Howard Berman: “I think we should be clear about one thing. The Western response, our response, to the war in Bosnia represents the…”

“I think we should be clear about one thing. The Western response, our response, to the war in Bosnia represents the greatest failure of the West since the 1930's. It has tarnished NATO; it has tarnished all of us. In the past I have voted for the resolution to lift the embargo unilaterally because of my disgust for the Western response and, I am sorry to say, because of my disgust for our own response to what has been happening there, and I have listened during this debate to the passionate speeches on behalf of lifting the arms embargo. The gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Hoyer] and others have reminded us about American responsibilities to support freedom and oppose the forces of tyranny, and nowhere is that tyranny more apparent than in former Yugoslavia today. There is rape, murder, ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, disappearances, the slaughter of innocents. These have all become Serbian trademarks in this battle, and we have long gone beyond the time for decisive action. We should have acted years ago to end these atrocities.”