Cliff Stearns: “1 year ago the United States and many of our NATO allies were engaged in an air campaign against Yugoslav forces. Next…”

“1 year ago the United States and many of our NATO allies were engaged in an air campaign against Yugoslav forces. Next month will mark the 1-year anniversary of the agreement providing for the withdrawal of Yugoslavian troops from Kosovo and the deployment of international peacekeeping forces. Mr. Speaker, it is vital that we not forget the American troops who continue to languish in Kosovo, or those in Bosnia, and other fellow citizens scattered throughout the world on various deployments. We should also consider the cost of these deployments both in dollars and in reduction of our military capability. President Clinton's decision to attack Yugoslavia and to maintain peacekeeping forces in Kosovo were based upon the mistaken notion that military forces can turn ethnic and religious hatred into peaceful coexistence. As a participant in the Kosovo peacekeeping operation known as KFOR, the United States has 5,000 troops in Kosovo, 450 in Macedonia, and 10 in Greece. While working to achieve this harmony, U.S. troops have been fired upon and assaulted in many instances. Census figures collected by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees and the Yugoslavian government indicate that 93 percent of the population of Kosovo is ethnic Albanians now and 5 percent Serbs. In essence, American troops are in Kosovo to protect the Serbs from an angry majority. This makes the President's plan to build a peaceful, multi-ethnic state all the more daunting.”