[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7542]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     KEEP U.S. TROOPS OUT OF KOSOVO

  (Mr. KUYKENDALL asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUYKENDALL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share some thoughts of 
one of my 12-year-old constituents on Kosovo, and I quote:
  ``I would like to know why our government is thinking about sending 
troops to Kosovo. This sounds a lot like a Vietnam type of war which 
lasted 9 years. I am 12 now, and if this lasts for 6 more years, then I 
might be drafted and have to go to war. In my parents' generation 
almost everyone knows someone who served in the Vietnam War. Not too 
many people speak highly of our involvement in Vietnam. I want to be a 
successful person and a good citizen when I grow up. I want to uphold 
those great ideals I read about in Washington, D.C. that our Founding 
Fathers set down in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, 
the Bill of Rights, as well as many other places. I would like my 
country to be seen as doing the `right thing' or fighting for a `noble' 
cause. Right now in Kosovo it does not look like that to all of the 
nations of the world.
  ``I visited the Vietnam War Memorial and the Korean War Memorial and 
toured Arlington National Cemetery. I saw monuments to thousands of 
Americans who gave their lives for freedom. My father spoke with me 
about the meaning of these monuments and the sacrifices Americans made 
during these conflicts. How Kosovo a part of that duty?''
  To Justin Kawahara, I say that is an excellent question.

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