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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: April 12, 1999

IF NATO HAS ITS WAY, ALBANIAN KOSOVARS WILL NOT REMAIN PART OF SERBIA

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HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, the U.S.-NATO war against Serbia is illegal by all standards. Congress has not declared war. Therefore, the President has no authority to wage war. Attacking a sovereign nation violates long-standing international law as well as the NATO and U.N. charters.

NATO's aggression is immoral as well. It forces U.S. citizens and others in Europe opposed to the war to pay for it, and some are even forced to fight in it against their will. If the war expands, we can expect the return of the draft to make sure there are enough soldiers to participate.

As ugly as the Yugoslavian civil war may be in Kosovo, and as heart wrenching as the pictures of mass refugees fleeing their homeland is, one evil can never justify another. If one is disinclined to be persuaded by law and morality and responds only to emotions, propaganda and half-truths, then one must consider the practical failure of compulsive intervention in the affairs of other nations.

Prior to NATO's expanding the war in Yugoslavia, approximately 2,000 deaths in the past year were recorded in Kosovo. As a consequence of NATO's actions, the killing has now escalated and no one can hardly be pleased just because now Serbs, our once-valiant allies against the Nazis, are dying. Those who are motivated by good intentions while ignoring facts cannot be excused for the escalating and dangerous crisis in Yugoslavia.

The humanitarian concerns for Albanian refugees is justified, but going to war because of emotional concerns while ignoring other millions of refugees around the world only stirs the passions of the oppressed, whether they are Kurds, Palestinians, Tibetans, East Timorans or Rwandans.

When NATO talks of returning Albanians to their homes in Kosovo, I wonder why there is no reference or concern for the more than 50,000 Serbs thrown out of their homes in Bosnia, Slovenia and Croatia. Current NATO policy in Yugoslavia will surely encourage more ethnic minorities around the world to revolt and demand independence.

Some in Congress are now saying that although they were strongly opposed to the administration's policy of bombing in Yugoslavia prior to its onset, conditions are now different and an all-out effort to win with ground troops, if necessary, must be undertaken. This, it is said, is required to preserve NATO's credibility.

Who cares about NATO's credibility? Are American lives to be lost and a greater war precipitated to preserve NATO's credibility? Should the rule of law and morality be thrown out in an effort to preserve NATO's credibility? Can something be wrong and misguided before it is started and all of a sudden deserve to be blindly supported?

This reasoning makes no sense.

No one has quite figured out the secret motivation of why this war must be fought, but I found it interesting that evidence of our weapons shortage is broadcast to the world and to the Serbs. Surely one result of the war will be a rapid rush by Congress this year to massively increase the military budget. But a serious discussion of our flawed foreign policy of intervention that has served us so poorly unfortunately will not occur.

Political leaders and pundits are struggling to define an exit strategy for the war. In the old days when wars were properly declared for national security reasons, no one needed to ask such a question. A moral war fought against an aggressor for national security reasons was over when it was won. It has only been since Congress has reneged on its responsibility with regards to war power that it has become necessary to discuss how we exit a war not legitimately entered into and without victory as a goal.

The political wars, fought without declaration, starting with the Korean War to the present, have not enhanced the long-term security and liberty of the American people. Institutionalizing a collective approach to war seems a result of the obsession to save face for NATO. Never before in our history have we Americans accepted so casually the turning over of a military operation to foreign control with non-American spokesmen briefing us each day.

This is a major step in further solidifying the world government approach to all political problems. There is, however, one major contradiction to the internationalist desire to assimilate all countries and ethnic groups and have them governed by a single world government.

Quite ironically, ethnic diversity will surely be the casualty of all of this mischief. NATO and the U.S. are co-conspirators and military allies of a Serbian province that is seeking to become a separate ethnic country. Let there be no doubt, if NATO has its way, Albanian Kosovars will not remain part of Serbia.

• The US-NATO War against Serbia is illegal by all standards. Congress has not declared war; therefore the President has no authority to wage war. Attacking a sovereign nation violates longstanding international law, as well as the NATO and UN Charters.

