[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 60 (Thursday, April 29, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S4472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 WHEN HISTORY ASKS WHO STOOD UP TO EVIL IN KOSOVO, THE ANSWER WILL BE: 
                                  NATO

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, sixty years ago, as Europe moved 
increasingly close to war, a number of philanthropic organizations came 
to the aid of those desperately trying to escape the Holocaust. Today, 
many of those same organizations have turned their attention to helping 
the latest victims of genocide. The American Jewish Committee, for 
example, has raised over $800,000 in humanitarian aide for the Kosovar 
refugees.
  As in World War II, these organizations recognize that they cannot 
stop the genocide without support from the world community. In the case 
of Kosovo, that means that NATO has had to bring its military might to 
bear on Slobodan Milosevic. This sentiment was poignantly expressed in 
a recent statement by the American Jewish Committee, one of the 
organizations actively worked to alleviate both the European genocide 
of today and that of a generation ago.
  Mr. President, I therefore ask that their statement in support of 
NATO's ongoing efforts be printed in the Record.
  The statement follows.

               Statement by the American Jewish Committee

       When history asks who stood up to evil in Kosovo, the 
     answer will be: NATO. The world could see the slaughter 
     coming. Diplomats worked furiously to prevent it--and, for a 
     time, succeeded.
       But when Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic, in the name of a 
     nationalism run amok, set his army and police at the throat 
     of the ethnic Albanian citizens of Kosovo defying appeals to 
     end the terror and withdraw, one international force had the 
     resolve to stand up to Belgrade's policy of barbarism.
       NATO, the guarantor of European security for half a 
     century, rose to the challenge of defending the Kosovo 
     Albanians. Nineteen countries acted in unison to stop the 
     violence against the Kosovars and seek their safe return 
     under international protection.
       In this noble mission, NATO must prevail. What is at stake 
     in Kosovo isn't oil or commerce or trading routes. What is at 
     stake are basic principles: human rights, human dignity, the 
     credibility of deterrence, collective security. With 
     determination and courage, NATO weighed the difficult choices 
     and chose to act--because it was right, because the 
     alternative would give tyrants a green light to terrorize 
     civilian populations and destroy the fabric of international 
     order. We recognize the sacrifice made by each NATO member to 
     arrest evil in Kosovo. In this dark century, witness to 
     unspeakable acts of inhumanity, we applaud the alliance for 
     taking a principled stand.

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