Barbara Boxer: “Let me take us back from before the unanimous consent request was made and kind of summarize where I was going. We had a…”

“Let me take us back from before the unanimous consent request was made and kind of summarize where I was going. We had a statement by Governor Bush. The statement was that he wanted to see all of those peacekeeping troops come home from the Balkans. He said we should not be involved in peacekeeping, only in fighting. As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, I am concerned and clearly our NATO allies are concerned. Lord Robertson, the NATO Secretary General, again, has said this could undermine our relationship with our NATO alliance. The Washington Post says one European Ambassador was quoted as saying: If the U.S. says it will not perform certain tasks, then the basic consensus of NATO begins to unravel. Now, I remember being very surprised, because I was at the second debate, when Governor Bush made the point that we were carrying the load in the Balkans in terms of the peacekeeping troops. I knew that was incorrect. The fact is, American troops are no more than 20 percent of the total. American aid represents no more than 20 percent of what is being provided to Bosnia and Kosovo. I would hate to see us walk away from peacekeeping and tell everyone we are the fighters; and then have our allies say: OK, you do the fighting; we do the peacekeeping. It is of great concern to me.”