[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 54 (Tuesday, April 20, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S3890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 KOSOVO

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I actually came to the floor to speak 
about the crisis in agriculture and what is happening in the Midwest, 
but I want to respond to some of the comments my colleagues have made, 
although I will be doing this extemporaneously, and I will be thinking 
out loud, but I hope I will be thinking deeply.
  Mr. President, I agree with my colleague from Nebraska, I agree with 
all my colleagues who have spoken on the floor about the importance of 
accountability. I remember previously coming to the floor before we 
took a recess where it looked as if we might be taking military action 
in Kosovo--it wasn't clear--and saying I thought we needed to have a 
full debate and I would support that military action.
  I agree with my colleague about the history and how it will judge us. 
I saw what Milosevic did in Bosnia. I saw enough misery and refugee 
camps to last me a lifetime. And I certainly do not want to be in a 
position to have our country, and other countries, turn their gaze away 
from the systematic slaughter and massacre and murder of people and 
driving people out of their country, albeit, unfortunately, I think 
Milosevic, up to date, has been able to do much of that.
  Here is where I just want to express a few concerns, although I think 
probably later on we will have the debate. This debate probably does 
not start today, but since I am on the floor I do want to raise a few 
concerns.
  First of all, in the here and now, I think--and I will get a chance 
this afternoon to put some questions to Secretary Albright--as long as 
we are talking about stopping the slaughter and given the headlines and 
the stories in today's papers of Milosevic stopping people from being 
able to leave the country, we do need to think about these internally 
displaced refugees and how we can get some relief to them. I still, in 
my own mind, do not quite understand why we are not doing airlifting, 
why we are not getting supplies to them. I think it is a difficult 
question, it could be loss of life. But, again, I say to my colleagues, 
I want to press very hard on the question of whether or not we should 
be airlifting some humanitarian relief to people who are obviously 
going to starve to death otherwise. I am trying to understand why we 
are not doing that now.

  Secondly, in the prosecution of this war, I voted that we conduct the 
airstrikes. I was hoping we would be able to do much more by way of 
stopping this slaughter, but I raise the question of why we are not 
conducting more of the airstrikes in Kosovo. I say this to my 
colleagues on the floor. I really believe that. And I worry about this. 
I have to say it on the floor of the Senate. Pretty soon we run out of 
targets in Serbia. And to the extent that we run out of targets and 
continue with an expanded air war, there are going to be innocent 
people who will die, which is very difficult for me.
  I think we get to a point where we don't want to undercut the moral 
claim of what we are doing. I believe we are trying to do the right 
thing, but I do not understand why we are not prosecuting more of this 
air war and more of these airstrikes in Kosovo. We are talking about 
what we need to do now. I do not understand all of the decisionmaking, 
but I guess in my own mind, I want to press on that question, because 
it seems to me there is a direct correlation between our being able to 
do that and whether or not other means will be necessary, as I look at 
this resolution, and, moreover, whether it doesn't make far more sense 
to do that. Again, I know there are risks involved, but at the same 
time I worry about the sort of airstrikes focused on Belgrade and other 
cities as opposed to Kosovo.
  Finally, I say today that I would prefer to hear more discussion. My 
colleague from Nebraska--you don't know people well, but you just have 
a feeling about them--is somebody I really like and respect. That is 
just all there is to it, period. Everything he says I take as being 
said in the very best of good faith, very much a part of good faith, 
with complete sincerity and conviction and knowledge.
  I would like to hear in this Chamber more discussion about diplomacy, 
about where it fits in. I think it is far more important than has been 
discussed today that we really ask the Russians to be a part of a 
diplomatic solution. I know we are talking to them about being part, 
eventually, of some kind of peacekeeping force. I think, by the way, it 
will not just be a NATO force. I heard my colleagues list that as an 
objective. I do not think that is going to happen. I don't think it 
will be a NATO force; I think it will be a very different peacekeeping 
force.
  More than just asking the Russians what they will be a part of, I 
believe the Russians are in a key position to help forge a diplomatic 
solution as an alternative to an ever expanding war, consistent with 
what I believe should be our objectives which are stopping this 
slaughter of people and people having a chance to go back to their 
country. I want to see the emphasis on the military action we are 
taking but also on the diplomatic front. I do not hear that today and 
it concerns me.
  I say to my colleagues that when I see language which talks about 
``to use all necessary force and other means,'' it just sounds too 
broad and too open-ended to me, as a Senator. I am skeptical of such 
language. There are many answers to many questions that I will pose in 
debate and discussion. There are many questions I have about this 
today. I have expressed some of my reservations about this resolution, 
and I do believe we should have Senator Hagel in the discussion and the 
debate that is called for. I think it is important. Otherwise, I think 
we do abdicate our responsibility, whatever decisions we arrive at. I 
commend the Senator for it, but I have expressed some of my 
reservations.

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