[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 49 (Monday, April 12, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H1835-H1836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IF NATO HAS ITS WAY, ALBANIAN KOSOVARS WILL NOT REMAIN PART OF SERBIA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, the U.S.-NATO war against Serbia is illegal
by all standards. Congress has not declared war. Therefore, the
President has no authority to wage war. Attacking a sovereign nation
violates long-standing international law as well as the NATO and U.N.
charters.
NATO's aggression is immoral as well. It forces U.S. citizens and
others in Europe opposed to the war to pay for it, and some are even
forced to fight in it against their will. If the war expands, we can
expect the return of the draft to make sure there are enough soldiers
to participate.
As ugly as the Yugoslavian civil war may be in Kosovo, and as heart
wrenching as the pictures of mass refugees fleeing their homeland is,
one evil can never justify another. If one is disinclined to be
persuaded by law and morality and responds only to emotions, propaganda
and half-truths, then one must consider the practical failure of
compulsive intervention in the affairs of other nations.
Prior to NATO's expanding the war in Yugoslavia, approximately 2,000
deaths in the past year were recorded in Kosovo. As a consequence of
NATO's actions, the killing has now escalated and no one can hardly be
pleased just because now Serbs, our once-valiant allies against the
Nazis, are dying. Those who are motivated by good intentions while
ignoring facts cannot be excused for the escalating and dangerous
crisis in Yugoslavia.
The humanitarian concerns for Albanian refugees is justified, but
going to war because of emotional concerns while ignoring other
millions of refugees around the world only stirs the passions of the
oppressed, whether they are Kurds, Palestinians, Tibetans, East
Timorans or Rwandans.
When NATO talks of returning Albanians to their homes in Kosovo, I
wonder why there is no reference or concern for the more than 50,000
Serbs thrown out of their homes in Bosnia, Slovenia and Croatia.
Current NATO policy in Yugoslavia will surely encourage more ethnic
minorities around the world to revolt and demand independence.
Some in Congress are now saying that although they were strongly
opposed to the administration's policy of bombing in Yugoslavia prior
to its onset, conditions are now different and an all-out effort to win
with ground troops, if necessary, must be undertaken. This, it is said,
is required to preserve NATO's credibility.
Who cares about NATO's credibility? Are American lives to be lost and
a greater war precipitated to preserve NATO's credibility? Should the
rule of law and morality be thrown out in an effort to preserve NATO's
credibility? Can something be wrong and misguided before it is started
and all of a sudden deserve to be blindly supported?
This reasoning makes no sense.
No one has quite figured out the secret motivation of why this war
must be fought, but I found it interesting that evidence of our weapons
shortage is broadcast to the world and to the Serbs. Surely one result
of the war will be a rapid rush by Congress this year to massively
increase the military budget. But a serious discussion of our flawed
foreign policy of intervention that has served us so poorly
unfortunately will not occur.
Political leaders and pundits are struggling to define an exit
strategy for the war. In the old days when wars were properly declared
for national security reasons, no one needed to ask such a question. A
moral war fought against an aggressor for national security reasons was
over when it was won. It has only been since Congress has reneged on
its responsibility with regards to war power that it has become
necessary to discuss how we exit a war not legitimately entered into
and without victory as a goal.
The political wars, fought without declaration, starting with the
Korean War to the present, have not enhanced the long-term security and
liberty of the American people. Institutionalizing a collective
approach to war
[[Page H1836]]
seems a result of the obsession to save face for NATO. Never before in
our history have we Americans accepted so casually the turning over of
a military operation to foreign control with non-American spokesmen
briefing us each day.
This is a major step in further solidifying the world government
approach to all political problems. There is, however, one major
contradiction to the internationalist desire to assimilate all
countries and ethnic groups and have them governed by a single world
government.
Quite ironically, ethnic diversity will surely be the casualty of all
of this mischief. NATO and the U.S. are co-conspirators and military
allies of a Serbian province that is seeking to become a separate
ethnic country. Let there be no doubt, if NATO has its way, Albanian
Kosovars will not remain part of Serbia.
The US-NATO War against Serbia is illegal by all standards. Congress
has not declared war; therefore the President has no authority to wage
war. Attacking a sovereign nation violates longstanding international
law, as well as the NATO and UN Charters.
