[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16092]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         MASSACRE AT SREBRENICA

  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the recently 
passed S. Res. 134, a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate 
regarding the massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995, the largest single 
mass execution in Europe since World War II.
  In has been 10 years since the war in the Balkans has dominated 
international headlines. The September 11, 2001 attacks in the United 
States and the resulting war on terror have taken center stage and 
rightly dominated our foreign policy. But the 40,000 Bosnians living in 
the St. Louis area saw the ugly face of terrorism in Srebrenica in July 
1995, when approximately 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred, and 
hundreds of women and children were tortured and raped in an area that 
was supposedly under the protection of the United States. Tens of 
thousands were evicted from their homes and forced to flee their 
homeland.
  As a direct result of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, more than 40,000 
Bosnian immigrants now live in the St. Louis area. In fact, it is a 
privilege for the City of St. Louis to be the home of more Bosnians 
than anywhere in the world outside Bosnia. Our Bosnian immigrants are 
productive, peaceful citizens who are making vital contributions to the 
revitalization of the city and adding ethnic diversity that enriches 
our community. But as they rebuild their lives, they still bear the 
emotional scars as victims of genocide and the evils of ethnic 
cleansing.
  It is a solemn 10 year anniversary the world will commemorate in 
July. As we remember the victims of Srebrenica with this resolution, we 
also reiterate our support for efforts to identify victims of this 
massacre through DNA matching and allow families a sense of closure 
that comes with the opportunity to appropriately commemorate and bury 
their loved ones. The victims of this genocide also deserve our efforts 
to put international pressure on those responsible for this terrible 
tragedy, including Serbian political leader, Radovan Karadzic and 
General Ratko Mladic, and bring them to justice.
  As we join with our new Bosnian immigrants to commemorate the 
Srebrenica massacre, it is my hope that we will commit ourselves once 
again to oppose the evil of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

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