[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 82 (Thursday, June 10, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6835-S6837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            PEACE AGREEMENT

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak of the military 
technical agreement signed by NATO and Yugoslavia. That is a fancy way 
for saying that we accepted the surrender of Slobodan Milosevic.
  I just got off the phone with the Secretary of State who called me 
from Germany with another piece of very positive news. She indicated 
that because the G-8 was meeting in Germany, they put together a group 
of Europeans to flesh out in detail a Southeastern Europe Stability 
Pact, which is an idea generated by the German Government.
  The objective of that pact is to encourage democratic processes in 
southeastern Europe, in the Balkans, and to reduce tensions in the 
area. They have set up a very elaborate but clear timetable, and what 
they call ``regional'' tables, to promote democracy, economic 
reconstruction, and security. They have involved as the lead group the 
European Union, plus the OSCE, the United Nations, NATO, and to a 
lesser extent, the United States.
  The reason I bother to mention this is that the hard part is about to 
come. I hope we will have the patience that we did not show on this 
floor to win the peace. We have won the war, notwithstanding the fact 
many thought somehow we should be able to do this in less than 78 days.
  I think it is astounding that we talked about how this ``dragged 
on.'' We will probably find that close to 10,000 paramilitary and 
Serbian troops were killed. Only 2 Americans were lost in a training 
exercise--as bad as that is. Yet, we began to lose patience, because it 
wasn't done in a matter of 24 hours.
  If we have the patience, we can win the peace, because unlike 
pursuing the war, the bulk of the financial responsibility, 
organizational effort, and guidance will come from the Europeans. The 
European Union will take on the major portion of the responsibility for 
rebuilding the region, reconstructing the area.
  The American people should know that the President of the United 
States has tasked the Secretary of State to see to it--we will hear 
phrases such as ``mini Marshall Plan''--that the United States of 
America is not going to bear the brunt of the financial burden in 
reconstructing southeastern Europe. It is fully within the capacity of 
the Europeans. It is their responsibility. It is in their interest, and 
they are prepared to do it.
  On the military side, the first part is in place. The Yugoslav 
Government has capitulated on every single point NATO has demanded. The 
last several days of discussions between NATO and Yugoslav military 
commanders were not about negotiation. They were about the modalities 
of meeting the concessions made by Milosevic's government on every 
single point NATO demanded. It took some time to work that out.
  ``Modalities'' is a fancy foreign policy word. Translated, it means: 
How in the devil are they going to leave the country? In what order are 
they going to leave the country? What unit goes first? When do NATO 
forces, KFOR, move in so that no vacuum is created? By ``vacuum,'' I 
mean when there are no Yugoslav forces in Kosovo.

  That is what was going on. I got sick of hearing commentators on the 
air talking about how negotiations were going on between NATO and 
Milosevic. There were no negotiations. It was a total, complete 
surrender by the Yugoslavs, as it should have been.
  There is now a firm, verifiable timetable for withdrawal of all 
Yugoslav and Serbian military, and all special police--those thugs who 
have roamed the countryside in black masks, raping women, executing 
men, and wreaking havoc on a civilian population. Those thugs--half of 
whom are war criminals themselves, and should be indicted as such, like 
Milosevic--are required to leave. The worst of all are the 
paramilitaries. They all are also required to leave. If they do not 
leave, they will be killed or forcibly expelled.
  As I speak, this withdrawal has begun, although I trust Mr. Milosevic 
and the Serbian military about as far as I could throw the marble 
podium behind which the Presiding Officer sits. I am not worried, 
because even if they default, I am convinced of the resolve of NATO. We 
will pursue them. General Clark said 78 days ago that we would pursue 
them and hunt them down. And we did. And we will again, if necessary.
  The fundamental goal of NATO's air campaign has been achieved, 
notwithstanding all the naysayers on this floor, all the talking heads 
on television, and all the columnists.

