[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 190 (Thursday, November 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13845-H13846]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      DO NOT SEND TROOPS TO BOSNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Tiahrt] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, today American troops are in Bosnia. There 
are approximately 10 troops in Bosnia already, Mr. Speaker. By the end 
of the week, it will be 700. By the end of the year, probably 35,000 
directly involved and 140,000 indirectly involved.
  Today, Secretary Christopher, Secretary Perry, and General 
Shalikashvili came to the Committee on National Security to try to 
convince Congress to support the commitment to place ground troops in 
Bosnia. Soon, we here in Congress will be asked to support an agreement 
that we not only had no input in drafting, but also repeatedly have 
expressed our opposition to.
  Mr. Speaker, the American public and Congress is opposed to placing 
troops in Bosnia. To those that are in support of placing troops in 
Bosnia, I think that they will be subject to change when we see the 
first widow handed a flag at a grave side next to their children whose 
eyes will be filled with tears.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a very serious issue. There may be an agreement 
between those involved in the crisis over in Bosnia, and I have a copy 
of that agreement that was signed in Dayton, OH, on November 21. It was 
signed for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of 
Croatia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In this agreement, Mr. 
Speaker, there is no requirement for U.S. troops. Nowhere does it call 
out that United States troops must be on the ground in Bosnia.
  If there is no written requirement for troops being on the ground in 
Bosnia, why are we there? Today Secretary Christopher said, ``We are 
going to place troops on the ground in Bosnia because of our commitment 
to NATO.'' That is why we are placing troops there. Further, he said if 
we do not lead in this matter by placing troops on the ground in 
Bosnia, no one in the international community will ever follow the lead 
of America again.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully disagree with Secretary Christopher, 
because there is no written requirement in this agreement to place 
troops. I do submit that there are ways that we can lead in the effort 
to stop the atrocities that are occurring in Bosnia by other means. We 
can lead within this agreement. We can lead without placing ground 
troops in Bosnia. We can lead through air support, as we have done in 
the past. We can lead through logistical support and we can lead 
through intelligence gatherings and through provisions of hardware, 
through strategy.

  In closing in the presentation that is going to be made by General 
Shalikashvili, he said that this operation is going to be tough and we 
must be prepared for casualties. We must be prepared for casualties. 
What is the acceptable level of casualties, general? Mr. President? The 
American public? Congress? What is the acceptable level of casualties? 
Is it 1,000 a week of young men and women, of Americans dying? Is it 
250 per week?
  Mr. Speaker, I do not know what that answer is, but I do know what 
the answer is in Kansas; what the people of Kansas are telling me. They 
are telling me that the acceptable level of casualties in Bosnia of 
United States men and women is zero. No casualties. That is what is 
acceptable, yet we are sending in troops now and they are going to be 
in harm's way.
  Recently, I heard General Schwarzkopf talk about his lessons learned 
in Vietnam. No. 1, there is no such thing as a limited war. What we are 
entering into is allegedly peacekeeping. It is more like peacemaking. 
It may become an occupation. It will probably be termed as a limited 
war when the fighting starts.
  Mr. Speaker, there are 45,000 to 60,000 Serbs who are opposed to this 
agreement. Our troops will be landing at Tuzla, within 1 mile of Serb 
positions, within mortar range. When those aircraft come on final 
approach, they will be in harm's way. There are Azerbaijan troops, 
which are Moslems, 4,000, who also do not agree with this peace 
agreement.
  The second thing that General Schwarzkopf said is there must be a 
clear mission. I do not think that has been established.
  The third is never, never put troops in a conflict without the 
support of the American public. Mr. President and Mr. Secretary, we do 
not have the support of the American public and we do 

[[Page H13846]]
not have the support of the Congress. Let us not send troops to Bosnia.

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