Steny Hoyer: “Mr. Chairman, here we are 1 year later, and what has time brought the Bosnians? All of us know: Further deaths, further…”

“Mr. Chairman, here we are 1 year later, and what has time brought the Bosnians? All of us know: Further deaths, further ethnic cleansing, further disruption to the democratically elected government. For the aggressors however, Mr. Chairman, they just dug their trenches a little deeper. And the Bosnian Serbs upped the ante by taking more than 370 U.N. troops hostage. They released some, but they still hold others, and then, on last Friday they shot down a U.S. F-16 fighter. Thank God that he has now been retrieved. We thank the technology that allowed him to get out of that plane and to let us know where he was. But, Mr. Chairman, let us be clear. It is not just UNPROFOR that is being held hostage but the United Nations and NATO itself. A test of wills has been going on now for 3 years between the Bosnian Serbs, Milosevic, and the United Nations and NATO. The Serbs have won every time. And the world's most powerful collective institution is being rendered helpless. On several occasions, we have witnessed Bosnia's aggressors stay their assaults at the prospect that Bosnia would be aided by the international community. But each time, Mr. Chairman, they have returned even more bold and resolute to try to finish their crime, the annihilation of an independent democratic, internationally recognized Bosnia, when the international community has failed to act decisively.”