[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 194 (Thursday, December 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H14211-H14212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              WE SUPPORT OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN BOSNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon to 
address the issue of Bosnia and to outline the text of a resolution 
that was introduced yesterday by my colleague on the other side, Paul 
McHale, and I, both members of the House Committee on National 
Security.
  Mr. Speaker, I have consistently opposed the President's policy on 
Bosnia and I oppose it today. I voted for the motions to lift the arms 
embargo because I felt we were not leveling the playing field in that 
country. We could have prevented many of the atrocities that have 
occurred there over the past several years, the ones that President 
Clinton talked to the American people about just a week ago.
  I supported the resolution in opposition to the President sending in 
ground troops. I think it is a grave mistake to put our young people in 
the midst of this turmoil, and in fact have stated so repeatedly and 
believe today that we are making a mistake.
  However, Mr. Speaker, the President is the Commander in Chief, and 
has the ability to deploy our troops where he sees fit. Unfortunately, 
this President, despite votes taken in this body and the other body, 
overwhelmingly bipartisan, objecting to his policy, has already 
committed our troops to Bosnia. There is not much we can do about that, 
Mr. Speaker, and that is unfortunate.
  However, Mr. Speaker, we can in fact do something now, and that is 
what my resolution and the resolution joined by my friend, Mr. McHale 
does. Our resolution acknowledges that this Congress has gone on record 
repeatedly against inserting ground troops. Our resolution also 
acknowledges that the President is the Commander in Chief and, as such, 
can send our troops and deploy them where he wants.
  The resolution does state that we in this Congress overwhelmingly 
support the sons and daughters of America serving in our military who 
are going to be deployed to Bosnia. But furthermore and perhaps most 
significantly, what our resolution says is that now that this President 
has committed our troops, there will be no political second-guessing of 
the support necessary for them to complete their mission.
  The reason why we make this statement, Mr. Speaker, is just a few 
short years ago when our troops were in Somalia, a request was made by 
the general in charge of those troops for backup support. We would 
later find out that that request was denied. When asked why it was 
denied, the Secretary of Defense at that time, Les Aspin, a friend of 
mine until he passed away a few short months ago, said that the 
political climate in Washington was not right to deploy more troops to 
that theater.
  Mr. Speaker, we must never again allow a political decision to decide 
the fate of our troops. In Somalia, 18 young men and women were killed 
because we did not provide the adequate backup 1 month after a request 
was made for additional support. That must not happen in this case and 
will not happen, because my resolution says that whatever General 
Joulwan wants in the way of backup, whether it be personnel, whether it 
be heavy artillery, whether it be air support, or whatever that need 
is, that there be no political second-guessing from the White House. 
The DOD and the administration must immediately respond to the request 
determined by the general in charge of the theater who has been given 
the responsibility to protect the lives of our kids.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the least that we can do to protect our young 
Americans who are being assigned by this President to go into a hostile 
area that most of us agree they should not be going to. I ask my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join us.
  We already have bipartisan support. The numbers are growing. We have 
been joined by Mr. Kennedy on the other side, by Mr. Cunningham on our 

[[Page H 14212]]
side, and by a number of other Members, and I would ask our colleagues 
to call my office today, or Mr. McHale's office, to sign up as 
cosponsors so that we can let this President know that while we 
disagree with him, he is going to give our troops the support that they 
need, they deserve and they warrant in terms of the operation in the 
Bosnian theater.

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