[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 82 (Thursday, June 10, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S6912]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 KOSOVO

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, the agreement signed yesterday between 
NATO and Yugoslavia is hopeful news as we move toward our goals of 
ending the atrocities and genocide in Kosovo and bolstering stability 
in southeastern Europe. The vote by the UN Security Council today 
authorizing an international peacekeeping force in Kosovo is yet 
another hopeful sign.
  This agreement is a victory for freedom. It is a defeat for dictators 
around the world. NATO's resolve to halt and redress Milosevic's crimes 
against humanity sends an important message to world leaders who engage 
in ethnic cleansing and other atrocities. NATO's victory over Yugoslav 
aggression also sends a positive signal to the forces of democracy in 
the region.
  President Clinton deserves immense credit for his leadership 
throughout this 11-week military operation. When so many said it was 
impossible, he kept a 19-member NATO alliance intact. When so many said 
it would never work, he stuck to the air campaign that led that NATO 
alliance to victory.
  The President never wavered in his commitment to the alliance's goals 
of ending the atrocities in Kosovo, forcing the withdrawal of Serb 
forces from the region, and ensuring the safe return of Kosovar 
refugees to their homes. President Clinton's steadfast resolve, 
together with our NATO allies, forced President Milosevic to back down 
and accept NATO's conditions for a halt in the bombing campaign.
  It would appear that some of those who were most critical of the 
President's Kosovo policies were more concerned with waging a political 
assault than in stopping the Serbs' military assault on Kosovo. But now 
that the Serbs have conceded defeat, one can only hope that those who 
were so harshly critical of the President might concede they were 
mistaken.
  Our NATO allies also deserve great credit and much gratitude. They 
understood the long-term implications of failing to address the 
Yugoslav threat to Kosovo and to regional stability. They met the 
challenge head-on and showed that NATO remains the most formidable 
military alliance in the world.
  And the front-line states--Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and 
Romania--were forced to experience firsthand the consequences of 
Milosevic's ethnic cleansing. They, and the Republic of Montenegro, 
should be commended for accepting hundreds of thousands of refugees and 
enduring the instability caused by the actions of the Yugoslav 
government.
  Of course, those truly on the front lines were our U.S. military 
forces who contributed so skillfully to the success of the air 
campaign. They deserve our full support and our thanks for carrying out 
their mission so bravely, and for achieving our military goals with 
virtually no casualties.
  It is now vitally important that the United States and our NATO 
allies remain vigilant to ensure that the Serbs live up to their 
agreement so that the Kosovars can return to their country and their 
homes, and rebuild their lives. They have a right to live in peace 
without fear of further atrocities.
  The agreement reached yesterday is cause for great hope that we can 
achieve those goals, and I want to again commend the President, our 
troops, NATO, and those front line countries who gave so much for the 
success and the victory that we celebrate today.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I commend the democratic leader on behalf of 
the entire country for the statement he has just made. Think for just a 
minute what has taken place: Thousands and thousands of individual 
sorties by 19 member nations. There are some, who were detractors, who 
referred to this as Clinton and Gore's war. No, it was not Clinton and 
Gore's war, but rather a war of those people of good will around the 
world, and certainly in this country, who detest evil, repudiate ethnic 
cleansing, and, in short, believe that atrocities by bullies like 
Slobodan Milosevic should be no more.
  So, I am confident and hopeful this will send a message to those 
around the world who feel they can maim and kill and displace those 
people with whom they disagree for purposes only they understand--the 
color of their skin, their religion--a message that this will no longer 
happen.
  So I, too, applaud the Commander in Chief. I especially applaud 
Secretary of Defense William Cohen for his leadership and commend all 
the American forces deployed in the Balkan region who have served and 
succeeded in the highest traditions of our country, and, finally, I 
wish to thank the families of the brave service men and women who 
participated in Operation Allied Force, who have borne the burden of 
being separated from their families for these many weeks.
  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. REID. 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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