[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 188 (Tuesday, November 28, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S17584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 BOSNIA

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, last night the President of the United 
States spoke to the people of the United States in justification of his 
dispatch of some 20,000 American troops to Bosnia to enforce the 
agreement entered into last week in Dayton, OH, ending for the time 
being, at least, the war in Bosnia.
  President Clinton, I believe, made the best possible case for keeping 
a commitment which he made some months ago. I believe that commitment 
was both unwise and improvident. Nonetheless, it was made by the 
President.
  For me, and I think for most other Members of Congress, the American 
national security interest in Bosnia is difficult to discern. We will 
be there in the hopes that we can settle a civil war which has gone on 
in its present form for some 4 years, but in a more profound fashion 
for at least 600 years.
  The temporary peace which we will be in Bosnia to enforce is not a 
just peace. In fact, it ratifies almost all of the gains made as a 
result of the aggression of the Bosnian Serbs, leaves essentially 
unchallenged the ethnic cleansing, the displacement of people, and the 
killing of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.
  We will be in Bosnia to support a peace of exhaustion, not a peace of 
justice.
  Having said all that, Mr. President, and having spoken on this floor 
on numerous occasions in favor of an American policy that would have 
repudiated the arms embargo and allowed the citizens of Bosnia the 
effective means to fight for their own freedom and independence, we as 
Americans, we as United States Senators, are now faced with a fait 
accompli.
  The President of the United States has the constitutional authority, 
in my view, to send troops to Bosnia and has announced that he is going 
to do so. As a consequence, however unwise we may consider that 
decision to have been, we are essentially faced with the proposition 
that to oppose it, to try to put roadblocks in its path, is likely to 
increase the already considerable danger in which our troops will find 
themselves on the front lines in Bosnia.
  This reaction is one that I think is fairly common among Members of 
this body. It was expressed by three former National Security Advisers 
and Secretaries of Defense before the Armed Services Committee this 
morning, and by many outside commentators who have felt this 
administration's position with respect to Bosnia has been wrongheaded 
almost from the start.
  So, sometime in the next week or 2 weeks, we will be presented here 
on the floor with some sort of resolution with respect to Bosnia. I do 
not believe any Member, at this point, can say that he or she will vote 
in favor of it sight unseen or, for that matter, will vote against it 
sight unseen. I hope we will be able to come up with a resolution which 
will have at least a wide degree of support here in this body, a 
broader and less partisan degree of support than was the case a few 
years ago with respect to the war in the gulf. Such a resolution, I 
believe, will concentrate on the situation as it exists on the ground 
today, given the President's decision, rather than with the process 
that led the President to this decision, one which gives unequivocal 
support to our troops, to the men and women whose lives will be at 
risk, to the maximum possible extent without saying we necessarily 
agree with the policy that brought them there in the first place.
  We can all hope that in a period of 1 year the civil passions which 
have been so brutally expressed during the last 4 years will be 
extinguished. We can be pardoned for believing that is a very 
considerable long shot and that our troops, a year from now, are likely 
to come home leaving behind them exactly the situation they found when 
they arrived.
  Nevertheless, this is the point we have reached. The President has 
done his best to explain it to the people of the United States, and I 
am certain that most of them, while they may not like the decision, 
will certainly provide support for those troops themselves.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________