[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 49 (Monday, April 12, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H1805-H1806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       MISADVENTURE IN YUGOSLAVIA

  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the ongoing 
military action against Yugoslavia and the reservations that many of us 
have concerning U.S. involvement.
  Go back with me for a moment to Carl von Clausewitz, who probably has 
been quoted as the foremost military strategist in modern history, his 
writings were published posthumously on military strategy in 1832, one 
year after death, in a book entitled ``On War.'' One of the key 
principles advanced by him that I think has relevance today, even 
though it was written in 1832, was in regard to military action, what 
is the political objective and, more importantly, in regard to military 
action against Yugoslavia because he indicated that political objective 
is a prime organizer for war. He writes, quote:

       The political objective, the original motive for the war, 
     will thus determine both the military objective to be reached 
     and the amount of effort it requires.

  What he was saying is that once you state what your political 
objective is to be, you then tailor your military strategy in order to 
achieve victory according to the original political objective, and this 
is the heart of my difficulties with our current military operation.
  The President has propagated ever-shifting political objectives. By 
my own calculations, he has had at least three different stated 
political objectives in Kosovo.
  The first stated objective by the administration was to prevent the 
ethnic cleansing of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by the Yugoslavian 
Serbs. So what was the military strategy created to achieve a victory 
by President Clinton? They decided we would bomb the Serbs in order to 
prevent the wiping out of the Kosovars.
  Mr. Speaker, the result has been failure. The administration's plans 
set the table for failure, and it resulted in the removal of at least 
500,000 Kosovars from their homes and the killing of countless men and 
women and children. The sad fact is that intelligence sources have 
leaked that they warned

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the President and the administration beforehand that the likely result 
of bombing would be to trigger the Serbian assault on the Kosovars.
  So, did the President and his advisers take into account the advice 
of our intelligence services and create a strategy to achieve victory 
according to his first objective? No. They ignored their advice and 
began the bombing which resulted in the misery that has enveloped the 
Kosovars.
  Now the second objective, Mr. Speaker, was then to reduce the Serbs' 
warmaking ability. Again, the strategy was to continue bombing. Well, 
the results have been mixed. The United States Air Force has 
successfully punished Serbian forces, destroyed the infrastructure 
assets, and attacked political objectives such as a foreign ministry 
building in Belgrade. The bombing has yet, however, to weaken the hold 
on the power of Milosevic, and it is difficult to tell at this point 
how much maximum damage has been done to the Serbian Army. They still 
fully occupy the Kosovar province.
  Now the third objective was to repatriate the Kosovars back to their 
homes. The military strategy to achieve this objective apparently is to 
continue bombing. Many of us wonder whether bombing will accomplish 
this last objective.
  So the results are still to be determined, and to my knowledge the 
U.S. Government has not even begun negotiations with the Yugoslav 
Government to bring about the return of the Kosovars, end the bombing, 
and create some sort of political solution to give the Kosovars a 
limited autonomous state.
  The lack of diplomacy by this administration during this crisis has 
been counterproductive, and it has in addition greatly strained our 
relationship with Russia. The administration has even had a chance to 
have our three American soldiers released through a limited cease-fire 
during the Orthodox Good Friday, but the administration refused even to 
allow any discussions to take place to have our men released.
  So finally, Mr. Speaker, many in Congress are probably wondering why 
people on this side of the aisle are a little hesitant to support the 
President during this military conflict. We remember the President's 
lack of military service and his written opinion of his dislike for the 
American military. Many of us remember when the President denied 
American soldiers the proper equipment and placed them under non-
American command in Somalia, which resulted in the gruesome deaths of 
18 young Americans.
  So, Mr. Speaker, we are unsure that the President knows how to attain 
military victory in Kosovo against Yugoslavia.

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