Timothy Roemer: “as medical students learn to become doctors, as they learn about healing, as they learn about hope, as they learn about…”

“as medical students learn to become doctors, as they learn about healing, as they learn about hope, as they learn about improving the course of humanity, they learn very, very early about the Hippocratic oath: First do no harm. Mr. Chairman, it is sad to say at this point neither side of this debate can claim no harm, at this point. Current policy has not been successful. The ethnic cleansing going on is a travesty. There are no good solutions at this point. As war is bloody and chaotic, so, at times, is peace. We may have to settle for a bad peace, a bloody peace, and a messy map, but lifting this embargo threatens even a bad peace or a bloody peace. What does this resolution do to stop the killing? It will probably increase the killing, sending arms to 1.2 million Moslems fighting against over 9,000,000 Serbs. Will it prevent the war from spreading? Certainly not. It will probably exacerbate that war. Will we have a Christian-Moslem war on our hands? Maybe. Do we do permanent damage to our allies? Probably, yes. War, as it has been said, is merely an extension of politics, by other means. This resolution is an extension of politics, and although it is well-intended, I think it is responding in a simple way to a very complicated problem.”