NATO's aggression is immoral as well. It forces US citizens and
others in Europe, opposed to the war, to pay for it and some are even
forced to fight in it against their will. If the war expands we can
expect the return of the draft to make sure there are enough soldiers
to participate.
As ugly as the Yugoslavian civil war may be in Kosovo and as heart
wrenching as the pictures of mass refugees fleeing their homeland is,
one evil can never justify another.
If one is disinclined to be persuaded by law and morality and
responds only to emotions, propaganda, and half-truths, then one must
consider the practical failure of compulsive intervention in the
affairs of other nations.
Prior to NATO's expanding the war in Yugoslavia approximately 2,000
deaths in the past year were recorded in Kosovo. As a consequence of
NATO's actions the killing has now escalated and no one can hardly be
pleased just because now Serbs, our once valiant allies against the
Nazi's, are dying. Those who are motivated by good intentions while
ignoring facts cannot be excused for the escalating and dangerous
crisis in Yugoslavia.
The humanitarian concerns for Albanian refugees is justified, but
going to war because of emotional concerns, while ignoring other
millions of refugees around the world, only stirs the passions of the
oppressed, whether they are Kurds, Palestinians, Tibetans, East
Timorans, or Rwandans. When NATO talks of returning Albanians to their
homes in Kosovo, I wonder why there's no reference or concern for the
more than 500,000 Serbs thrown out of their homes in Bosnia, Slovenia,
and Croatia. Current NATO policy in Yugoslavia will surely encourage
more ethnic minorities around the world to revolt and demand
independence.
Some in Congress are now saying that although they were strongly
opposed to the administration's policy of bombing in Yugoslavia prior
to its onset, conditions are now different and an all-out effort to win
with ground troops if necessary, must be undertaken. This, it is said,
is required to preserve NATO's credibility. Who cares about NATO's
credibility? Are American lives to be lost and a greater war
precipitated to preserve NATO's credibility? Should the rule of law and
morality be thrown out in an effort to preserve NATO's credibility? Can
something be wrong and misguided before it's started and all of a
sudden deserve to be blindly supported? This reasoning makes no sense.
No one has quite figured out the secret motivation of why this war
must be fought. But I found it interesting that evidence of our weapons
shortage is broadcast to the world and to the Serbs. Surely, one result
of the war will be a rapid rush by Congress this year to massively
increase the military budget. But, a serious discussion of our flawed
foreign policy of intervention that has served us so poorly,
unfortunately, will not occur.
Political leaders and pundits are struggling to define an ``exit
strategy'' for the war. In the old days when wars were properly
declared for national security reasons, no one needed to ask such a
question. A moral war, fought against an aggressor, for national
security reasons, was over when it was won. It's only been since
Congress has reneged on its responsibility with regards to war power,
has it become necessary to discuss how we ``exit'' a war not
legitimately entered into, and without victory as the goal. The
political wars fought without declaration, starting with the Korean War
to the present, have not enhanced the long-term security and liberty of
the American people.
Institutionalizing a collective approach to war seems to be a result
of the obsession to ``save face'' for NATO. Never before in our history
have we Americans accepted so casually the turning over a military
operation to foreign control with non-American spokesmen briefing us
each day. This is a major step in further solidifying the world-
government approach to all political problems.
There is, however, one major contradiction to the internationalist's
desire to assimilate all countries and ethnic groups and have them
governed by a single world government. Quite ironically, ethnic
diversity will surely be the casualty of all this mischief.
NATO and the US are co-conspirators and military allies of a Serbian
Province that is seeking to become a separate ethnic country. The full
force of our efforts, no matter what humanitarian picture is painted to
justify our actions, is to make Kosovo an Albanian Muslim state
separate from Serbia.
Current NATO and US policy completely contradict the professed goal
of multi-ethnicity and assimilation of all people. NATO's operation, by
its very nature, is bureaucratically burdened by the effort to appease
the political concerns of 19 different countries. This inefficiency and
the contradiction of supporting the establishment of an ethnic state
will guarantee NATO's deserved demise. The sooner we get out of
Yugoslavia the better off everyone will be.
____________________