[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 51 (Wednesday, April 14, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H2033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CRISIS IN KOSOVO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to address the crisis that 
is ongoing now in Yugoslavia. For a war to be moral, we must have a 
reason to go in. National defense is a moral justification. If we are 
attacked, it is a moral war. Getting involved in any other kind of war 
is not considered to be moral.
  A legal war in this country is one that is declared, declared by the 
Congress. Any other war is illegal. The war in Yugoslavia now pursued 
by our administration and with NATO is both immoral and illegal and it 
should not be pursued. We will be soon voting on an appropriation, 
probably next week. There may be a request for $5 billion to pursue the 
war in Yugoslavia. I do not believe that we should continue to finance 
a war that is both immoral and illegal.
  It has been said that we are in Yugoslavia to stop ethnic cleansing, 
but it is very clear that the goal of the NATO forces is to set up an 
ethnic state.

                              {time}  1945

  It is totally contradictory. There is a civil war, and it is 
horrible, going on in Yugoslavia today, but this is no justification 
for outsiders, and especially United States of America, to become 
involved without the proper proceedings.
  I believe that our colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Campbell), deserves to be complemented because he is making a 
determined effort to put the burden on the Members of Congress to vote 
one way or the other. Since World War II we have fought numerous wars, 
and they have never been fought with a declaration of war, and it is 
precisely for that reason, because they have not been fought for truly 
national security reasons, that we have not won these wars. If a war is 
worth fighting, it is worth declaring, and it is worth winning.
  I am delighted that this effort is being made by the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Campbell) and others here in the Congress because for 
so long, for 50 years now, we have permitted our Presidents to casually 
and carelessly involve our troops overseas. So I see this trend as 
putting more pressure on the Congress to respond to their 
responsibilities. I think this is a very, very good move and going in 
the right direction.
  It has been asked why in the world might we be there if it is not a 
concern for the refugees, because obviously we have hundreds of 
thousands, if not millions, of refugees in many, many places around the 
world. We do not go to Rwanda to rescue the refugees, we did not go 
into Yugoslavia to rescue the Serbian refugees when they were being 
routed from Bosnia and Croatia, but all of a sudden the refugees seem 
to have an importance.
  Most people know why we went to the Persian Gulf. It was not because 
we were attacked. It was because of a financial commercial interest: 
oil. But what is the interest in this area in Yugoslavia? I am not sure 
exactly what it is. There has been a lot of postulations about this, 
but I am not convinced that it is all of a sudden the concern for the 
refugees.
  Yesterday in the Washington Post an interesting article occurred on 
this subject, but it was not in the news section; it was in the 
business section. There was a headline yesterday in the Washington Post 
that said: Count Corporate America Among NATO's Staunchest Allies. Very 
interesting article because it goes on to explain why so many 
corporations have an intense interest in making sure that the 
credibility of NATO is maintained, and they go on to explain that it is 
not just the arms manufacturers but the technology people who expect to 
sell weapons in Eastern Europe, in Yugoslavia, and they are very 
interested in making use of the NATO forces to make sure that their 
interests are protected. I think this is not the reason for us to go to 
war.
  There is talk now of calling up all our Reserves or many of our 
Reserves at the same time there are hints now that there may be the 
institution of the draft. So this is a major problem that this country 
is facing, the world is facing, and up until now we, the Congress, have 
not spoken.
  On February 9 of this year I introduced a bill that would have 
prohibited this by prohibiting any funds being spent on a war in 
Yugoslavia. I say it is too bad we did not pass that legislation a long 
time ago.

                          ____________________