[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9501-S9502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HELICOPTER CRASH IN BOSNIA

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise this evening to comment on the 
tragic news from Bosnia. Earlier today, a U.N. helicopter carrying 
several international officials crashed 40 miles northwest of Sarajevo. 
Twelve people are reported dead and four injured. The latest reports 
indicate that on board were four or five Americans, still unidentified, 
who were working for the International Police Task Force and the Office 
of the High Representative for Bosnia. Among the dead was Gerd Wagner, 
the Senior Deputy High Representative for Bosnia. Ambassador Wagner was 
well known to many of us in the Congress, since before he took up his 
post this past summer he was the political counselor at the German 
Embassy in Washington.
  A Balkan expert who learned Serbo-Croatian while serving in Belgrade 
earlier in his career, Ambassador Wagner answered the call to take up 
the challenging and dangerous post as Senior Deputy to High 
Representative Carlos Westendorp.
  I had dinner with the Ambassador 3 weeks ago in Sarajevo. In the 
presence of a diverse group of Bosnian Muslims, Croats, and other 
international officials, he spoke out forcefully in favor of the 
difficult task of making the Federation work. Much of the credit for 
refugee resettlement and for fleshing out the political institutions 
mandated by the Dayton accords belongs to Gerd Wagner.
  Mr. President, this terrible helicopter crash follows just 2 years 
after the accident on Mount Igman that took the lives of three 
dedicated American diplomats--Joe Kruzel, Bob Frasure, and Nelson Drew. 
In neither the Mount Igman accident in 1995 nor today's helicopter 
crash was any foul play suspected.
  As a matter of fact, the early reports are reminiscent--Dr. Haltzel, 
of the Foreign Relations Committee staff, and I were talking about it 
today--of our own helicopter travel in Bosnia 3 weeks ago. We were in a 
similar situation. Reportedly the reason Ambassador Wagner's delegation 
crashed was heavy fog. We also took off from Sarajevo in a peasoup fog, 
and the pilot of our American Blackhawk helicopter expressed concern 
about the fog and the mountains. Obviously, in our case it turned out 
not to be a problem. Tragically in this case for Ambassador

[[Page S9502]]

Wagner's Czech-made helicopter, it ended up being a fatal problem.
  As I mentioned, apparently the crash was not the consequence of any 
foul play. The accident occurred while Ambassador Wagner's party was on 
a regular peacekeeping mission. The sacrifices of these brave 
individuals point out the dangers that international peacekeepers, 
mediators, diplomats, USAID workers, and others face in Bosnia every 
day, even if they may not be the direct victims of the ethnic fighting.
  If the cause of stabilizing the fragile peace in Bosnia and putting 
that country back on the road to political and economic recovery is 
important to the United States and its allies, as I firmly believe it 
is, then we must take the risks to achieve our goals. Our diplomats in 
Bosnia understand that simple truth, our volunteer professional 
soldiers in SFOR understand that simple truth, our USAID workers in 
Bosnia understand it, and our volunteers working for the International 
Police Task Force in Bosnia understand it. And Gerd Wagner understood 
it.
  Mr. President, our hearts go out to the families of all the victims, 
the relatives of the as yet unnamed Americans on board, and Ambassador 
Wagner's wife, Mrs. Sandra Wagner, their two sons, and their daughter, 
who has been studying at the University of California at Berkeley. Gerd 
Wagner was a fine German diplomat, a dedicated international civil 
servant, and a good friend of the United States of America. He will be 
sorely missed.

  Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Iowa for allowing me to 
speak ahead of him, and I yield the floor.
  Mr. HARKIN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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