Floyd Spence: “Madam Chairman, I rise in opposition to the Hamilton amendment. For 3 years we have pretended that the war in Bosnia is…”

“Madam Chairman, I rise in opposition to the Hamilton amendment. For 3 years we have pretended that the war in Bosnia is a civil war, rather than a war of Serb aggression. For 3 years we have pretended that negotiations would bring an end to that aggression. For 3 years we have somehow persuaded ourselves that we should deny arms to the Bosnian Government even as its people were systematically massacred and driven from their land. It is time to end the charade that is our Bosnia policy. For me, the issue we face today is a simple one. The embargo is wrong. It was wrong when it entered into force. It is wrong today. As long as we continue to abide by this embargo, we insult the principle that is the very cradle of our Nation: The principle that, if it so decides, a people has the right to declare independence and build for itself a new future, a sovereign future, a future on its own terms and according to its own values. Our forefathers invoked this principle over 200 years ago to justify the independence of the young United States. The brave Bosnian people are desperately attempting to invoke that same principle today. And the question for us is simple: Will we stand for them, or against them? Our history, our values, our consciences allow only one answer.”