Eliot Engel: “I very, very strongly oppose this amendment. I think this sends the absolute wrong message and is really the height of…”

“I very, very strongly oppose this amendment. I think this sends the absolute wrong message and is really the height of the wrong way we ought to go. I chair the Albanian Issues Caucus. I have put a lot of time and effort into the situation in Kosovo. Let me say something. What we have done in Kosovo is working. It is working. We have saved lives. It is true that the Europeans ought to be doing more but this will have the exact opposite effect. Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen says this is counterproductive to peace in Kosovo and will seriously jeopardize the relationship between the U.S. and our NATO allies. Joe Lockhart, the White House Press Secretary, says this is the wrong message being sent at the wrong time, and presidential candidate George Bush says this is wrong and it is legislative overreach. A letter from General Wesley Clark says these measures, if adopted, would be seen as a de facto pull-out by the United States. We ought to be proud of the role we have played in saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and the United States ought not to cut and run. We are the leaders of the world and the leaders of the free world. No one gave us that mantle. We took it and we ought to follow it through. It is working. People have gone to Kosovo. There are going to be bumps and grinds in the road but essentially what we have done is working.”