Marshall Sanford: “I stand as one against sending troops to Kosovo and one very much behind the timing of this vote for a couple of…”

“I stand as one against sending troops to Kosovo and one very much behind the timing of this vote for a couple of different reasons, but one in which was well described by Henry Kissinger yesterday. Yesterday, he said before our committee that he and President Nixon believed that we were in trouble in Vietnam because our predecessors had launched the U.S. into an enterprise in a distant region for worthy causes but without adequately assessing the national interest and the likely cost. Now, not after the troops are deployed, not after troops are in the field, but now is the time to assess that cost. I do not think it passes the cost test for a couple of different reasons, the first of which is the domino theory has long been disproven. Clifford Clark was sent by Lyndon Johnson to see our C2 allies in Southeast Asia over 30 years ago to use the same argument. The C2 allies said, no, we do not think this will grow into a giant conflict in Southeast Asia. We choose not to go into South Vietnam or North Vietnam. We ignored their advice and, as a result, 50,000 American boys died. The domino theory has been disproven. For us to send boys into Kosovo means it has got to pass the mommy test. The mommy test for me means it is not only in our strategic interest, but we also have a chance in making a difference.”