Todd Tiahrt: “I recently went to Bosnia to visit the area where our troops will be located in Sarajevo and other places. I also…”

“I recently went to Bosnia to visit the area where our troops will be located in Sarajevo and other places. I also stopped by in Germany to see the First Armor Division before they left. I went along with many others from this body, about 18 others who also visited with our troops. Something very disturbing occurred to me while I was there. Many who support the policy of Bosnia do not support this authorization bill nor did they support the appropriations bill. I disagree with the policy in Bosnia. I cannot find anybody in my district who strongly supports it. Most of them say we should not be in there. But for us to go ahead and send troops there and then not support them through the authorization process, through the appropriation process is somehow fundamentally wrong. With all respects to our President and his office, he did not sign the appropriations bill. He did not even have the courage to sign the appropriations bill. I think there is something fundamentally wrong there. He vetoed this authorization bill, which provides for our volunteer Army. I heard one comment over the time when we were contemplating sending troops in that this was the job of our military, that they had volunteered to do the job similar to Bosnia. I believe that is above and beyond the call of what they agreed to when they took the oath as military personnel. They defend the Constitution, our borders, and our vital American interests overseas, but this is above and beyond that.”