[[Page S6836]]

  There has been an agreement for the return of all internally 
displaced persons and all Kosovar refugees who fled abroad. This is a 
monumental achievement, as it involves well over 1 million people. Some 
commentators have hesitated to call it a victory, but I do not. I 
understand why they hesitate to call it a victory. They called it a 
mistake up to now. So why would they call it a victory now?
  It is a victory--a victory for NATO, a victory for the United States 
of America, a victory for Western values, a victory for human rights, 
and a victory for the rule of law. In personal terms, it is a victory 
for President Clinton and his administration, which, despite 
unrelenting and often uninformed criticism that began almost 
immediately, stayed the course.
  I had some tactical disagreements with the way the administration 
proceeded. I don't think the President should have said at the outset 
that ground forces were off the table. He had to move back on that and 
make it clear that everything was on the table. That is susceptible to 
criticism.
  I point out, however, that the President of the United States of 
America never once wavered on his commitment to do whatever it took to 
end this ethnic cleansing.
  But, above all, it is a victory for the brave fighting men and women 
of NATO who carried out this air campaign, a majority of whom were 
Americans. Conversely, it is an unmitigated defeat for an indicted war 
criminal, the Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic.
  Just in case anyone wonders, he did not just become a war criminal. 
He was already a war criminal in 1993 when I spoke to him. He was a war 
criminal for his actions in Krajina. He was a war criminal for his 
actions in Bosnia. He is a war criminal for his actions in Kosovo. Had 
he not been stopped, he would have continued his vile ethnic cleansing.
  By the way, I encourage my colleagues to read the Genocide 
Convention. I will not take the time now to recount it, but what has 
been perpetrated by Milosevic in Kosovo is genocide.
  Our victory, I suggest, shows that patience and resolve can pay off. 
It should leave no doubt in the minds of the people throughout Europe 
and elsewhere in the world of the ability of a unified NATO to achieve 
its objectives. Now we have to move more swiftly to the second stage of 
the Kosovo campaign--peace implementation.
  I read with some dismay today in the major newspapers that the House 
of Representatives is considering denying the funds to allow any U.S. 
participation in the implementation of peace. They seem determined to 
compound the mistake they made just several weeks ago. The 
reconstruction of Kosovo, as I said, and confirmed by my conversation 
with the Secretary of State from Germany a half-hour ago, is primarily 
the responsibility of the European Union.
  I met with Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor of Germany, just before 
the 50th anniversary summit of NATO. We met over at the Library of 
Congress for the better part of an hour and had a lengthy discussion. 
He is a very knowledgeable man and until last fall was the longest 
serving leader in Europe. He pointed out that there were 12 million 
refugees in Europe after World War II, and that the Europeans were able 
to handle the problem. He pointed out that the fifteen countries of the 
European Union have a combined gross domestic product larger than that 
of the United States of America. Anything remotely approaching a mini 
Marshall Plan is fully, totally, completely within the financial 
capability of our European friends, and it is primarily their 
responsibility. We should and must and will participate. But as I said 
to the President of the EU, as well as to the chancellor, and as well 
to every front-line state leader and every leader of the NATO alliance 
with whom I met, the sharing of the reconstruction burden in 
southeastern Europe should not be as it is in NATO, roughly 75-25. It 
should be more like 90-10. It is primarily their responsibility, and 
they understand they will greatly benefit from a reconstructed and more 
unified southeastern Europe. I wish them well and hope their initiative 
will succeed.
