Ed Markey: “the war in Bosnia has raged for more than 2 years now. Over the past 26 months, we have heard reports and seen pictures…”

“the war in Bosnia has raged for more than 2 years now. Over the past 26 months, we have heard reports and seen pictures of massive human suffering, organized rape and murder, deliberate targeting of innocent, unarmed civilians, and the unconscionable practice of ethnic cleansing. Two hundred thousand Bosnians have died in the fighting, 2 million have been forced from their homes and now are refugees, and 70 percent of Bosnia is occupied by Serb forces. Secretary of State Warren Christopher has called the war in the former Yugoslavia ``the conflict from hell.'' I agree with him. I do not agree, however, with the current policy of denying the Bosnians the right to defend themselves in the face of such relentless and brazen Serb aggression. I do not agree that the best the United States can do is hope all sides accept a fundamentally unjust peace agreement which will, in all likelihood, fall apart. And I do not agree that the United States should condone an embargo which permits the Serbs to wage a systematic and ruthless genocide on the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”