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2000 Candidates Speak Out on Kosovo
Washingtonpost.com Staff The first week of bombing during Operation Allied Force drew mixed reactions from the candidates vying for the White House in 2000. Following are statements from the candidates on Kosovo, the administration's policy and the NATO airstrikes:
Lamar Alexander (R): "It is not clear to me what our troops would do if they were there. We might find ourselves bombing the Serbians and then fighting the Kosovars to disarm them. ... We should say to them – should have said to them – 'You should take the lead in this issue. Our airpower will support you. Our logistics will support you. We will help you get out if you get in trouble ... 'No American ground troops in Kosovo'"
Bill Bradley (D): "I fully support the American and NATO troops who are now in danger overseas. However, I have serious questions about our policy. We are escalating our commitment without establishing a clear exit strategy. As with Bosnia, we run the risk of becoming bogged down in a quagmire whose end we cannot predict or control."
Pat Buchanan (R):
"This Balkan war is not America's war. It amounts to the breakup of Yugoslavia, which has lost Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, and now is losing Kosovo. There is no vital interest of the United States in that Balkan peninsula and whose flag flies over Pristina. There never has been. An American army has never fought there before."
"It is not our war. We ought to use our good offices to try to diminish the killing, but when you drop bombs on people, there tend to be reprisals and reactions. We already see the violence, reprisals, spreading already. So the policy is not working."
"If the Europeans want to intervene, that's their business. But, if I were president, I would remove every United States soldier from the Balkan peninsula.
"It is not our war. This is an ugly civil war inside Yugoslavia. We have no vital interests there. The killings are tragic. But how do you bring peace to an area by bombing soldiers who are fighting in their own country?"
"They're mock-test-firing missiles at American forces in Korea an U.S. bases in Okinawa and we're at war with Kosovo? And China's our strategic partner? I think everybody at the White House should all be arrested as security risks."
Gov. George W. Bush (R-Tex.): "As governor of Texas, I do not have access to all the information and military intelligence available to the commander in chief," said Bush, adding that he knew enough to "share the concerns and misgivings of many Texans and Americans."
"Any time we commit American troops, I believe we must have a clear mission, an achievable goal and a credible exit strategy," he said. "The ultimate question is, will this military action lead to the goal of ending the conflict and bringing peace and stability to the region?"
Elizabeth Hanford Dole (R): "Because I believe this action can be instrumental in forging a peaceful solution to a dangerous, escalating military conflict, I support it. The atrocities carried out by Serbian nationalists must be halted. I urge all Americans to support our armed forces, especially while our troops are in harm's way."
Malcolm S. "Steve" Forbes (R):
"This (Kosovo crisis) is symptomatic of the Clinton-Gore drift on foreign policy. This crisis, this tragedy could have been prevented several years ago."
"I support the bombing. I do not support putting in ground forces. . . . Ultimately with Kosovo, we should have made clear, and must make clear to Milosevic, either there is true autonomy, withdrawal of all Serb forces from Kosovo, or there's going to be an independent Kosovo."
"We should make sure that the victims of aggression are armed sufficiently to defend themselves – it’s their lives, their homes, their communities and families and they would do it."
Vice President Gore (D): "This man, Milosevic, has started three wars already. He uses the classic totalitarian technique of holding on to power by stirring up hatred among his own people of anyone who is different, different ethnically, different religiously, and then focusing that anger into a frenzy of violence that results in the killing and abuse of all those families. The airstrikes are designed to take away, as much as possible, his ability to make war."
"We abhor the ethnic cleansing that is now occurring in Kosovo. . . . In response to these atrocities, it is vital that NATO maintain its steadiness and seriousness as it conducts its military campaign. In this regard, I am pleased that NATO has begun to use airpower to strike military forces in the field in Kosovo. We must stay the course. We must make the cost to Milosevic so great that he changes his calculations. He must see that he cannot pursue with impunity this campaign of ethnic cleansing – the likes of which he has launched in Bosnia and also before in Kosovo."
Rep. John R. Kasich (R-Ohio): "The administration to this day has never made clear, either to Congress or the American people, why U.S. intervention in this civil war is in the vital interests of the United States. Further, there is no clear definition of the scope of our mission, a timeline for our commitment of forces, nor a viable exit strategy."
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.):"We must now do whatever it takes to win. We cannot allow this Balkan thug to prevail. We must do whatever is necessary, including perhaps sending in ground troops."
"I do not call for the introduction of ground troops at this time. However, U.S. and NATO officials must not rule out any action that might be needed to secure our goals."
"We have to exercise every option. If Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is convinced ground troops are an option, it could lend impetus to convincing him that he cannot win and we will not allow him to win."
"We have to do whatever it takes. All of us would grieve at the loss of a single American. But when you go into these things the primary purpose cannot be the safety of your forces, it has to be the achievement of your strategic and tactical goals."
"We're in it and we have to win it, and we have to do whatever is necessary in order to ensure that this is not a failure. That means that we have to exercise every option. And by the way, if Mr. Milosevic was convinced that that is an option that we might exercise, I think it could lend impetus to convincing him that he cannot win. We must win this conflict with whatever it takes."
"Congress and the American people have good reason to fear that we are heading toward another permanent garrison of Americans in a Balkan country where our mission is confused and our exit strategy a complete mystery." "Our adversaries around the globe will take heart from our inability to act in concert to defend our interests and values."
Dan Quayle (R): "Every time we have had a deadline set, it has been postponed, and now Milosevic feels that he has a strong position, that he sees a weakened American president. You have an impeached American president. There is no real political objective that has been stated and he has tried to take advantage of that. And now it is going to come to military action. Obviously, we support the men and women in uniform. But it didn't have to happen this way."
"We cannot afford to have another president who needs on-the-job training in foreign policy. We've made so many mistakes over the past six years." (Lafayette Daily Advertiser, March 25) Robert C. Smith (R): "I believe it's a civil war and we have no national interests there. This is something that's not worth risking one drop of American blood for." (The Washington Post, March 27)
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company |
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