Byron Dorgan: “I would just point out, sending American men and women into harm's way is something I think no President wants to do.…”

“I would just point out, sending American men and women into harm's way is something I think no President wants to do. We've had ill-fated incursions and actions taken by Republican Presidents and Democratic Presidents alike. The perfection of foreign policy is not the province of any one party. I was sitting here--the Senator from Texas was talking about President Reagan--and I was recalling that I was in Congress when Americans in Beirut were killed by a truck bomb. There have been a lot of circumstances where we had to learn exactly how and when we involve ourselves. It is a lesson that is very hard to learn. The folks who feel very strongly about American and NATO involvement in Kosovo will make the case that if the situation is not contained there, it will spread very quickly and we will have a very substantial, broader problem on our hands in Europe. I think all of us are probably nervous about these issues. We do not know exactly what the right approach might be. I only rose today to say that I am concerned about the timing of this debate.”