George Voinovich: “I rise today to vehemently oppose sending American ground forces into Kosovo and to demand that if the President…”

“I rise today to vehemently oppose sending American ground forces into Kosovo and to demand that if the President contemplates sending in ground troops, that decision be deliberated and authorized by the Congress of the United States. I am an American of Serbian-Slovenian ancestry. My father's family is from southern Croatia, which is known as Krijna, and my mother's family is from Ljubljana and Stranje in Slovenia. I want to make it clear--I don't oppose sending ground troops into Kosovo because I am Serbian. I oppose it because it is bad policy. However, my ethnic heritage does give me a special insight into the situation that someone else might not have. I have always opposed the leadership of Slobodan Milosevic. Like most Americans, I consider him to be a war criminal. However, Mr. President, I was 1 of 41 Senators who voted against the bombing because I was concerned that this bombing would not achieve our end of bringing Slobodan Milosevic to the negotiating table as contemplated by the Clinton Administration and NATO.”