[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6229-6230]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THE CRISIS IN KOSOVO

  Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, I rise today to vehemently oppose 
sending American ground forces into Kosovo and to demand that if the 
President contemplates sending in ground troops, that decision be 
deliberated and authorized by the Congress of the United States.
  I am an American of Serbian-Slovenian ancestry. My father's family is 
from southern Croatia, which is known as Krijna, and my mother's family 
is from Ljubljana and Stranje in Slovenia.
  I want to make it clear--I don't oppose sending ground troops into 
Kosovo because I am Serbian. I oppose it because it is bad policy. 
However, my ethnic heritage does give me a special insight into the 
situation that someone else might not have.
  I have always opposed the leadership of Slobodan Milosevic. Like most 
Americans, I consider him to be a war criminal.
  However, Mr. President, I was 1 of 41 Senators who voted against the 
bombing because I was concerned that this bombing would not achieve our 
end of bringing Slobodan Milosevic to the negotiating table as 
contemplated by the Clinton Administration and NATO.
  These negotiations were designed to get Milosevic to sign the 
Rambouillet agreement or something very similar, thereby guaranteeing 
the basic human rights of the Albanian Kosovars and avoiding ethnic 
cleansing.
  I also feared the bombing would only solidify Milosevic's leadership 
with the Serbian people and ruin any chance of cultivating alternative 
leadership within Serbia.
  I have to say that our problem has not been with the Serbian people, 
but with their ruthless leader.
  The main thing this bombing campaign has managed to do is fan the 
flames of centuries-old Serbian nationalism. Individuals who until the 
bombing campaign had little support for Milosevic and his activities in 
Kosovo, now firmly believe their national pride is at stake. They have 
thrown their support behind Milosevic and have expressed a willingness 
to follow his leadership and fight for their country.
  It is extremely important to remember--this is very important--Kosovo 
is to the Serbian people what Jerusalem is to Jews, Christians and 
Muslims. To the Serbians, it is a holy place. It is the scene of the 
most important event in Serbian history--the battle of Kosovo in 1389 
between the Turks and the Serbs, led by Tsar Lazar.
  The battle of Kosovo has lived for centuries in Serbian literature. 
To this day, Serbian children sing songs and read epic poems 
celebrating this event.
  The interesting thing about the battle of Kosovo is how outnumbered 
the Serbian people were--and they knew it. And even though they lost, 
it is considered a glorious defeat because they fought valiantly 
against overwhelming odds. To quote from the epic poem ``The Battle of 
Kosovo'':

       Then the Turks overwhelmed Lazar, And the Tsar, Lazar, was 
     destroyed, With him was destroyed his army of seven and 
     seventy thousand soldiers. All was holy, all was honorable 
     and the goodness of God was fulfilled.

  History, pride and heritage are deeply-seeded in Serb culture. That's 
why it is significant that Milosevic started his rise to political 
power in Kosovo and probably the most important event in his political 
career was when he spoke to 1 million citizens on the 600th Anniversary 
of the Battle of Kosovo--at the very site of the battle! I want you to 
also know, Mr. President, the most sacred Serbian Orthodox monasteries 
are located in Kosovo.
  Considering Serbian history, and where Milosevic started his career, 
American and NATO leaders should have known that Milosevic couldn't 
give in without losing face. Especially when he was told ``either sign 
this or we'll bomb you''. Unfortunately, the Clinton administration 
presented Milosevic with an ultimatum which foreclosed all other 
options that could have led to a negotiated settlement.
  Our bombing campaign has given Milosevic cover to move forward 
expeditiously with his policy of ethnic cleansing--precisely what we 
were trying to avoid in the first place. Now, because he and his forces 
are not being tightly monitored--and that's because all the observers 
were kicked out as soon as the bombing started--they can do as they 
wish. Therefore, we hear evidence of massacres and rape, and we have 
witnessed the forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of people and 
the total devastation of Kosovo.
  To me there is no question that the decision to bomb Kosovo and 
Serbia was a terrible mistake in the first place, but now we face three 
bad choices--stop the bombing, continue the bombing, or go in with 
bombing and ground troops.
  Although I disagreed with bombing in the first place, of the three, I 
believe the least objectionable is to continue the bombing campaign in 
hopes of securing the very negotiated settlement that has eluded us so 
far.
  Many public officials and foreign policy experts are loudly 
advocating the introduction of ground troops to Kosovo in an effort to 
force Milosevic to yield his grip on the Kosovar Albanians and to 
ultimately ``win the war''. They claim it's the only way.
  Let me say that I support the goal of restoring peace and stability 
to the region, returning to Kosovo those refugees that want to go back, 
negotiating a new agreement that will guarantee their safety and self-
determination and establishing a multinational force to monitor the 
negotiated settlement. I support all this--but I absolutely oppose the 
use of American ground troops to implement this goal.
  I oppose using American troops in this manner not because I don't 
think they can get the job done. Far from it. I believe our armed 
forces have performed magnificently, and I wholeheartedly admire the 
effort that each of them has been giving during the campaign in Kosovo. 
They are doing the job we have asked them to do.
  However, I see a situation developing in the Balkans that could be 
just as brutal as that which developed in Vietnam. As opposed to the 
flat deserts of the Persian Gulf area, the Balkans are a very 
mountainous region that is ideal for a sustained campaign of guerrilla 
warfare.
  A smaller, and less well-armed force could have the ability to use 
this natural terrain to impede the progress and mobility of a NATO 
invasion force for an extended period of time while racking up vast 
numbers of casualties.
  Remember that in World War II, more than 500,000 Nazi soldiers 
thought that they could just roll through Yugoslavia. They did not, due 
in large part,

