[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 199 (Thursday, December 14, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S18660]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            November 15, 1995. R.W. van de Velde Ridge Road, RR 2 
                                Cornwall Middlebury, Vermont 05753
       To the Editor: It is unfortunate, but foreign policy is 
     paid attention to by other nations only when it has economic 
     or military clout. It would be a nicer world if some other 
     reason, such as logic or kindness, had similar clout, but in 
     a world of humans rather than of angels, that is very rarely 
     the case.
       So when the President of the United States says the 
     military must be used, he is backing up policy with muscle. 
     Sometimes the mere threat of that kind of muscle is enough. 
     The situation in the Balkans surely has gone beyond that 
     possibility.
       It is also a fact of life that a leader, or a nation that 
     will not lead is bound to lose his or its ability to lead.
       It is another truth that whether we like it or not, the 
     world looks on the United States for leadership. We are the 
     richest and strongest in the world in peace as well as war. 
     We are a peaceful people, but we maintain a well trained and 
     well equipped military force; and it is all volunteer. There 
     is no draft--no unfairness--everyone in the military service 
     of this Nation is a person who chose that service presumably 
     with his/her eyes open and mindful that there might someday 
     be some dangers, some risks, to life and limb. How we, a 
     nation, got the notion that military force can be exerted 
     without risk, I don't understand.
       Let us not be ``skeptical'' or fearful of using our 
     military strength when we can't do otherwise. Anyone who says 
     ``let Europeans clean up their own mess'' simply does not 
     understand the condition of Europe or the Balkans. Both need 
     American leadership and strength, and so do we if we are to 
     continue as the ideal of what a big nation should be.
                                                 R.W. van de Velde
     Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.).

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