[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 42 (Thursday, April 6, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E504-E505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 STATEMENT BEFORE THE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON FOREIGN OPERATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 5, 2000

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I recently testified before the 
Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations on FY 2001 Budget 
Request on March 30, 2000. I submit my statement for the Record.

 Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich's Statement before the Appropriations 
      Subcommittee on Foreign Operations on FY 2001 Budget Request

       Thank you Chairman Callahan and Ranking Member Pelosi for 
     offering me an opportunity to relate my thoughts on the 
     President's budget request for foreign operations to you and 
     other Committee members.
       I would like to begin by reminding my colleagues that it 
     has been a full year since the start of the NATO air campaign 
     on Yugoslavia. My comments will focus on United States and 
     NATO efforts since this bombing campaign and the costs 
     associated with these efforts, specifically with regard to 
     peacekeeping operations and funding democracy activities in 
     the region.
       To start, the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo has only 
     compounded our failures in the Balkans. A year later we are 
     witnessing reversed ethnic cleansing of Serbs and Gypsies by 
     Albanians. Since June of last year, more than 240,000 Serbs, 
     Roma and Muslim Slav Gurani have fled the province of Kosovo. 
     The composition of Kosovo is now almost completely Albanian 
     as Serbs and other non-Albanians continue to flee for fear of 
     their lives. Moreover, an Amnesty International report issued 
     last month concluded that six months of peacekeeping efforts 
     in

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     the region that ``human rights abuses and crimes continue to 
     be committed at an alarming rate, particularly against 
     members of minority communities.'' It goes on to say that 
     U.N. police and KFOR troops have been ``unable to prevent 
     violent attacks, including human rights abuses, often 
     motivated by a desire of retribution, against non-
     Albanians.'' Many refugees are forced to live in nearby 
     enclaves under heavy NATO protection. The U.N.'s goals of 
     maintaining a multi-ethnic Kosovo has failed. For example, an 
     attempt to reintegrate Serb and Kosovar children in school in 
     the village of Plementina recently failed. In response, the 
     U.N. Kosovo Mission (UNMIK) decided to build a separate 
     school several kilometers away for security reasons. These 
     failures have forced the head of the U.N. Kosovo Mission, 
     Bernard Kouchner, to concede that ``the most one can hope for 
     is that
       One of the goals of the peackeeping mission was to disarm 
     and disband the armed militia groups. However, many members 
     of these groups remain as active as ever under KFOR 
     occupation. For example in the villages of Presovo, Medvedja 
     and Bujanovac (UCPMB), which line the south Western border of 
     Serbia where both ethnic Albanians and Serbs still live, an 
     extremist group called the Liberation Army for Presovo is now 
     active, though it did not exist before the peacekeeping 
     mission began. Many members of this group are said to have 
     been former militia members. The group has been blamed for a 
     killing of a Serb police officer and attacks on UN staff.
       Indeed, armed conflict could well get worse in the future 
     under UN peacekeeping forces. Recently, American soldiers 
     raided a radical group's command post seizing hundreds of 
     stashed weapons. This region seems to be indicative of what 
     seems to be a broader expansionist goal of creating a greater 
     Albania. There are reports that violent clashes may spill 
     into Macedonia and Montenegro. According to a Reuters news 
     report last week, ``The Yugoslav army and Montenegro policy 
     agreed on Saturday to set up a joint checkpoint between the 
     coastal republic and Kosovo in a bid to stop smuggling and 
     terrorism spilling over from the province.''
       Moreover, I am concerned that continued peacekeeping 
     operations may actually facilitate an escalation in violence 
     in the region. It is my understanding that part of the 
     mission of KFOR is not only to ``keep the peace'' in the 
     region, but to also train local residents into a civilian 
     police force. My concern is that UN troops are legitimizing 
     and institutionalizing extremist or radical elements of 
     society there by training them to be a police force. If 
     that's true, then our forces and our funds are propping up 
     extremist elements in Kosovo and consolidating their power.
       If, indeed, UN troops are training rogue elements to become 
     part of the civilian police force, Kosovo, then thus funding 
     will not merely have been wasted, but will have contributed 
     to instability in the region. I would like to put an American 
     perspective on the proposed spending of $29 million for 
     continued peace keeping operations in the region. You might 
     be interested in knowing that we have a program in the United 
     States called the Troops to COPS program, which provides law 
     enforcement incentives to hire veterans who have served in 
     our armed forces to serve as police officers. Funds are used 
     to reimburse law enforcement agencies for training costs of 
     qualified veterans. Since 1996, funding for this program has 
     reached only $2.3 million-in 4 years. Why should we spend $29 
     million dollars in one year on peacekeeping operations that 
     could put extremist elements in charge of Kosovo and that so 
     far has provided inadequate? Maybe we should be using these 
     funds to train law abiding US veterans to become community 
     police officers here in America.
       Now, I would like to touch upon the funding request for the 
     Support Eastern European Democracy (SEED) program--a program 
     which, among other things, supports democratic movements in 
     the region. The funding request has increased from $77 
     million in 1999 to $175 million in Kosovo and from $6 million 
     to over $41 million in Serbia, Yugoslavia. It indicates 
     increased and intensified US involvement in the internal 
     politics of the area. Here, too, our efforts have backfired. 
     Democratic opposition groups in Serbia are weaker today than 
     they were a year ago. Milosevic is stronger. It should 
     concern Congress that funds for promoting democracy can 
     result in weakening the popular appeal of democracy 
     advocates. Congress needs to place limitations on this 
     funding to restore its integrity. Specifically, Congress 
     should place the following limitations:
       No funds should be appropriated for use by any armed group 
     or advocates of violence.
       No funds should be appropriated for use by any group that 
     advocates the violent overthrow of the Serbian government.
       I conclude by saying that you should be skeptical of the 
     budget request for peacekeeping operations and the SEED 
     program in Kosovo and Serbia based on the past year's 
     failure. I support the reduction of funding for peacekeeping 
     forces in the Balkans.I support the advancement of peace and 
     democracy in the Balkans. To achieve these goals, Congress 
     will have to place limitations on spending in the Balkans. 
     Otherwise, we will be adding to the problem of instability 
     and a lack of democracy in the Balkans region.
       Thank you.

       

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