[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 38 (Thursday, March 30, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H1626-H1627]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       OPPOSING CONTINUED U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN THE BALKAN CONFLICT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker,we have no business in Kosovo. We have no 
overriding national interest there.
  We have heard much vaunted allegations of human rights violations 
leveled against the Serbian government. Unfortunately, once again, we 
come to find out that an administration determined to mire us in 
overseas turmoil has greatly exaggerated the situation to win over a 
skeptical public and stampede the Congress.
  In this case, we were told several months ago that as many as 100,000 
Albanian Kosovars were brutally murdered. Now we are looking at a 
figure closer to 1,000.
  What of our continually expanded bombing that eventually included not 
only public transportation but medical facilities, nearly 100 schools, 
churches, and homes? What of the innocent deaths we inflicted with tax 
dollars of the citizens of the United States? What have we done here? 
What were the objectives of our President's most recent adventure? What 
are the results?
  We were told when we went into Kosovo that we went there to stop 
ethnic cleansing. It continues with a vengeance, this time with the 
acquiescence of our own forces.
  The KLA, not 2 years ago classified by our own State Department as a 
heroin-financed terrorist organization, soon to be vaunted by the 
Clinton administration as freedom fighters, now roams the countryside 
brutalizing innocents, not only Serbs but gypsies, Muslims, Slavs, and 
Albanians opposed to their thuggishness.

                              {time}  1515

  Bishop Artemije of the Diocese of Kosovo stated one month ago before 
the Helsinki Commission, and I quote, ``More than 80 Orthodox churches 
have been either completely destroyed or severely damaged since the end 
of the war. The ancient churches, many of which survived 500 years of 
Ottoman Moslem rule, could not survive 8 months of the internationally 
guaranteed peace. Regretfully, all this happens in the presence of 
KFOR, the NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo, and the U.N.''
  Yes, we have cast our lot with the KLA and its affiliates, an 
organization dedicated to its own version of ethnic cleansing. Removal 
of all non-Albanians from a region that not only includes Kosovo, but 
also southern Serbia and Macedonia, with its Albanian minority.
  We were told we went into Kosovo to ``stabilize the Balkans.'' 
Initially, the ambiguity of our policy gave the green light to 
separatist movements around the region. Today, in both Bosnia and 
Kosovo, we are committed into the future as far as the eye can see. 
When I

[[Page H1627]]

was able to cause a vote on the floor of the House on the incursion 
into Bosnia, a vote the administration did not want to take place, I 
stated on this floor, Mr. Speaker, that Mr. Clinton would not keep his 
promise to us.
  What was his promise? That he would send our American troops home 
from Bosnia by December 20, 1996. I ask, Mr. Speaker, what stability 
have we achieved in the Balkans? And at what price to this Nation? Can 
anyone share with this Congress a realistic exit strategy from this 
quagmire?
  In the Kosovo region, yesterday's Washington Post tells us that 
Kosovar militias still refuse to disarm and are now destabilizing 
southern Serbia. A new confrontation with Milosevic and a new refugee 
crisis is feared. And what will we do with a violent KLA we empowered 
when it turns its sights on Macedonia, which also has an Albanian 
population?
  I agree with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's assessment of our Balkan 
interventions recently published in the Financial Times. She said, 
``NATO has got to get off of this merry-go-round. It must acknowledge 
that imposing multicultural democracy at the point of a gun is not 
working.''
  Mr. Speaker, we were told we went into Kosovo to thwart the Serbian 
ruler there, Milosevic. What have we accomplished here? Milosevic is 
more firmly in place than ever; hard-liners in Serbia in a better place 
than ever before due entirely to our intervention; the bombing of 
civilians; the vilification of the Serbian people; and, the destruction 
of the Serbian culture under our occupation.
  We were told we went into Kosovo to ensure the credibility of NATO. 
But did we do this by violating the first section of the NATO charter 
by launching a war against a sovereign Nation that has committed no 
aggression against any of its neighbors? NATO's strength was that it 
was a shield, not a sword. Some skeptics say that NATO actions were one 
of justification, considering their original mission was to protect 
Europe from a Soviet Union that no longer exists.
  The costs of Kosovo? Displacement of hundreds of thousands of 
Kosovars. Displacement of hundreds of thousands of Serbs and expansion 
of conflict into Serbia proper. The potential instability of Macedonia 
and a new and probably undying hatred for the United States on the part 
of Serbians, and from what we have recently seen, Albanian Kosovars as 
well, as a result of this foolhardy intervention.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to bring America home. We can be a light to the 
world. We cannot be agents of violence as enforcers of one dubious 
cause after another without accumulating some frightful costs and 
terrible consequences.

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