  This ratio, as I said, should be juxtaposed with the heavy 
responsibility we bore militarily in the Yugoslav campaign. The 
overwhelming majority of airstrikes when ordinance was dropped was 
carried out by our forces, and we have footed the lion's share of the 
bill. We have done this as the leader of NATO and as the only military 
power in the alliance capable of shouldering the burden. I do not 
complain about America's shouldering more of the burden when no one 
else is capable. But I do and will complain when others are equally or 
more capable than we are, and they do not take the lion's share of the 
responsibility. But in this case there is no argument, because the 
Europeans understand their obligation in economic reconstruction, and 
they are able and willing to carry it out. As I mentioned, they have 
already demonstrated the willingness to take the lead by proposing a 
Stability Pact for southeastern Europe, which at a later date I will 
discuss in detail. The European Union plan, in my view, should be 
coordinated with our own ongoing SEED program, which has already 
accomplished much in economic and democratic reconstruction in the 
former Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
  But the key question is the reconstruction of Serbia. There should be 
no reconstruction of Serbia as long as an indicted war criminal is 
Yugoslavia's President, as long as he is on the political scene. Once 
the Serbian people remove him, the Western World will be ready, 
willing, and able to come to the aid of Serbia and do it gladly. I hope 
that we will have the nerve to arrest Milosevic, send him to the 
International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague, and God willing, see him 
convicted. Only then, only when Serb people understand the extent of 
the atrocities Milosevic is responsible for, will they face up to the 
harsh reality of what they, quite possibility unintentionally, but 
nonetheless enabled to happen. It is time to end the perpetuation of 
the myth that Serbia is a victim.
  I do not propose to be able to say exactly when and how Milosevic 
will leave office, but I predict there will be no Milosevic in power at 
this time next year. I think his days are numbered for three reasons.
  First of all, most Serbian citizens realize if Milosevic had accepted 
the Rambouillet accords last February, they would have had 
substantially the same result but without having their country crippled 
by 11 weeks of bombing.
  Second, as the troops return from Kosovo, the word will spread of the 
horrible casualties the Serbian troops have suffered. They do not know 
that yet because of the repressive Milosevic regime that manipulates 
the news. The number of Serbian military, paramilitary and police 
casualties will, I predict, total nearly 10,000. When the Serbian 
people learn of this carnage, I predict they will be angry, not merely 
at NATO but at Milosevic for bringing this upon them. Ten thousand 
Serbian soldiers and special police were killed, many of them 
slaughtered in B-52 raids in the last days of the war when Milosevic 
was stalling on signing the military technical agreement. When the 
extent of Serbian combat losses sinks in, there will be fury against 
Milosevic and his cronies.
  Third, as KFOR--that is the acronym for the NATO implementation 
force--occupies Kosovo, I am convinced that every prediction I made 
here about the atrocities that were taking place will unfortunately be 
proven correct. You will be stunned at the evidence that will be 
uncovered of the brutality and the atrocities committed by the Serbians 
on a mass scale, far greater than the horrible massacres we already 
know about. These revelations, I believe, will further alienate the 
many decent Serbs who rallied behind Milosevic as their patriotic duty 
during the bombing campaign.
  We know that KFOR's task will be a daunting one. Millions of mines 
must be removed. All booby traps must be found and disposed of. And--I 
do not know how it can be avoided--surely some NATO forces will be 
killed. I pray to God that this will not happen. I pray to God that 
KFOR turns out as successful in that category as the military campaign 
has, but I do not think we can count on that.
  All armed locals and irregulars in Kosovo must be intimidated into 
submission. The KLA must be turned into

[[Page S6837]]

a demilitarized police force under civilian control.
  All these will be difficult tasks, but I am confident that they can 
be accomplished if we maintain resolve. Nothing, however, that happens 
from this point on can detract from the magnitude of the victory we 
have achieved.
  Had President Clinton heeded the call to negotiate with Milosevic, it 
would have been a disaster.
  Had President Clinton heeded the call to stop the bombing, it would 
have been a disaster.
  Had President Clinton heeded the call to run roughshod over our NATO 
allies and disregard their wishes, the alliance would have fractured 
and that, too, would have been a disaster. This place, including 
Democrats, would have run out from under him faster than I can walk 
from here to the door of the Chamber. It is remarkable how he was able 
to keep the alliance together. Most importantly, had President Clinton 
not stayed the course and achieved this victory, our geopolitical 
position in North Korea, in Iraq, and in many other parts of the world 
would have suffered grievously. I ask my colleagues to think about what 
at this moment Saddam Hussein is thinking. Had we listened to those who 
said: Cease and desist, partition, stop bombing, negotiate with 
Milosevic, cut a deal--what do you think would be happening in Baghdad 
now?
