BUCK STOPS IN THE BALKANS
Fifty-six years ago this month, 176,000 allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy in what was the largest invasion in history. The operation was officially known as Operation Overlord, but we all know it by one name: D-Day.
While there have been hundreds of other D-days in other historic locations such as Okinawa and Iwo Jima, when we hear the term "D-Day," we reflect on that awful and incredible day in June, 1944 with reverence for what was accomplished and for all that was lost at Normandy Beach.
More than half a century later, American military forces still serve in Europe. Today the grandchildren of some of the very soldiers who participated in D-Day are serving in Italy, Belgium and Germany. But recently we have seen a gradual shift toward less traditional U.S. missions in Europe, particularly in Bosnia and Kosovo.
When the Cold War ended, the Wall came down and the Warsaw Pact disbanded. Military strategists began to talk of the need for our European military alliance to change its mission from simple mutual defense against a common threat. They warned that unless NATO could find a new reason to exist after the end of the Cold War, there may be no reason for it to exist at all.
That new mission began to come into focus in the Balkans five years ago when the United States committed peacekeeping forces to Bosnia to enforce the provisions of the Dayton Peace Accords. What was conceived by the administration as a one-year mission to accomplish specific military objectives is now in its fifth year -- with greatly expanded civilian nation-building objectives and no end in sight to the deployment.
This month we celebrated another anniversary in the search for new NATO missions. On June 10, 1999, NATO halted the bombing in Serbia and Kosovo . We again have deployed thousands of American forces to yet another Balkan quagmire with unclear objectives. This time the ethnic groups we seek to reconcile have not tired of the killing, apparently, and it continues as our soldiers stand by helpless to deter murder.
The General Accounting Office estimates that the cost of our Balkan peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo now tops $23 billion. But there are non-monetary costs as well. Recruiting and retention problems in the U.S. military services have been exacerbated by endless peacekeeping missions. Our armed services are not up to their congressionally-mandated troop strength, and America's peacekeeping burden has resulted in two of our Army divisions reporting as unfit for combat.
As the world's only superpower, we have a responsibility to lead. America led when we first brought the parties together in Dayton. The Peace Accords stopped the fighting, and we should be respectful of that achievement. But we did not create effective economic and political structures necessary for lasting peace. As one American military peacekeeper said to me on a recent visit, "Everyone's job in Bosnia is to work on the problems we face, but no one seems to have the responsibility for actually solving those problems."
It is time to stop drifting and establish a policy to solve these problems. That is why I have introduced legislation to authorize the Balkan Stabilization conference. It would reconvene the parties to the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the Bosnia conflict, those who were involved in the peace agreement after the bombing of Kosovo, and other regional entities. We must review our progress to date and seek a long-term settlement. If we cannot do that, how can we call ourselves leaders?
The key will be a peace based on greater self-determination for the governed, which may involve tailoring current borders to fit the facts on the ground. That would create conditions of genuine stability, reconstruction and prosperity. It will allow us, in a responsible way, to set some timetables, some measurements for success, and, hopefully, to begin turning over these peacekeeping responsibilities to our European allies within a reasonable time frame.
Self-determination is critical. The current policy is based on a mirage of multi-cultural democracy in the Balkans. We are trying to create governments that ignore history. Elections have been held in which refugees were bused into disputed regions to vote for elected officials who cannot serve because they are unable to return to their prewar homes. American officers spend their days deciding which vehicles can travel down which roads, and escorting Serb families in hostile Albanian territory to the dentist and back.
This effort is diverting the United States from its global responsibilities. North Korea, mainland China and Iraq are hostile regimes with ballistic missiles that continue to pose a danger. But time and again, U.S. military resources needed to answer these direct threats to our national interest have been diverted to peacekeeping contingencies on the periphery of our security concerns.
I wrote my legislation to spur the development of long-term strategy for the Balkans. I do not know for certain what the outcome of the Balkan Stabilization Conference should be, but I do know it is our responsibility to convene one and assess where we are, look with vision to the future, and create the conditions for peace and prosperity there. Only such a plan will eventually free the United States to address its global superpower responsibilities.
June 6, 2000