[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 56 (Thursday, April 22, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4142-S4143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 KOSOVO

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to address for a moment as 
well some reflections on the visit I made this past weekend as part of 
this delegation. It was a delegation that flew from Washington Andrews 
Air Force base to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany where we met with 
General Wesley Clark, the Supreme Allied Commander of the NATO forces 
for our mission in Kosovo and Serbia. We then went to a war room at 
that base and met, as I mentioned earlier, with some of the most 
amazing young men and women that America could ever hope to bring to 
this cause. They are so filled with energy and commitment and 
enthusiasm that it really makes you proud to be an American, to be in 
their midst. You see the amazing technology at their disposal and 
realize without their dedication and their talent it would mean little 
or nothing.
  We flew the next morning from that Air Force base directly, on a 
cargo plane, to Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, where, 
on a lengthy landing strip, we saw one of the most massive humanitarian 
efforts undertaken since World War II in Europe. Countries literally 
from all over the world are rallying for the Kosovo refugees. Among 
them you could see evidence of humanitarian assistance from the French, 
the Swedes, of course the Americans; helicopters from the United Arab 
Emirates--so many different countries coming together in this 
humanitarian undertaking. The men and women who have to endure the most 
primitive conditions living there to protect this humanitarian airlift, 
again, deserve our praise, because there they sit literally on a muddy 
delta in their tents doing their duty. I was proud to represent this 
Nation and represent the State of Illinois in thanking them so much for 
their sacrifice.
  We flew from Albania, after meeting with the Prime Minister, to 
Macedonia, part of the trip which I may never forget as long as I live, 
because we visited a refugee camp at a place outside of Skopje, 
Macedonia, the camp known as Brazda, or Stakovac. Two weeks ago, this 
camp did not exist. Today, it has 32,000 people in it. In the 48 hours 
before we arrived, over 7,000 refugees came across the border out of 
Kosovo, looking for safety.
  I walked into that camp which had been built by NATO and was being 
managed by the Catholic Relief Services and was literally mobbed when I 
offered a piece of candy to a young child. They saw an American with a 
bag full of candy and they wanted to come up and meet me right away. I 
passed out a lot of these Hershey Kisses to the kids, and their parents 
stood around. With a translator, I asked them: Why are you here? Open-
ended question, no propaganda: Why did you leave Kosovo?
  The story was the same over and over again. Simple people leading 
ordinary lives in the villages of Kosovo would hear a knock on the door 
in the middle of the night, only to be greeted by people in black ski 
masks, some of whom they knew right away to be their neighbors, who 
announced they had 5 minutes to pick up anything they wanted to pick up 
with them and leave the country because their house was about to be 
burned down or blown up. In many cases, the head of the family, if he 
were a young adult male, was taken away from them. The rest were pushed 
out in the road and they started their walk, their walk to safety, 
their walk out of Kosovo.
  You know, when you see pictures of refugee camps around the world, 
you see some very sad scenes. Many times the people are very poor, 
starving, very sick, some dying on the spot. That was not the case at 
these refugee camps. These people, as I said, were ordinary people 
leading their lives, who were disrupted because of Slobodan Milosevic's 
ethnic cleansing. What was their crime? They committed no crime other 
than to have, as far as Mr. Milosevic was concerned, the wrong ethnic 
background, the wrong culture, the wrong religion. You see, he is 
cleansing his country, as he says, of these undesirables.

