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Peace at any cost is a prelude to war!
Rep. Metcalf-"We Have No Business in Kosovo"
Rep. Metcalf-"We Have No Business in Kosovo"
"We Need to Bring America Home
OPPOSING CONTINUED U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN THE BALKAN CONFLICT
(House of Representatives - March 30, 2000)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman
from Washington (Mr. Metcalf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker,we have no business in Kosovo. We have no overriding
national interest there.
We have heard much vaunted allegations of human rights violations leveled
against the Serbian government. Unfortunately, once again, we come to find
out that an administration determined to mire us in overseas turmoil has
greatly exaggerated the situation to win over a skeptical public and stampede
the Congress.
In this case, we were told several months ago that as many as 100,000
Albanian Kosovars were brutally murdered. Now we are looking at a figure
closer to 1,000.
What of our continually expanded bombing that eventually included not only
public transportation but medical facilities, nearly 100 schools, churches,
and homes? What of the innocent deaths we inflicted with tax dollars of the
citizens of the United States? What have we done here? What were the
objectives of our President's most recent adventure? What are the results?
We were told when we went into Kosovo that we went there to stop ethnic
cleansing. It continues with a vengeance, this time with the acquiescence of
our own forces.
The KLA, not 2 years ago classified by our own State Department as a
heroin-financed terrorist organization, soon to be vaunted by the Clinton
administration as freedom fighters, now roams the countryside brutalizing
innocents, not only Serbs but gypsies, Muslims, Slavs, and Albanians opposed
to their thuggishness.
Bishop Artemije of the Diocese of Kosovo stated one month ago before the
Helsinki Commission, and I quote, `More than 80 Orthodox churches have been
either completely destroyed or severely damaged since the end of the war. The
ancient churches, many of which survived 500 years of Ottoman Moslem rule,
could not survive 8 months of the internationally guaranteed peace.
Regretfully, all this happens in the presence of KFOR, the NATO peacekeeping
force in Kosovo, and the U.N.'
Yes, we have cast our lot with the KLA and its affiliates, an organization
dedicated to its own version of ethnic cleansing. Removal of all
non-Albanians from a region that not only includes Kosovo, but also southern
Serbia and Macedonia, with its Albanian minority.
We were told we went into Kosovo to `stabilize the Balkans.' Initially, the
ambiguity of our policy gave the green light to separatist movements around
the region. Today, in both Bosnia and Kosovo, we are committed into the
future as far as the eye can see. When I was able to cause a vote on the
floor of the House on the incursion into Bosnia, a vote the administration
did not want to take place, I stated on this floor, Mr. Speaker, that Mr.
Clinton would not keep his promise to us.
What was his promise? That he would send our American troops home from Bosnia
by December 20, 1996. I ask, Mr. Speaker, what stability have we achieved in
the Balkans? And at what price to this Nation? Can anyone share with this
Congress a realistic exit strategy from this quagmire?
In the Kosovo region, yesterday's Washington Post tells us that Kosovar
militias still refuse to disarm and are now destabilizing southern Serbia. A
new confrontation with Milosevic and a new refugee crisis is feared. And what
will we do with a violent KLA we empowered when it turns its sights on
Macedonia, which also has an Albanian population?
I agree with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's assessment of our Balkan
interventions recently published in the Financial Times. She said, `NATO has
got to get off of this merry-go-round. It must acknowledge that imposing
multicultural democracy at the point of a gun is not working.'
Mr. Speaker, we were told we went into Kosovo to thwart the Serbian ruler
there, Milosevic. What have we accomplished here? Milosevic is more firmly in
place than ever; hard-liners in Serbia in a better place than ever before due
entirely to our intervention; the bombing of civilians; the vilification of
the Serbian people; and, the destruction of the Serbian culture under our
occupation.
We were told we went into Kosovo to ensure the credibility of NATO. But did
we do this by violating the first section of the NATO charter by launching a
war against a sovereign Nation that has committed no aggression against any
of its neighbors? NATO's strength was that it was a shield, not a sword. Some
skeptics say that NATO actions were one of justification, considering their
original mission was to protect Europe from a Soviet Union that no longer
exists.
The costs of Kosovo? Displacement of hundreds of thousands of Kosovars.
Displacement of hundreds of thousands of Serbs and expansion of conflict into
Serbia proper. The potential instability of Macedonia and a new and probably
undying hatred for the United States on the part of Serbians, and from what
we have recently seen, Albanian Kosovars as well, as a result of this
foolhardy intervention.
Mr. Speaker, we need to bring America home. We can be a light to the world.
We cannot be agents of violence as enforcers of one dubious cause after
another without accumulating some frightful costs and terrible consequences.
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