  But the President did stay the course, and our magnificent fighting 
men and women performed in an exemplary way. Because we have succeeded 
in the military campaign, and because we have the ability to succeed in 
the civilian reconstruction that will follow, the world has seen that 
the President of the United States, the American people,, and a united 
NATO have the will to respond to crises and successfully defend Western 
values and interests.
  I will be taking the floor again many more times in the following 
weeks on this issue. I know my colleagues are probably tired of my 
speaking on this. It has been something I have been discussing since 
1990. But we are finally finding our sea legs.
  I will conclude by saying that in the case of Kosovo and Yugoslavia, 
American interests are at stake, the cause is just, the means are 
available, and the will was present. For Lord's sake, let's not now, 
out of some misguided sense of isolationism or partisanship, do 
anything other than finalize this victory and secure our interests.
  Think about it: the removal from Kosovo of the Serbian troops means, 
at a minimum, that Slobodan Milosevic's goons will no longer be able to 
harass, rob, rape, expel, or kill over a million Kosovars. I believe he 
has lost his ability to overthrow the Montenegrin Government, and 
certainly to overthrow Macedonia's government and to fundamentally 
destabilize Albania, Romania, and Bulgaria. This is a significant 
accomplishment, but most importantly, it demonstrates that not only 
this President, but also the next President, whether he or she is a 
Republican or a Democrat, is going to be faced with very hard choices. 
I respectfully suggest that he or she should not underestimate the 
will, the grit, the patience, or the common sense of the American 
people. They know what we did was right.
  I was in Macedonia. I have been in the region a half a dozen times. I 
have also had the displeasure of meeting alone for almost 3 hours with 
Slobodan Milosevic, at which meeting, in early 1993, he asked what I 
thought of him. I told him then that I thought he was a damn war 
criminal and should be tried as such. He looked at me as if I had said, 
``Lots of luck in your senior year.'' It did not phase him a bit. Even 
some of my staff said as we were leaving: You said that to a President 
of a country.
  I said: I don't care. He is a war criminal.
  The justification of what we did was best summed up on my last trip a 
few weeks ago. I was sitting in the airfield outside of Skopje in 
Macedonia. I walked into a tent where there were about 15 young 
Americans ranging in age from 18 to 30, all noncommissioned officers. 
They were the crew that was gathered together from all over the world 
to make that airfield compatible for our Apache helicopters and for the 
large C-130s that were flying in with food deliveries.
  I walked in, and we started talking. They were taking a break. We 
were sitting on cots. I thanked them for what they were doing. I said: 
You know, I am getting a lot of heat back home. Some of my colleagues, 
including some of my seatmates, refer to this as ``Biden's war.'' Some 
of my friends are telling me this is another Vietnam. What are you 
guys--there was actually one woman--what do you all think about that? 
Do you think this is another Vietnam?
  One, I believe a sergeant about 24 years old, looked at me and 
answered: Senator, let me ask you a question. When you were 24 years 
old, if they had called you up and sent you here, would you have had 
any doubt about the justice of what you were doing?
  All of a sudden it became clear to me. They had no doubt. Our young 
fighters have no doubt about the justness of what they have undertaken. 
They knew it was right. We did the right thing.
  I pray to God that we have the courage and the patience and the 
ability to resist our partisan instincts on both sides and stay the 
course. Because if we do, we can bend history just a little, but bend 
it in a way that my grandchildren will not have to wonder about whether 
or not they will have to fight in Europe in the year 2020 or the year 
2025.
  I congratulate the Senate for, at the end of the day, every day, 
having done the right thing in this war. I congratulate the President 
and his administration for having had the political courage to stay the 
course. I plead with my colleagues in the House to do the right thing.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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