[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 63 (Tuesday, May 4, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H2557-H2558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TIME TO TAKE DECISIVE ACTION IN YUGOSLAVIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, late last week this House took up a 
resolution to continue the administration's policy of bombing 
Yugoslavia, and by a

[[Page H2558]]

vote of 213 to 213 the measure failed to endorse that policy.
  Many of those of us who voted against the policy made a deliberate, 
considered vote of protest against incessant bombings that have not 
accomplished much of anything except to kill innocent civilians and 
destroy the infrastructure of Yugoslavia that in the end the U.S. will 
likely be asked to spend billions of dollars to rebuild.
  Forty-one days of intensive bombings have not been successful in 
removing Milosevic's forces from Kosova, nor has it achieved the stated 
purpose of the bombing and that is to stop the ethnic cleansing of the 
Kosovars. Even our own NATO commanders have stated clearly that, except 
for weakening the air defense system in Yugoslavia, the air strikes 
have not been successful; and Serb forces continue to commit 
atrocities; and hundreds of civilians, men, women and children, are 
being killed by these bombs.
  Contrary to the wishful thinking of those who supported that 
resolution, the bombing has not stopped the murders. It has not stopped 
the violence. Instead, the bombings have exacerbated both.
  Thus, the question is, how long will the world support a war in which 
the only victims are civilian men, women and children?
  Now, Reverend Jessie Jackson returned from Yugoslavia and was 
successful in obtaining the release of three servicemen, and he brought 
a letter from Mr. Milosevic to give to President Clinton asking that 
they meet and talk about this issue. So I would say, Mr. President, the 
time has come to take a decisive action by stopping the bombs and 
initiate a committed, comprehensive effort to find a diplomatic 
solution to what is going on in Yugoslavia.

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