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MAY
13, 1999 5:00 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Senator
Paul Wellstone
Jim Farrell or Andrew McDonald 202/224-8440
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| Wellstone
Renews Call For Bombing Pause |
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WASHINGTON
- May 13 - Senator Paul Wellstone renewed his call today
for a brief, conditional pause in NATO airstrikes, and urged President Clinton
and NATO to make greater diplomatic exertions to resolve the Kosovo crisis. In
a speech delivered on the Senate floor, Wellstone urged the Administration to
seize the opportunity created by last week's G-8 agreement on Kosovo, and to press
forward with energy towards a UN Security Council resolution to implement it.
Wellstone repeated his call from ten days ago for the White House and NATO to
consider a temporary halt of 48 hours or so to the air campaign against Yugoslavia
in order to improve the environment for diplomatic discussions. He expressed regret
today that such a pause in the airstrikes had not been attempted. Wellstone stressed
that any plan for a bombing halt would have to be linked to the assured safety
of NATO troops and to immediate, positive reciprocal action by Serbian forces,
including stopping their attacks on Kosovar civilians and beginning their withdrawal
from Kosovo. Such a pause must be worked out in a way which would protect NATO
troops, and would not risk Serb resupply of their war machine.
"The horrible tragedy of the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy over the
weekend, and the political and diplomatic fallout it has caused prompt me to pose
a series of questions about our policy there. I think that given the delicate
discussions now underway involving NATO, the UN Secretary General, Russia, China,
and other key players, it is time to reconsider a proposal I have made before--a
brief, conditional pause in the airstrikes campaign to allow for a de-escalation
of the military conflict in the region," Wellstone said.
"Contrary to some published reports of US and NATO public statements, which suggest
that we intend to continue the airstrikes even against Serb forces who may be
actually beginning to withdraw, I believe the U.S. and NATO should reiterate what
we had been saying earlier--that NATO will not strike at Serbian troops who are
actively pulling out of Kosovo. How can we expect the Serbs to withdraw their
troops if we have made clear that we will bomb them on the way out unless they
have agreed to a full withdrawal, and outlined a timetable for it? Is this seeming
new emphasis on continuing the airstrikes even if the troops are withdrawing a
change in emphasis, or tone, or is it a substantive change?" Wellstone asked.
"We also ought reconsider whether the moral authority we risk in hitting civilian
targets, even by accident, is worth it. Even though I understand the rationale
for hitting many of the military or dual use targets in and around Belgrade, I
am not persuaded that it is worth the risk. The embassy incident is only the latest
in a series of errors which have caused civilian casualties--we have seen errant
strikes on a refugee convoy, a civilian train, a bus, and other incidents. While
I understand clearly the difference between the brutal, deliberate, systematic
attacks of Serb forces -- which has resulted in the deaths of thousands, and the
displacement of over a million more -- and the accidental deaths of civilians
caused by our wayward missiles, any serious moral reflection requires us to consider
the impact of our actions on innocent civilians," Wellstone said.
During his remarks, Wellstone strongly condemned the atrocities and ethnic cleansing
committed against innocent Kosovars by the Milosevic regime. He praised the "heroic
efforts" by non-governmental organizations to bring humanitarian aid to refugees.
Wellstone said a bombing pause might also enable aid organizations to reach the
hundreds of thousands of homeless and starving refugees wandering the mountains
of Kosovo.
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