  I am not sure what the word genocide means to most people, but when I 
saw these people, the tens of thousands, shunned, rejected, persecuted 
and pushed out of their homes, now trying to make a simple life in a 
refugee camp, I understood genocide and ``geno-suffering.''
  Some people ask a question: Why is the United States involved in 
this? Why do we care? What does this have to do with America? Come on, 
these are people in Serbia and they always fight, don't they?
  I think there is more to the story because what is at stake here is 
Europe, and Europe has always had a special meaning to the United 
States. In this century, we fought two World Wars, we have given the 
best of our country in defense of causes that we felt were right 
against Nazism, against communism, to make certain that Europe was 
peaceful, had stability, was there, and they were friends of the United 
States. It means something to the people of Europe.
  This morning, as part of the NATO summit, the Polish Prime Minister 
came here on Capitol Hill. It was a wonderful celebratory gathering, 
for breakfast: Poland, so proud and happy to be part of NATO. Think of 
that, that this country that went through such deprivation during World 
War II under the heel of communism for so many decades had finally 
pushed it aside through their own courage and determination and said 
once and for all: We are not neutral in our future. We are part of the 
West. We want to be part of NATO. That is where we belong.
  I am proud of that, proud of that as an American that Hungary, the 
Czech Republic and Poland became part of NATO and are dedicated to the 
principle of democracy, something we are all about in the United 
States. What a great celebration will happen in Washington, even under 
the shadow of the war that goes on, as these NATO allies come together, 
determined to make a better future in Europe. That is one of the 
reasons we are there.
  Second, NATO itself is being tested. The NATO alliance has come 
forward and said we will not allow a dictator in Europe who pursues 
these policies of genocide, who has initiated four wars in 10 years, 
who tomorrow will start another war and pick some more innocent 
victims--we cannot have a stable Europe with this in place. Slobodan 
Milosevic must be stopped. Mr. President, 18 allied nations turned to 
the United States and said: Are you with us? Will you be with us in 
this mission?

[[Page S4143]]

 I am glad President Clinton said yes. I voted for the airstrikes. I 
think it was the appropriate response for NATO against Milosevic.
  The third issue is one of values, values as to whether or not we 
stand for anything as Americans. God knows we have throughout our 
history. We do not get engaged in wars to pick up territory or to come 
back with loot and booty. We get engaged in wars for values. That is 
what it was all about in World War II; to make sure that Hitler and his 
genocide would come to an end once and for all, to make certain in the 
cold war that we stopped the spread of communism in Europe. Now, today, 
in this mission in Kosovo, we say we are standing again for values that 
are important, not only in the United States, but in Europe and around 
the world.

  There are some who question this, and I understand it. I am not one 
who runs quickly to get involved in any military undertaking. I only 
wish those who have doubts about this would have been with me last 
Saturday afternoon, walking through this camp in Brazda, in Macedonia, 
or, frankly, in many other camps, where the 350,000 Kosovo refugees now 
in Albania are living in tents and under sheets of plastic--over 
120,000 in Macedonia, over 30,000 in Montenegro. Honestly, these are 
the lucky refugees. They got out alive. They are under the protection 
of NATO.
  The unluckiest are still left behind, those who are still hiding out 
as refugees in Kosovo, in the woods, hoping they can survive another 
day until this war comes to an end and it is safe to go home. Those who 
were brought in, conscripted as slave labor in the Serbian Army, those 
are the ones who were unlucky. Those are the ones we have to always 
remember are part of our mission.
  Earlier this morning, we were visited by the Prime Minister of Great 
Britain, Tony Blair. I had never met him before. He is an impressive 
individual. I can understand why the people of that nation have decided 
to choose him as a leader. He said some things that were flattering, 
but I think well worth sharing as I speak to you today. He said the 
United States has a special place in this world. It is an example to 
the rest of the world so many times. He said, ``I can't tell you how 
many times we say thank God for America and its leadership.'' I am 
proud of that. And I am proud of the men and women who have made it 
possible,
  Those pilots who put their lives on the line every night in the 
bombers, soon in the helicopters, to try to bring this war to a 
conclusion and peace to Yugoslavia.
  I am proud, too, of the families back home who wait, hoping that they 
will return safely. I am proud of the families of the three POWs who 
have been captured there. I want to let them know we will never forget 
those prisoners. They are in our thoughts and our prayers every moment 
until they come home safely, as they will.
  I think we have to stay this course. We have three difficult choices 
at this moment. We can leave, and if we leave, what have we left 
behind? This penny-ante dictator with his genocide and ethnic cleansing 
who will pick another helpless target?
  Some say we should have a ground war. I am not for that. I do not 
think that will work. Or we can pursue this air campaign, a campaign 
which has gone on about 26 days, about which 13 or 14 days we have had 
good weather. If we pick up the intensity of this bombing, Mr. 
Milosevic will understand there is a price to pay for his horrible 
policy of ethnic cleansing.
  If this ends as we want it to, we will close the 20th century with 
peace in Europe. We will be able to say to Europeans wherever they live 
that the United States, your partner, stood by your side during one of 
the bloodiest centuries in the history of Europe. When it was all over, 
the values we cherish, the values we fought for, prevailed. That is 
what is at stake here, and that is what I hope most Americans will 
recall.
  Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. GRAMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. GRAMS. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

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