[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 188 (Tuesday, November 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H13709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CONCERNS REGARDING AMERICA SENDING PEACEKEEPING TROOPS TO BOSNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Cunningham] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I know Members on both sides of the 
aisle are anguishing on whether we send troops or not to Bosnia. Let me 
give a few of this Member's concerns. First of all, I have had not one 
constituent walk up to me and say, ``Duke, send our troops.'' Quite on 
the contrary, it has been overwhelmingly ``Duke, try to stop it if you 
can.''
  Second, General Boyd and General MacKenzie, both in charge in that 
portion of the world in Bosnia-Herzegovina have stated: ``Stay out. It 
will be a disaster.'' These are the two generals that headed up our 
forces in that particular part of the world.
  I look at the cost. NATO has said that it is not $2.2, but by the end 
it will cost us $3 billion to $6 billion. The President just signed a 
balanced budget in 7 years agreement. Where is the money going to come 
from? Even if you have a supplemental, you have to offset it. You have 
to pay for it. We cannot do that.
  NATO is broke today, billions of dollars. France said just 2 weeks 
ago that we can plan on a 20-year commitment with NATO in that portion 
of the world. Who is going to end up paying for that, Mr. Speaker? We 
are. The President said that the primary source of nation building will 
come from Europe. It also leaves a lot of room for the United States. 
We are looking at billions of dollars when we are talking about a time 
when balancing a budget, providing for Medicare, and a lot of other 
things that the other side is arguing against it.
  I also look at the $4,000, much of it deemed. These are not the 
Bosnian Muslims, but primarily those from Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, 
Albania, that are the radicals. If they are allowed to stay in that 
portion of the world, these are the ones that have sworn a worldwide 
Jihad against Jews, Christians, and all nonbelievers. They will attack 
our troops, and they have got to go. We have got to demand equal 
treatment.
  That has not happened in the past. Have Serbs and Croatians and 
Muslims committed atrocious acts? Absolutely, all three groups. But we 
need not to train one side. Can you imagine during this peace 
agreement, we go in and train any side or give arms to any side? If I 
was on any one of the other two, I would say that is an act of war. I 
think that is the plan.
  Who would come in with arms? France, Iran, Iraq, Russia, and yes, Mr. 
Speaker, even the United States, to sell arms. I think that would be 
disastrous.
  I have another concern. President Clinton is going to be in a 
campaign mode over the next year. During Desert Storm, President Bush 
was focused. Colin Powell was focused. Dick Cheney was focused on 
Desert Storm, not on political activities coming up. I feel that if you 
look at Secretary Perry, I think he is a fairly good Secretary of 
Defense, but with all due respect, he is not a tactician. He is a 
politician and a bean counter. He is not a Dick Cheney.
  I look at the problems of what we could end up with, as we did in 
Vietnam with Johnson and McNamara, that we are ill-suited for the job 
of the defense of our kids. We could get bogged down in Bosnia. I also 
look at what could happen to Saddam Hussein, in North Korea, and other 
areas, and the terrorist activities that could pick up.
  We are $200 billion below the bottom-up review in defense dollars. 
That is the bare-bone minimum to fight two conflicts. The GAO has said 
we are $200 billion. the Chairman of our Joint Chiefs said is our 
military ready; yes, we are, but it is a paper-thin readiness that will 
not last more than a few weeks. If we get bogged down there, Mr. 
Speaker, I am afraid we will be in big trouble.

  I look at replies that we had from Turkey that said they would come 
in with 20,000 troops around Sarajevo, Russia would send in 20,000 
troops to align themselves between the Croats and the Serbs, without a 
single U.S. soldier involved. Why has the President not taken them up 
on this, without committing our troops? We must not arm or disarm any 
party, we must not train or arm any party, we must not get involved in 
civil disobedience protests, we must treat all even-handedly.
  We must demand that all Mideast radical 4,000 Mujahidin be 
eliminated, all foreign regular troops be eliminated. I would like to 
submit for the Record this article from the Associated Press on the 
death of an American citizen at the hands of the radical Muslims.
  The material referred to is as follows:

                   American Slain in Northern Bosnia

       Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.--An American man working for 
     the United Nations has been murdered in Bosnia, and a U.N. 
     official yesterday said Middle Eastern fighters backing the 
     Bosnian government are suspected.
       The body of the American citizen, whose identity was not 
     immediately released, was found by Bosnian police Sunday 
     evening near the town of Banovici, 10 miles northwest of 
     Tuzla.
       Tuzla is the biggest Bosnian government-held city in 
     northeastern Bosnia, and would be the headquarters for U.S. 
     soldiers taking part in a NATO peace mission in Bosnia.
       A U.N. official said the body was found just 500 yards from 
     where Norwegian peacekeepers were stopped last month by 
     mujahedeen, fighters from Middle Eastern countries helping 
     the Muslim-led Bosnian government. The official said 
     investigators suspect the mujahedeen were responsible for the 
     American's death.

  These fundamentalist cutthroats must be out by the time our troops 
are in place.

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