[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 79 (Monday, June 7, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6456-S6457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 KOSOVO

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, there has been a great deal of information 
given the American people in recent days about a potential settlement 
or at least progress with respect to ending the airstrikes in 
Yugoslavia. It appears from the reports I have received, both from the 
administration sources and also press reports, that the airstrikes have 
had a significant impact on Mr. Slovodan Milosevic, on his Serb troops, 
and on their ability to continue the reign of terror that has been 
committed against the Albanians in Kosovo.
  But as I read all of the reports, I am concerned about one element, 
and that is, if the airstrikes are terminated and if some kind of 
negotiated circumstance exists by which the Serbs withdraw from Kosovo 
and Mr. Milosevic remains in power, in my judgment, it remains 
unfinished business.
  We have in this decade been through a circumstance with Saddam 
Hussein where a war was concluded with the country of Iraq and Saddam 
Hussein retained his power. We have year after year after year had to 
deal with the consequences of Saddam Hussein remaining in power in the 
country of Iraq. It doesn't make any sense to me that we should do the 
same thing with Mr. Milosevic.
  With Mr. Saddam Hussein, we knew who he was, we knew what he had 
done, and this country should well have known that the conclusion of 
the war with Iraq should have resulted in his departure, or his leaving 
the leadership of that country. He is, I think, one of the only men in 
the world who has used weapons of mass destruction to murder people in 
his own land. We knew that about Saddam Hussein, and yet the war was 
concluded with Iraq, and he remained in power. The result has been 
problem after problem and consequence after consequence. We ought to 
learn from that.
  However we conclude this terrible chapter of violence committed 
against the Albanians in Kosovo, in my judgment, it will always be 
unfinished business if it is concluded in a manner that leaves Mr. 
Milosevic in power. We must find a way, it seems to me, for the 
protection not only of the Albanians in Kosovo but for some basic 
understanding we might have, that we will not have to revisit this 
issue very soon after the airstrikes cease. The only way that will 
occur, in my judgment, is if Mr. Milosevic is driven from office.
  I have spoken on the floor of the Senate a number of times suggesting 
that it is time to try Mr. Milosevic as a war criminal. I am pleased to 
say that he was indicted within the past 2 weeks and that indictment 
will likely result in trial. My hope is that trial--at least seeing the 
evidence that I have seen about the atrocities committed by Mr. 
Milosevic and the Serb troops--will result in his conviction as a war 
criminal. The atrocities are really quite unusual. He visited a reign 
of horror on these people in a manner that drove one to one and a half 
million of them from their homeland, often with their villages burning, 
with story after story of mass murder, ethnic cleansing, gang rape, and 
torture.
  The question for this country and the NATO allies is, Could we go 2 
years, or 5 years, or 10 years down the road and look in our rearview 
mirror and say that we knew that happened but it didn't matter, that it 
wasn't our business? Our country and the NATO allies

[[Page S6457]]

said no, it was our business; it does matter. We have the resources and 
the capability, through NATO, together to try to do something to put a 
stop to it. That has been the effort. Is the effort perfect? No. Have 
there been mistakes? Of course. But will we, by the judgment of 
history, be seen as a country and a group of countries attempting to do 
something in the face of ethnic cleansing, in the face of a ruthless 
leader who packs people into train cars and hauls them off to an 
uncertain fate, who, in the words of all of the refugees who have shown 
up at the border of Albania and Montenegro and other areas, has 
permitted mass rape and torture and murder against the citizens of 
Kosovo? Do we understand the consequences of that and the requirement 
to respond to it? The answer is yes.

  But I hope at the end of this chapter, Mr. Milosevic will not be a 
part of an agreement that leaves him in power. That will not, in my 
judgment, be finished business.

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