• NATO's aggression is immoral as well. It forces US citizens and others in Europe, opposed to the war, to pay for it and some are even forced to fight in it against their will. If the war expands we can expect the return of the draft to make sure there are enough soldiers to participate.

• As ugly as the Yugoslavian civil war may be in Kosovo and as heart wrenching as the pictures of mass refugees fleeing their homeland is, one evil can never justify another.

• If one is disinclined to be persuaded by law and morality and responds only to emotions, propaganda, and half-truths, then one must consider the practical failure of compulsive intervention in the affairs of other nations.

• Prior to NATO's expanding the war in Yugoslavia approximately 2,000 deaths in the past year were recorded in Kosovo. As a consequence of NATO's actions the killing has now escalated and no one can hardly be pleased just because now Serbs, our once valiant allies against the Nazi's, are dying. Those who are motivated by good intentions while ignoring facts cannot be excused for the escalating and dangerous crisis in Yugoslavia.

• The humanitarian concerns for Albanian refugees is justified, but going to war because of emotional concerns, while ignoring other millions of refugees around the world, only stirs the passions of the oppressed, whether they are Kurds, Palestinians, Tibetans, East Timorans, or Rwandans. When NATO talks of returning Albanians to their homes in Kosovo, I wonder why there's no reference or concern for the more than 500,000 Serbs thrown out of their homes in Bosnia, Slovenia, and Croatia. Current NATO policy in Yugoslavia will surely encourage more ethnic minorities around the world to revolt and demand independence.

• Some in Congress are now saying that although they were strongly opposed to the administration's policy of bombing in Yugoslavia prior to its onset, conditions are now different and an all-out effort to win with ground troops if necessary, must be undertaken. This, it is said, is required to preserve NATO's credibility. Who cares about NATO's credibility? Are American lives to be lost and a greater war precipitated to preserve NATO's credibility? Should the rule of law and morality be thrown out in an effort to preserve NATO's credibility? Can something be wrong and misguided before it's started and all of a sudden deserve to be blindly supported? This reasoning makes no sense.

• No one has quite figured out the secret motivation of why this war must be fought. But I found it interesting that evidence of our weapons shortage is broadcast to the world and to the Serbs. Surely, one result of the war will be a rapid rush by Congress this year to massively increase the military budget. But, a serious discussion of our flawed foreign policy of intervention that has served us so poorly, unfortunately, will not occur.

• Political leaders and pundits are struggling to define an `exit strategy' for the war. In the old days when wars were properly declared for national security reasons, no one needed to ask such a question. A moral war, fought against an aggressor, for national security reasons, was over when it was won. It's only been since Congress has reneged on its responsibility with regards to war power, has it become necessary to discuss how we `exit' a war not legitimately entered into, and without victory as the goal. The political wars fought without declaration, starting with the Korean War to the present, have not enhanced the long-term security and liberty of the American people.

• Institutionalizing a collective approach to war seems to be a result of the obsession to `save face' for NATO. Never before in our history have we Americans accepted so casually the turning over a military operation to foreign control with non-American spokesmen briefing us each day. This is a major step in further solidifying the world-government approach to all political problems.

• There is, however, one major contradiction to the internationalist's desire to assimilate all countries and ethnic groups and have them governed by a single world government. Quite ironically, ethnic diversity will surely be the casualty of all this mischief.

• NATO and the US are co-conspirators and military allies of a Serbian Province that is seeking to become a separate ethnic country. The full force of our efforts, no matter what humanitarian picture is painted to justify our actions, is to make Kosovo an Albanian Muslim state separate from Serbia.

• Current NATO and US policy completely contradict the professed goal of multi-ethnicity and assimilation of all people. NATO's operation, by its very nature, is bureaucratically burdened by the effort to appease the political concerns of 19 different countries. This inefficiency and the contradiction of supporting the establishment of an ethnic state will guarantee NATO's deserved demise. The sooner we get out of Yugoslavia the better off everyone will be.

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