[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8855]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           KOSOVO AND BOSNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago the United States and many of 
our NATO allies were engaged in an air campaign against Yugoslav 
forces. Next month will mark the 1-year anniversary of the agreement 
providing for the withdrawal of Yugoslavian troops from Kosovo and the 
deployment of international peacekeeping forces.
  Mr. Speaker, it is vital that we not forget the American troops who 
continue to languish in Kosovo, or those in Bosnia, and other fellow 
citizens scattered throughout the world on various deployments. We 
should also consider the cost of these deployments both in dollars and 
in reduction of our military capability.
  President Clinton's decision to attack Yugoslavia and to maintain 
peacekeeping forces in Kosovo were based upon the mistaken notion that 
military forces can turn ethnic and religious hatred into peaceful 
coexistence.
  As a participant in the Kosovo peacekeeping operation known as KFOR, 
the United States has 5,000 troops in Kosovo, 450 in Macedonia, and 10 
in Greece. While working to achieve this harmony, U.S. troops have been 
fired upon and assaulted in many instances.
  Census figures collected by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees and 
the Yugoslavian government indicate that 93 percent of the population 
of Kosovo is ethnic Albanians now and 5 percent Serbs. In essence, 
American troops are in Kosovo to protect the Serbs from an angry 
majority. This makes the President's plan to build a peaceful, multi-
ethnic state all the more daunting.
  This situation begs the question, when will our troops leave Kosovo? 
If the Clinton administration has its way, the answer is, no time soon. 
All we need to do is to look at Bosnia to explain this conclusion.
  Remember Bosnia? In 1996, the United States sent 16,500 troops to 
Bosnia and some 6,000 support troops to neighboring nations. The 
President stated that the deployment would last about 1 year. Mr. 
Speaker, the troops are still there, and the administration has 
requested $1.4 billion for the next fiscal year to continue this 1-year 
mission to Bosnia.
  Mr. Speaker, it seems that much the same is expected for Kosovo. Two 
American camps in that region are being expanded to house and support 
American soldiers for at least 3 to 5 more years.
  More troubling is the assessment of the top U.S. commander in Kosovo. 
According to the Boston Globe, that commander, Brigadier General 
Sanchez, stated that the mission will require NATO peacekeepers to 
remain there for at least a generation. Can we expect some of these 
NATO troops to be American?
  We should also consider the cost of these deployments. Up to last 
year, $9.08 billion has been appropriated for Bosnia operations. With 
the expenditure for this fiscal year and the next, the Bosnian mission 
will accumulate costs exceeding $12 billion.
  According to the Department of Defense, the Kosovo operation costs $3 
billion last year, and the estimate for FY 2000 is about $2 billion. 
Our peacekeeping operation in the Balkans is approaching $20 billion in 
total expenses.
  In reading a Heritage Foundation report on this issue, I discovered 
that ``The Pentagon believes that it missed its procurement targets for 
the past 5 years because of unexpected costs associated with the 
military operations in Kosovo and Bosnia.''
  This means that we have not met our goals for modernizing our 
weaponry because of our peacekeeping operations in the Balkans. By 
making Bosnia and Kosovo safer for their citizens, we have


made America less safe for our citizens. Is that really the policy 
results this administration is seeking?
  Congress must take steps to ensure that America's national security 
interests are paramount in conducting our military and diplomatic 
missions.

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