Vicente Gonzalez: “I rise in order to report on my actions and activities with respect to the ongoing situation in Bosnia and my letter to…”

“I rise in order to report on my actions and activities with respect to the ongoing situation in Bosnia and my letter to President Clinton, which I had prepared immediately, that that became a crisis point, and it looked as if the President might take unilateral action without any real consultation with the Congress. So in my letter I said: "The preparations currently underway for the possible involvement of U.S. military forces on the ground in Bosnia impel me once again"--because I have previously "to urge you in the strongest possible terms to seriously consider this matter before committing our troops to any such action and to abide in the closest possible way to the laws of the land with regard to the use of U.S. military force abroad." Let me say, this has been the story of my career since I first came to the Congress, beginning with then-President Kennedy, believe it or not, who was probably one of the most intimate personal friends I have had as a President, and then with President Johnson, who succeeded him, whom, of course, I had known from the beginning back in Texas. And more so with President Johnson, I became a gadfly, as the drum beats rose in noise and the urge to propel our armed services into action became irresistible.”