Political Quotes

“the study of recent military conflicts and peacekeeping missions have led to two conclusions: First, in the case of major conflict, the massive presence of U.S. forces is necessary to defeat the aggressor or to contain the threat; second, our American forces must be given the necessary military means and freedom of action to accomplish these goals. Operation Desert Storm has rightly been held as a prime example of a U.S.-led international military force. Unfortunately, the hope and the lessons of Desert Storm have been lost as we have squandered them away in Somalia and even more in Bosnia. Over 40 years NATO has successfully preserved the peace and freedom of its members against a threat by the Soviet Union and its allies, but instead of celebrating our success, NATO today must confront a crisis that tears at the very fabric of that alliance. At the heart of this problem is the fact that in Bosnia, NATO cannot act without the consent of the United Nations and its local representative. An inflexible, time-consuming dual military command structure also have proven to be an invitation to disaster. The Armed Forces of the United States are the preeminent fighting machine in the world today. They are the best trained, best skilled, best equipped, and best led. Mr. Speaker, the brave young men and women in the Armed Forces deserve better than to be placed under the command of foreign nationals acting on behalf of the United Nations in a faceless bureaucracy.”