[[Page 6230]]

to the determination of the Serbian people.
  It has been reported that it will take 6 to 8 weeks to even prepare 
for a ground invasion. And I believe it will probably take even more 
than that because we don't even have the troops in the region, we 
haven't even mobilized and we haven't established a staging area.
  This will give the Serbs ample time to disperse, fortify defensive 
works, stockpile their arms, and so on. The steps the Serbs take now 
will allow them to later harass the invasion force at every conceivable 
opportunity. It will make it that much more difficult for NATO to 
secure a victory without incurring heavy losses.
  The most important thing I think the American people should know--if 
we put ground forces in Kosovo, we will go to war with Serbia. Period.
  We will have to accept the fact that we will be at war, and that we 
will have to take out Milosevic. And that means a long, extended war 
with loss of life and a total destruction of the infrastructure in 
Serbia, in Kosovo, and what about Montenegro?
  And another thing--we have to be seriously concerned about igniting 
the entire southeast Europe region with our actions. What will the 
neighboring nations do? What will Russia do? Will NATO's action perhaps 
cause the radical elements in Russia to come into power?
  These are serious questions that may not be of concern now, but the 
consequences of our actions today may come back to haunt us tomorrow.
  We must remember--our goal is to bring peace and stability to this 
region. I am concerned that the introduction of ground troops may have 
just the opposite effect and destabilize the region over the long term.
  And what happens after we win that war? And it will be won, although 
at a high cost in terms of lives and infrastructure. What will happen? 
What will be the disposition of the Kosovar Albanians, hundreds of 
thousands of whom are now refugees? Are we going to have a greater 
Albania?
  Who will monitor the ``peace'' and who will pay for the rebuilding of 
the infrastructure in Serbia and Kosovo? What kind of commitment will 
NATO have to ``Pick up the pieces'' and rebuild Serbia? Will it fall on 
the United States?
  Make no mistake: the introduction of ground troops guarantees that we 
as a nation are committing to be involved for an extended period of 
time and the expenditure of many billions of dollars. In order to 
compare, my colleagues should remember that we have already spent--we 
have already spent--over $12 billion in Bosnia.
  I can't help but feel touched at times like these, in the face of 
situations of national importance, to contemplate the times that I have 
visited the Vietnam Memorial. All of us who have done that cannot help 
but be moved. And I know on my part, tears always well up in my eyes.
  Seeing the names carved on that wall, knowing that each name 
represents an individual who had loved ones and friends and had hopes, 
dreams and aspirations, is a poignant reminder of what it means to send 
young men and women into harm's way.
  But let me just say that while I disagreed with the policy pursued to 
stop the humanitarian abuses in Kosovo, those abuses cannot be 
overlooked by the international community. You just can't turn your 
head and forget about it. This morning, I participated in a 
commemoration of the Holocaust here in our Nation's Capitol. Let us 
remember so that we never forget.
  I believe that in addition to pursuing our strategic interests and 
our trade interests, we must not forget that our status as a world 
power gives us a moral responsibility to defend human rights. I call 
upon my colleagues and all Americans to work toward a consensus on how 
we as a nation respond to acts of genocide internationally.
  Looking away in Croatia was a failure when 250,000 Serbs were driven 
out. As President Clinton acknowledged, looking away in Rwanda was a 
mistake where almost a million people were killed between the Tutsi's 
and the Hutu's. And what about the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey, and all 
the other areas of the world where such troubles exist? We have it in 
many, many places in the world.
  Thus far, full engagement through bombing has been a failure in 
Kosovo. Our moral responsibility is to identify the means and the goals 
available to us to deal with such incidents before they escalate beyond 
peaceful resolution. We would be well-served--we would be well-served--
to have a coherent policy to guide us in the future as to when we go in 
and when we do not go in.
  Mr. President, what this country does in the name of NATO over the 
next several weeks in regard to Serbia and Kosovo will have a dramatic 
impact on this country's future. It is our obligation to the American 
people to exercise our due diligence before we commit to a course of 
action from which we cannot extricate ourselves. This is very, very 
serious business that we are now considering.
  We should pray to the Holy Spirit for the enlightenment to make the 
right decision for our country, for southeast Europe, and for the 
world. Let us be constantly reminded of Jesus's exhortation on the 
Sermon on the Mount that ``blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall 
be called the children of God.''
  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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