[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12243-S12244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CALLING FOR CONCERTED ACTION BY NATO TO STOP ONGOING ATROCITIES IN 
                                 KOSOVO

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the 
tragedy that continues to unfold in the Province of Kosovo. I cannot 
stress to my colleagues enough how serious I believe the Kosovo 
situation has become. What we are witnessing in Kosovo now is 
potentially the most dangerous conflict in the Balkans since 1991. For 
more than seven months, President Milosevic and his Serb police forces 
have been engaged in an offensive against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo 
that can only be characterized as ``ethnic cleansing''.
  The Congress must put aside election year politics and speak with one 
voice in support of the United States utilizing all necessary means to 
put an end to these atrocities that threaten a wider war in the 
Balkans. For that reason, I hope that the Republican leadership will 
allow a vote in the Senate to signal our strong support for the use of 
air power against Serbian targets in the coming days.
  Clearly no one on the other side of the aisle can assert that the new 
escalation of fighting in Kosovo has not been very destabilizing to the 
region. The evidence clearly indicates that it has--over a quarter of a 
million of Kosovans have been displaced, many of whom have fled beyond 
the borders of Kosovo and Serbia to Albania and the Former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia.
  Similarly the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has sought refuge and 
material support from Albanian populations in other countries--such 
actions could draw others into an ever widening civil conflict.
  But it is not only the conflict's disastrous potential that cries out 
for action. The status quo in Kosovo is a human catastrophe. According 
to some estimates, already more than 1,000 people have been killed 
since the end of February, when Serbian paramilitary police began their 
crackdown on villages in Kosovo believed to be strongholds of the 
Kosovo Liberation Army. Many more have been driven from their homes.
  Fearful women and children are hiding from the Serb police and other 
Serb armed forces in the hills around Kosovo without adequate food, 
water, or shelter. Nightly temperatures are already falling near 
freezing at night and it is clear that with the advent of winter their 
fate is doomed. Mr. President, we cannot let this humanitarian and 
human rights catastrophe continue.
  The deep concern about the current crisis is a shared one--it is 
bipartisan. Many of the members of this body have recently had an 
opportunity to hear from a former colleague and Majority Leader Senator 
Bob Dole who at the behest of President Clinton traveled to Kosovo and 
Belgrade to make a first hand assessment of the situation. He was 
accompanied on that visit by Assistant Secretary of State for 
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, John Shattuck.
  Senator Dole and Assistant Secretary Shattuck returned to Washington 
with a shared assessment of what has been transpiring in Kosovo in 
recent weeks.
  They have both spoken of atrocities being perpetrated against the 
civilian population--ninety percent of whom are ethnic Albanians. 
Senator Dole again confirmed what many of us in this body have been 
saying over the last seven months, namely that ``Milosevic is again on 
the warpath. . . . and, there should be no doubt that Serbia is engaged 
in major, systematic attacks on the people and territory of Kosovo.''
  The United States has been assertive in condemning Serbian 
aggression. The Clinton administration has spoken out repeatedly 
against Serb human rights abuses in Kosovo, and has stated that it will 
not let Serbs follow through with their ethnic cleansing. The Congress 
too has felt it extremely important to go on record to denounce 
Yugoslav President Milosevic and the Serbian military and security 
forces under his direction. We in the Senate also called upon the 
international community to act forcefully if Serbian armed aggression 
continued. Sadly Serbian aggression has continued. Innocent Kosovans 
have lost mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles.
  There is a time for words and a time for force. Ambassador Richard 
Holbrooke has been trying as I speak to convince Milosevic to alter 
course. The latest information indicates that these efforts are 
unlikely to produce positive results. To my mind, that means that the 
time for words is over. Our entreaties to Milosevic to do the right 
thing have fallen on deaf ears. Milosevic and his Serbian forces have 
been mocking the international community by declaring one thing and 
doing another.
  The time has come for the international community to confront the 
obvious contradictions between the words and deeds of Milosevic and the 
Serbian security forces under his command--saying on the one hand that 
a unilateral cease fire has been established and continuing on the 
other hand with his attacks on ethnic Albanian villages. The Serbian 
September 26, cease-fire declaration was pure theater. Frankly so was 
last weekend's ``withdrawal'' of Serbian forces. At the very moment 
that Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic publicly declared that the 
seven-month offensive against the militant separatists was over, 
fighting continued in southern Kosovo.
  Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past and give Milosevic another 
chance to mislead the international community. Russian objections to 
the use of force by NATO should carry no weight at this juncture. NATO 
has given Milosevic its final ultimatum--to comply immediately with all 
UN and NATO demands to end the crackdown in Kosovo, withdraw government 
forces and open meaningful political negotiations with the ethnic 
Albanians.

[[Page S12244]]

  NATO's military options both to stop fighting and to enforce a 
possible peace settlement have been planned in detail over the past 
months. NATO's military staff is prepared to act. All that is needed is 
the political will upon the part of NATO governments to give the green 
light. We can no longer afford to show any more patience for the 
indecision of our Allies. In my view the internationally community has 
already waited too long to put an end to the human suffering that is 
being inflicted on innocent men, women and children. After seven years 
of watching Milosevic play cat and mouse games with United States and 
European leaders, I believe that the only language this individual will 
respond to is the sound of missiles hitting and crushing strategic 
targets in his proverbial backyard.
  Mr. President, yesterday NATO Foreign Ministers met in Brussels. In 
reporting on the outcome of that meeting, Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright reported that NATO was united and ready to authorize bombing 
in Serbia. Earlier this week, President Clinton assured members of the 
Senate that any air strikes conducted by NATO against Serbia would not 
be ``pinprick" strikes but would ``send a very clear signal'' that we 
mean business.
  We in the United States need to lead by example. We cannot wait any 
longer--for humanitarian reasons, for human rights reasons, and for 
geo-political reasons. If the international community fails to respond 
to Milosevic's continued assaults on Kosovo with force if necessary, 
then shortly there will be few if any ethnic Albanians left to protect 
in Kosovo and stability in the greater Balkans will be at risk.
  Mr. President, I know that many of my colleagues share my views. I 
believe the American people as well.

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