[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 50 (Tuesday, April 13, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   KOSOVO IS A CAMPAIGN OF COMPASSION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAJOR R. OWENS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 13, 1999

  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, the US/NATO military intervention in Kosovo 
is not driven by any vested interests, financial or strategic hidden 
agenda. These nations are motivated by great moral interests and high 
standards which require that civilized people never again should 
tolerate any rationalization for genocide. Our nation's generous 
commitment of resources and the large-scale risk of American lives, not 
in pursuit of the usual narrow vital interests, but to protect the 
sacred lives of human beings that we will never know personally, 
represents a laudable and noble national action. The Roman Empire only 
dispatched its legions to achieve greater conquests. This American 
``indispensable nation'' has deployed its armies in an unprecedented 
campaign of compassion.
  Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Sadam Hussein, Ede Amin, the Hutu 
Generals of Rwanda; Slobodan Milosevic; call the roll of sovereign 
predators who have used murderous ethnic scapegoating to seize, hold 
and expand their powers. From ancient Egypt to Kosovo the demagogues 
repeatedly have used the same methods and found a willing mass of 
supporters. The U.S.-led resistance to genocide in Kosovo shows that 
finally we have not only learned a vital lesson of history, but now 
that knowledge also provides an imperative for painful but effective 
action.
  Slobodan Milosevic should have been declared a war criminal eight 
years ago. Diplomatic patience has been cleverly manipulated by this 
sovereign predator. Better late than never, we must now declare 
Slobodan Milosevic a war criminal and send a clear message to all of 
his confused civilian followers now mobilizing in their neighborhoods 
under misplaced banners of nationalism and patriotism. For more than 
eight years the citizens of Serbia/Yugoslavia have failed to marshal 
internal sovereign resistance to the genocidal policies of their 
dictator. Their popular will majority's complicity with evil is the 
true cause of the present conflagration in the Balkans.
  War is hell and we extend our prayers to innocent victims on all 
sides. But the refusal to watch the repeat of Hitler's death pageant is 
our duty. There are some who say that because we cannot stop genocide 
everywhere, we should refuse to stand against genocide anywhere. We can 
not save them all: Tutsis in Rwanda; Kurds in Iraq; Tibetans in China; 
but the world can take united action now. In this clear and present 
instance a portion of the civilized world has both the capability and 
the will to stop genocide. I am certain that the angels in heaven are 
applauding these bold and brave actions.
  Since the civilian electorate of Serbia/Yugoslavia has not been 
willing or able to save itself from totalitarian disease; and because a 
minority of military monsters with tanks and machine guns can hold the 
majority of a nation hostage; outside intervention is sometimes the 
only antidote to a spreading poison. Decades of autonomy was the 
peaceful solution that Milosevic eradicated. Let the Kosovo campaign of 
compassion send a message to sovereign predators everywhere. Sovereign 
predators will not be allowed to savagely devour human rights. 
Diplomatic condemnation of genocide will always be a certainty--and 
sometimes military confrontation will also be possible.
  I appeal to progressive thinkers everywhere to lay aside any 
fuzzyminded analyses and remember the Hitler syndrome. ``Never Again'' 
must not be an abstract slogan. Each one of us has a duty to take a 
forceful position. We should all be proud of the fact that this 
``indispensable nation'' has both the will and the power to reinforce 
the foundations of a compassionate civilization.

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