[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 186 (Monday, November 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               PROHIBITION ON FUNDS FOR BOSNIA DEPLOYMENT

                                 ______


                               speech of

                     HON. MICHAEL PATRICK FLANAGAN

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 17, 1995

  Mr. FLANAGAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill offered by 
the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Hefley].
  Mr. Speaker, the administration has no discernable mission with 
regard to United States involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Why 
should the administration--which has the events in Haiti and Somalia as 
its foreign operations record--delude anyone into believing that there 
are circumstances which would require American soldiers to fight and 
win in Bosnia? There are no such conceivable circumstances. The 
administration must define America's mission in Bosnia--including a 
detailed explanation of why it would serve our national security 
interest--before one soldier should be sent into that conflict. No such 
definition is forthcoming nor is it, in my opinion, likely to be 
forthcoming.
  In my view, Mr. Speaker, the situation in Bosnia strikes me as being 
a lot like the situation preceding the Lebanon fiasco of the early 
1980's where over 200 young Marines lost their lives in a hopeless 
crusade for peace when one of the chief belligerent of the conflict 
viewed the United States not as a peacemaker, but as an ally of another 
belligerent force. No, Mr. Speaker, the possibility of American troops 
in Bosnia is not good foreign policy, it's a recipe for disaster and we 
in Congress have an obligation to prevent it.
  The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina is an 800-year-old struggle which 
is not ours. There is nothing going on in the Balkans that is worth 
losing one American life. I will never vote to send my neighbors' kids 
into that meat grinder. There is no discernable American interest, 
therefore there will be no American lives lost with my vote, so why let 
anyone at the Balkan peace talks in Dayton, OH think that there is any 
possibility of this happening.
  Mr. Speaker, we should vote to adopt this bill tonight before the 
President makes a commitment to send United States troops to Bosnia. By 
passing H.R. 2606 the House will be exercising its article I power of 
the purse and ensuring that we have a say in whether the taxpayer will 
pay to have American troops thrown into the quagmire in Bosnia.
  Opponents of this bill argue that passing it while negotiations are 
on going in Dayton, OH is inappropriate and could derail the peace 
process, thus diminishing American prestige around the world. I believe 
that our prestige will be weakened much more if young American men and 
women start coming home as fallen victims of a failed and poorly 
outlined foreign policy. Mr. Speaker, I ask colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle to pass H.R. 2606. Let's pass it tonight.

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