Bob Dole: “first I want to thank my colleague from Connecticut for underscoring right up front that this is bipartisan. This is not…”

“first I want to thank my colleague from Connecticut for underscoring right up front that this is bipartisan. This is not an effort to undermine the President of the United States. In fact, we thought when we started it was an effort to help the President of the United States because he had talked so often about lifting the arms embargo. In fact, many of us have visited with the President at the White House, and he talked not only about that but about air strikes. Some of us were prepared to support him in both cases, including the Senator from Kansas. If we go back to the Revolutionary War, the Americans were engaged in self-defense, and we were helped by other countries. The right of self- defense is inherent. It does not have to be in the U.N. Charter. It is a basic inherent right: The right of self-defense. If you read the letter we received yesterday from the Prime Minister of Bosnia, Haris Silajdzic, I think the one statement that stands out-- and there are a number that stand out--first of all, he says: Tomorrow the hopes of the Bosnian people are turned to the United States Senate. They are looking to us for leadership. They are looking to America for leadership. This is what this is all about: Leadership. Bipartisan leadership. He also makes the statement, which I have been trying to make the last several times I have spoken on this issue: If the rest of the world is making a mistake, should America also make the same mistake?”