[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 101 (Wednesday, July 16, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7619-S7620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SITUATION IN BOSNIA

 Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, I rise to comment on the present 
situation in Bosnia, the small Balkan country which is the scene of a 
military commitment involving thousands of American military personnel, 
a significant slice of our military forces, and the logistics and 
intelligence which support them.
  Our military led the way into Bosnia as the NATO alliance took on the 
role of overseeing the security aspects of the Dayton accords. Our 
soldiers and other NATO forces have prevented a recurrence of war and 
they have provided a security umbrella beneath which Bosnian refugees 
could have returned to their homes and Bosnia could have resumed normal 
life--if the leaders of the Bosnian factions had permitted it. 
Unfortunately, these leaders retain office and retain their access to 
public money through policies of ethnic division and hostility, not 
policies of reconciliation. Consequently there has been little progress 
in achieving the political goals of the Dayton accords.
  The restoration of Bosnia's economic infrastructure is similarly 
hobbled, partly because some of the factional leaders prefer the graft 
inherent in government monopolies to the prosperity that comes from 
open competition. Another reason is the weakness of the civil component 
of the international effort to implement Dayton. The diplomats from 
European Union and NATO countries who are charged with civil 
implementation have been doing their best, but they lack the authority, 
the resources, and the planning ability which characterize their NATO 
military counterparts. The international response to Bosnia is somewhat 
like a human body which is strong and vibrant on one side, the military 
side, and weak and withered on the other, civilian, side. This 
imbalance threatens the success of our military deployment because the 
civil tasks are the tasks which will bring lasting peace to Bosnia. The 
economic infrastructure must be restored. Local sectarian barriers must 
fall and people and trade must move freely throughout the country and 
across its borders. The rule of law must replace the rule of local 
bosses and the police must become impartial instruments of the law. 
Foreign investment, integration with Europe, and the eventual 
prosperity which is needed to undergird peace will not occur unless 
these civil tasks are accomplished. Because these tasks are so 
essential to a successful outcome in Bosnia, our soldiers there will 
some day be measuring the value of their Bosnia service medals based on 
how well the civilian component of the effort did its job.
  A precondition for democracy in any country is justice: the ability 
for any citizen to get justice from his or her institutions, and the 
ability of those institutions to provide justice when crimes are 
committed. This precondition is lacking in Bosnia. Furthermore, the 
very concept of justice is daily mocked by the presence in Bosnia of 
individuals who have been indicted for war crimes by the Hague 
Tribunal. Until these individuals are tried by the Tribunal, until the 
people of Bosnia see that the world takes seriously what happened to 
them and is committed to doing justice, the Bosnians of all ethnic 
groups have no reason to hope for a better future. If the crimes that 
occurred during the Bosnian civil war are not publicly brought to 
closure, if the criminals can just wait out the world's outrage, then 
there is no reason for the average Bosnian to have any hope in a 
democratic future.

[[Page S7620]]

  Mr. President, it is because justice for war crimes is so important 
that I am particularly pleased at recent news reports that NATO is now 
acting to capture persons in Bosnia who have been indicted for war 
crimes. The recent raid conducted by British troops to capture a 
suspected war criminal who was subsequently transported to the Hague 
should give hope to ordinary Bosnians that justice will be done and 
armed thugs will not continue to dominate their local affairs. I 
applaud the bravery of the British troops in this raid and I urge 
additional raids by the NATO forces in Bosnia to accomplish this 
essential and unfinished part of our collective duty.

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