Date: 1999-03-11
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman. we keep talking about a peace agreement. There is not one. If there were one and our forces were sent in. that is fine. But without a peace agreement. we are going to coerce those other nations into signing one. and I do not think that that is a very American way to deal with this problem. not by force . And I do not think that we ought to be bombing over there in an effort to try to coerce them to comply with our peace agreement that we put forward. NATO is not at risk. NATO is a defensive organization. not an offensive organization. We appear to be aggressors. I really worry after talking with our people over there that we are going to lose an airplane or two. It may not be from ground fire but ultimately we could lose one from engine failure. and we may. And if that guy gets down in that area. those people are not going to be very nice to him. They do not like us over there. Yesterday. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told the Congress to put off todays debate because it might harm the negotiations. I would tell the Secretary the reason this debate is necessary is because the real danger is recklessness with our foreign policy. The President is about to put our troops in the middle of an ethnic and religious war that has been going on for thousands of years. It is a loselose situation for America. We lose because our troops will be deployed to a country without a clear mission. Just as in Bosnia. the President has no entry or exit plan. he has failed to explain the cost of the mission. and he has failed to explain what effect it will have on the already sinking morale of our fighting men and women. The Presidents continued use of hollow threats of force only guarantees that our soldiers will be put in harms way and that dictators will continue to control how our foreign policy is run. Despite this. the President continues to state he will send 4.000 U.S. troops to Kosovo if a. peace agreement is signed. . Mr. Chairman. I fought with our Air Force in both Korea and Vietnam. and I am opposed to the use of U.S. military force where we are not threatened in this country. I am disturbed that the President would use NATO to attack a sovereign nation. NATO was not designed to and should not be used for those purposes. The President knows this. and he has continually ignored the Congress when making decisions that impact our ability to keep peace throughout the world. Our fighting men and women are being used as pawns In a failed foreign policy by this administration. Our soldiers are leaving the services in droves. Recruiting is down. morale is low. and the main reason is failed policies that ship our soldiers. sailors and airmen around the world with no purpose or plan. Mr. Chairman. we should not send troops. we should not send bombs. we should not get involved. It is a conflict that is destined to follow the rest to failure. The President ought to think long and hard before he puts our troops in a bottomless pit. He has a responsibility to our fighting men and women and to this Nation to admit there is no defined mission in Kosovo and our troops do not belong there. I know that. however. if our fighting men and women are called to duty. they will go and they will serve with honor as they always do. But under our Constitution. I believe we in the Congress have as much responsibility as the President and we must not ask our soldiers. sailors and airmen to serve in Kosovo without a defined mission or national interest.