace they could go. We have reports of murder, rape, 
torture. The men are lined up, and those that are of military age are 
taken one place, the old and infirm are taken someplace else. Women are 
lined up, some taken away for obvious reasons.
  These pictures, stories of human suffering, are heart wrenching. 
Families are torn apart. We have reports of mothers searching for their 
children, the elderly succumbing to exhaustion from the heat and lack 
of water as they are forced to leave on foot.
  And we do not see all the pictures. We do not know what else goes on. 
We can only imagine what else goes on. Given the past cases of ethnic 
cleansing, atrocities committed by the Bosnian Serbs that have already 
been documented by human rights groups in Bosnia, we can believe the 
reports are certainly true; that our imagination is certainly without 
bound. What is next?
  There are about 16,000 civilians in Zepa, civilians who now, no 
doubt, will undergo the same inhumane treatment that we have seen the 
last week, the last month, the last several years.
  And what about Gorazde? It is the most highly populated area of all, 
with as many as 60,000 civilians. Are we going to stand by and watch 
these people fall victim to their captors, just as the people of 
Srebrenica fell victim?
  The United Nations officially declared and demilitarized the safe 
areas, promising to protect civilians and provide aid. But, surely, no 
one believes anymore that the United Nations has any hope of protecting 
safe havens anyplace in Bosnia. News reports, and TV news reports in 
particular, show the anger of the Bosnian Moslems forced out of 
Srebrenica at the promises made to them by the United Nations and the 
West.
  A United Nations official is quoted in a New York Times article 
today:

       We are at that point in the war where there is no peace to 
     keep. We were never equipped or given enough troops to 
     protect these enclaves. The Serbs have called our bluff.

  Mr. President, certainly they have called our bluff. The United 
Nations is not a peacemaker--they are a peacekeeper; they were sent in 
to keep the peace--and that is something they cannot do and should not 
be asked to do. The Serbs, in the New York Times article today, 
certainly have called the United Nations' bluff. The will of the West 
to take definitive action is weak, and the Bosnian Serbs know it.
  Time and time again, United Nations officials have rejected NATO's 
offer to conduct air strikes. The NATO alliance itself shows signs of 
disintegration as the alliance members disagree on a course of action 
and find the U.N. troops are used as tools to blackmail the United 
Nations and NATO into promises not to conduct the strikes.
  And the world watches, as U.N. troops watch, while the Bosnian 
Moslems fall victim. The United Nations cannot protect the men carted 
off to an unknown fate. They cannot help those women taken from the 
group. They cannot help the injured and the dying, and they cannot help 
mothers find their children.
  It is a pitiful sight to see the U.N. forces standing in the 
background as hundreds of thousands of people have been inhumanly 
herded away like animals. You would not treat rodeo animals the way 
these people are treated. Animal rights groups would rise up in anger. 
Animal protection groups would rise up in anger if you treated animals 
anywhere like these people are being treated.
  The President said yesterday that if the United Nations does not get 
its act together, its days are numbered in that area. The contact group 
is formulating a regrouping of U.N. forces, consolidating them in 
Sarajevo. You can move the players around the board all you want, like 
chess or checker moves, but they will be no more effective if they 
cannot do something more than what they have done. The U.N. force has 
already been badly routed. It has failed to influence any peaceful 
solution, and it has failed to protect civilians.
  The present policy of international reliance on continued peace 
negotiations and containment has only prolonged Serb aggression against 
the Bosnians. We must lift the arms embargo.
  Mr. President, for me to come on the floor and talk about lifting the 
arms embargo is not easy. I met with a large group of Pakistani 
physicians 1\1/2\ years ago. They asked me, ``What about lifting the 
arms embargo?''
  I said we cannot have more military, that is what caused the problems 
in the world today. I spoke to those people, who were so agitated about 
what was going on, and said we should not lift the arms embargo. Well, 
I was wrong. There is nothing else we can do. It will cause more 
bloodshed, but what else can we do?
  We must allow the Bosnians to defend themselves and defend their 
families. Frankly, most military experts say it is too late, that by 
the time they get their act together with new arms, a military force, 
the Serbs will have run over them.
  I do not know if that is the case, but at least they need a chance to 
defend their families. The U.N. forces should withdraw so they no 
longer can be used by the Serbs to facilitate Serb goals.
  The U.N. forces have not helped the Bosnians. They have helped in 
recent months the Serbs. The Serbs have confiscated arms, they have 
taken humanitarian aid and money from U.N. forces. They have taken U.N. 
troops hostage. We all remember the pathetic pictures of U.N. troops 
chained to poles. It is time for the United Nations to stop aiding the 
Serbs in this ruthless pursuit. The Bosnian Serbs hold no regard for 
the U.N. mission or for finding a peaceful solution to the war.
  Mr. President, there is no pain-free solution to what is going on 
now, but we can predict with more certainty what the future brings. The 
Serbs will continue their aggression. The Serbs will continue ethnic 
cleansing. The Serbs will attack U.N. safe havens, and they will 
respond only to a real threat of force. U.N. forces will not alter this 
course and may only advance the Serbs' cause by serving as hostages, by 
supplying the arms that they steal and by surrendering their supplies. 
The arms embargo should be lifted and the Bosnian people allowed to 
determine their own fate.
  The ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, the former 
chairman from Georgia said in a recent statement, and I quote: ``There 
will be a high price to be paid once the U.N. forces are withdrawn from 
Bosnia.''
  As usual, the senior Senator from Georgia is right. There is no easy 
way out of this conflict. The Bosnians are aware of the high price to 
be paid, and they are willing to pay it for the right to defend their 
country and their families. To them, the status quo is far worse than 
any alternative brought on by lifting the embargo and, if necessary, 
withdrawing U.N. troops.
  Mr. President, I also say this. I say the United States should send 
no 

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troops to that part of the world. Why not call upon the nations that 
have influence in that part of the world? That is in their sphere of 
influence. Where is France? Where is England? France wants to be a 
superpower. They are setting off tests in the middle of the ocean. Let 
them bring in their troops and do something rather than talk. It is in 
their sphere of influence.
  The United States, I say, should, at the most, supply air power and 
have the troops withdrawn. I do not think we should commit troops to 
that part of the world, even though my colleague, the majority leader 
from Kansas, has said that there should be U.S. troops supplied to help 
withdraw the U.N. troops. I do not think I can go that far, Mr. 
President.
  What has gone on there is something that should have the world 
community saying, ``At least let's get the U.N. troops out of there, 
they are only serving the Serbian forces.'' I say let us have France 
and England and the European nations join together and let them bring 
troops into that area. We have done Somalia; we have done Haiti. Have 
we not done enough, Mr. President? We have done the gulf war. It is 
time for the United States to step back and let other countries do 
their share for a change.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SPECTER. I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to speak as in 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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