John W. Olver: “I think one of the most ironic parts of this debate is that at this very time, we have just finished commemorating 50…”

“I think one of the most ironic parts of this debate is that at this very time, we have just finished commemorating 50 years since D-day, and that epic struggle against fascism which the Second World War represented. And one of the features of that war, which will remain indelible through history, is that feature which was the most widespread genocide occurring over a whole continent, an effort to obliterate a whole people and a whole culture. Yet we are now in the process of denial of self-defense of a people that is being subjected to genocide. I do not think there is anybody who denies that this is an effort at genocide on the part of the Serb Chetniks. There are Roman Catholic Churches and Moslem Mosques which have been destroyed. The whole of the religious infrastructure for the two other religions that the Slavic people in Bosnia represent, great and beautiful edifices dynamited, cultural centers destroyed, museums, obliteration of a whole culture is being attempted, along with the concentration camps that we had, the indiscriminate slaughter of all ages of people because of their religion, the millions of refugees that have been created in that process. The most basic right that people have is the right on the part of individuals and nations, the right of self-defense. Personal law, U.S. law, moral law, Biblical law, international law, all allows for the right of self-defense, except in Bosnia.”