Ron Kind: “I believe those are the wrong amendments at the wrong time when we are on the brink of peace in the Balkans. I believe…”

“I believe those are the wrong amendments at the wrong time when we are on the brink of peace in the Balkans. I believe that the NATO policy in Kosovo has been the right policy for the right reasons at the right time. There were two overriding concerns that got the NATO democracies involved in the Balkans. One of these, and not least of which, was the importance of trying to contain the conflict so it did not spread into other countries and ultimately result in much greater cost and greater sacrifice to the western democracies later. But the overriding one, Mr. Chairman, was the humanitarian and moral concerns involved in trying to help the Kosovar families and end the atrocities. We were reminded by Elie Wiesel what this was all about. When he was asked about the NATO air strike campaign in the Balkans, he responded, listen, the only miserable consolation the people in the concentration camps had during the Second World War was the belief that if the western democracies knew what was taking place, they would do everything in their power to try to stop it, bomb the rail lines and the crematoriums. Unfortunately, history later showed that the western leaders did know, but did not take any action. This time it is different.”