Political Quotes

“this amendment expresses the sense of the Senate that the President should impose sanctions on Croatia. The government of Croatia has sent several thousand troops into Bosnia and Herzegovina ostensibly to counter a Bosnian Government offensive in Herzegovina, where there is an overwhelming ethnic Croatian minority. While Croatia's short-term goal may indeed be to protect the ethnic Croats, many believe that Croatia's longer term purpose is to change borders by force. Even if Croatia's goals are limited to protecting ethnic Croats, that is an unacceptable excuse for unilaterally sending troops into Bosnia. To let Croatia off the hook would be a dangerous signal to other governments throughout the world who could use protection of ethnic groups to justify naked aggression. The Iraqis, for instance, could invade Kurdistan based on a dubious Iraqi claim to be protecting ethnic Arabs that inhabit Kurdistan. The Russians, too, could use a similar claim to keep their troops in the Baltic countries indefinitely. For many months, Croatian forces have been uncooperative at best, obstructionist at worst, in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Bosnia. Bosnian Croat forces, with the backing of Croatian Government forces, have carried out vicious atrocities in the Bosnian war.”