[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 190 (Thursday, November 30, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17873-S17874]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 BOSNIA

  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I think what has happened today, in my 
own view, as tragic as it might be, is refreshing to some of the 
American people, the people who feel this is a partisan place up here, 
where there is nothing but partisan politics, that the Republicans 
stand for something and the Democrats stand for something. But what we 
witnessed a short while ago should defuse that because we now have the 
majority leader of the United States Senate supporting the President in 
his effort in sending American troops into Bosnia on the ground.
  I listened briefly to the Senator from Texas, Senator Hutchison, and 
I concur in her remarks. There certainly are no two people I have 
higher regard for, in terms of their war record and patriotism, than 
the Senator from Arizona, Senator McCain, and the Senator from Kansas, 
the majority leader, Senator Dole. However, I think there is an honest 
difference of opinion here.
  I think what the President has been attempting to do seems to be 
working. But what the President has been doing is staying out of the 
fray until troops can be deployed long enough and far enough into 
Bosnia that it puts us in the position of where we are going to have to 
support the effort because we are supporting the troops. I do not buy 
that.
  I think you can support the troops--and I will always support the 
American troops, wherever they are, anywhere in the world. But if we 
have the option right now of stopping the deployment of troops into 
Bosnia, it is our moral responsibility to do that. And I believe that 
option is still there.
  I said this morning on this floor that there are not going to be any 
free rides on this one. We are going to have a vote, not a vote on a 
soft resolution saying, well, we oppose the effort but we support the 
troops, we are going to have a vote on whether or not we send our 
troops into Bosnia.
  The environment in Bosnia is not one the likes of which we have seen 
in any of the wars that we have been involved in because we have always 
been able to identify the enemy. You cannot identify the enemy. Sure, 
we have chosen sides. We have been supplying the Croatians and the 
Bosnian Moslems against the Serbs now for quite some time. I think 
perhaps that was not the right thing to do, but nonetheless we have 
taken sides. We have taken sides through our air attacks.
  Now it looks as if we are going to deploy troops over there to take 
sides. But who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? In this case 
we do not know. You might say, well, this year--any snapshot in history 
would give you a different answer to that question. There was a time 
when clearly the Croatians would have been the bad guys and a time when 
clearly the Serbs would have been the bad guys. But here we have more 
than just three major factions. We have many, many elements. We have 
rogue elements. And some of these elements are Serb elements, some are 
Moslem elements, such as the Black Swans. That is a rogue element. 
Nonetheless, they are there.
  We are sending troops into an environment where only in this 
morning's newspaper we see a quote from the guy who is working directly 
for the general with whom I have spoken in the very sector where we are 
proposing to send our troops, General Haukland from Norway, where they 
say that there are literally millions of mines all throughout that 
area--millions. Not 10, not 100, not 1,000--millions of mines of all 
sizes, all shapes. And we do not know where they are. They are now in a 
position where, even though they have been going centimeter by 
centimeter trying to defuse these mines, we are now in a position where 
the winter is setting in, the ground is frozen, the snows are coming, 
and there is not any way in the world that we are going to be able to 
protect our troops that are going over there from stepping on these 
mines.
  Remember, just a short while ago we were faced with a similar 
situation down in Nicaragua. And what were most of the losses? They 
were from mines. And the amputees were the result of what was 
happening.
  Now, that is what we are faced with again. Only in today's newspaper, 
this is happening right now. We have already sent troops over there. I 
know that the President is hiding out in Europe. He is going to stay 
there until we have more troops. Then he will come back and say, ``Now 
you have to go with me because we have to protect our troops that are 
over there.''
  Madam President, our troops are not there yet. We only have a few 
there. But a lot are on their way. I went to the training area in 
Germany of the 1st Armored Division. I know they are training them to 
go. They are going to go up through Hungary and then come down south 
through the Posavina corridor and into the Tuzla area.
  When you look at that area, there has never been an area anywhere in 
the world that is so conducive to guerrilla warfare. There has never 
been an area in the world that has more guerrillas in it that are not 
identifiable. We have identified nine rogue elements that are there 
that are not even related in any way to anyone who was around the table 
in Dayton, OH.
  So, Madam President, I just wanted to be sure that it is crystal 
clear that I do not stand alone. There are many others who feel just as 
strongly as I do that we are going to do everything we can to stop this 
mass deployment of troops into Bosnia. It was a bad idea 2\1/2\ years 
ago when the President first started talking about it, when he took 
sides and started airdrops. It was a bad idea 1\1/2\ years ago when the 
President decided he was going to have airstrikes. And it is a bad idea 
today. And I will continue to do anything within 

[[Page S17874]]
my power to stop the deployment of troops into Bosnia.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. NICKLES addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as 
in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, first I wish to compliment my friend 
and colleague Senator Inhofe for his statement on Bosnia. I will have a 
statement soon on that subject. But I compliment him, one, for his 
courage and conviction, and also the fact he went through the trouble 
of going to Bosnia recently, and I think his observations are very 
correct. I think we are in the process of getting bogged down in a 
quagmire.
  So I compliment him for that. Again, I will add to my remarks at a 
later time.

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