Mr. RILEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2
minutes to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. PAUL).
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
1999 Ron Paul 56:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in
opposition to this amendment. This is
a very important amendment, and
what we do on it will be with us for a
long time.
1999 Ron Paul 56:2 We are endorsing, if we vote in favor
of this amendment, a policy of occupation
of Kosovo for an endless period of
time. We have now been fighting an
undeclared war for more than 70 days.
We have endlessly bombed a country
the size of Kentucky killing many,
many civilians.
1999 Ron Paul 56:3 It is an undeclared war. It is an immoral,
illegal war. It violates the Constitution.
It violates the War Powers
resolution.
1999 Ron Paul 56:4 It is claimed now that we have had a
great victory. But what we are doing
now, after bombing a country to smithereens,
is laying plans to occupy it. We
are asking the American people to
make an endless commitment to occupying
this country.
1999 Ron Paul 56:5 A few years back, we were going to
occupy Bosnia for a short period of
time. We are still occupying Bosnia,
spending between $10 billion, $20 billion
already, depending on the estimate.
1999 Ron Paul 56:6 A few years back it was in our national
interests to be involved in the
Persian Gulf. We had to do a lot of
bombing there and a lot of fighting. We
are still bombing in the Persian Gulf. I
mean, when will it end? Where do our
borders end? What are the limits to our
sovereignty? Where is our responsibility?
It seems like it is endless anyplace,
anywhere we have to go. We are
now supporting an empire.
1999 Ron Paul 56:7 No wonder there is anti-American
hostility existing around the world, because
we believe that we can tell everybody
what to do. We can deliver an
ultimatum to them. If they do not do
exactly what we say, whether it is
under NATO or the United Nations or
by ourselves stating it, what happens,
we say, “If you do not listen to us, we
are going to bomb you.”
1999 Ron Paul 56:8 I think that policy is a bad policy. If
we vote for this amendment, we endorse
this policy, and we should not.
This is not the end of the Kosovo war;
it’s only the beginning of an endless occupation
and the possibility of hostilities
remain. The region remains destabilized
and dangerous. Only a policy
of non-intervention and neutrality can
serve the interest of the American people.
The sooner we quit accepting the
role of world policemen, the better. We
cannot afford to continue our recent
policy of intervention to satisfy the
power special interest that influences
our foreign policy.
Note:
1999 Ron Paul 56:3
It violates the War Powers resolution. probably should be capitalized:
It violates the War Powers Resolution.
