[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 199 (Thursday, December 14, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REPORT ON RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR DEBATE AND CONSIDERATION OF THREE 
         MEASURES RELATING TO U.S. TROOP DEPLOYMENTS IN BOSNIA

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                               speech of

                           HON. TERRY EVERETT

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 13, 1995

  Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense 
under the Reagan administration, developed a much touted six-point test 
that must be satisfied before the use of military force is warranted. 
The first, and perhaps most important point of the test is ``does the 
United States have vital, national interests at stake.'' The answer in 
Bosnia is clearly no. The international community has allowed the most 
recent fighting of this centuries-old civil war to carry on for nearly 
3 years before air strikes directed by the United Nations were ordered. 
Now, some 4 years later, President Clinton has decided to assume 
Europe's responsibility and help bolster NATO's standing by sending 
United States troops into a tentative and unwarranted peacekeeping 
mission.
  To conduct a peacekeeping mission successfully and safely, the 
peacekeepers must be perceived as neutral by the warring parties. How 
can United States forces be seen as neutral when U.N. air strikes 
against Serb positions have largely been conducted by the United States 
for the past year? To add fuel to the fire, President Clinton has 
promised that the United States would be simultaneously involved in 
training and equipping Bosnian Moslem forces so that they may be better 
able to defend themselves against possible Serb attacks.
  Other dangers facing American service men and women serving as 
peacekeepers in the Balkans involves the very real threat of terrorism 
from Islamic fundamentalists, thousands of land mines--most of which 
are unaccounted, and the risks of traveling over the snow- and ice-
covered mountainous terrain of this area.
  Although the President has determined that U.S. peacekeepers will be 
withdrawn from this mission area in 1 year, I find the exit strategy to 
be lacking and full of holes that could leave U.S. forces bogged down 
in this effort for a much longer period of time.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States cannot conduct foreign policy by 
deploying our troops around the globe to interject our morals, values, 
and way of life upon warring nations. It won't be successful, and we 
could lose the credibility that we currently enjoy as the lone 
superpower. There are many ways we can support peace in the Balkans 
without putting young Americans in harms way. It is not too late to 
halt any further troop movements to this region, so I urge all of my 
colleagues to support the Dornan legislation.

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