Just a few weeks before those deployments, they carried out a humanitarian mission in Rwanda. While that was going on, a force of some 21,000 American troops headed for Haiti to secure democracy in that troubled island. Today, our troops are as busy as they've ever been, short of major war. One of our most closely followed military efforts is in Bosnia, where about 8,000 mostly Army troops work to restore a country from self-destructive civil war to reliance on peaceful democratic means. Our troops are performing their military tasks with great expertise and professionalism as part of a 34-nation peace stabilization force.
Nobody knows for sure.
But there is no doubt about the resounding success of the implementation force and the stabilization force that have kept the peace in Bosnia. Those forces have given the people of Bosnia more than a year without war. They serve not just in Europe but in other parts of the world where our interests are at stake. Our active engagement would not be possible without our superb American soldiers, our unmatched military capabilities and our high levels of readiness. Not only have they successfully upheld and advanced our interests, but in the process they have created a new world standard for military excellence.