July 31, 1991 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 20911 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS THE SOLARZ VISION Pact has dissolved, the cold war has ended, cause events in faraway places required us to and we won the war in the Gulf, all on the pay an enormous price in blood and treasure. watch of this Administration, it is doubtful This is what happened as a result of a shot HON. BILL RICHARDSON the American people will conclude that in Sarajevo in 1914. OF NEW MEXICO President Bush is incompetent when it This is what happened as a result of a dis­ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES comes to the management of American for­ pute over Danzig in 1939. eign policy. This is what happened as a result of a Wednesday, July 31, 1991 Our strategic objective as a party, there­ thrust toward Pusan in 1950. Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, one of our fore, should be to neutralize ioreign policy as This is what happened as a result of an in­ Nation's premier foreign policy experts re­ a cutting edge issue, in orde!' to focus atten­ cident at Pleiku in 1965. cently addressed a gathering of Democrats in tion to our continuing domestic problems, And this is what happened as a result of where we have a significant advantage over the battle for Bubiyan in 1990. Wisconsin with his thoughts on where we are the Republicans. What these distant and obscure place today and his visions of where our party and And when it comes to his virtually non-ex­ names suggest is that events thousands of our Nation are headed in the months and istent domestic agenda, President Bush, as miles from our shores, remote from the con­ years ahead. Our colleague STEPHEN SOLARZ, Winston Churchill said of Clement Attlee, is cerns of most Americans, have a way of in­ the renowned chairman of the Subcommittee "a modest man, with much to be modest truding into American lives and even caus­ on Asian and Pacific Affairs, is a modern-day about." ing American deaths. statesman who in his speech in Milwaukee so In order to shift the focus of the national A policy of neo-isolationism, which blindly eloquently explained the challenges facing debate on to domestic issues, we will first denies this geopolitical reality, will ulti­ have to be seen by the American people as mately make it more likely that we will both Democrats and our Nation. advocating a foreign policy which is rooted once again find ourselves drawn into con­ Clearly, Mr. SOLARZ' constituents in New in reality, which resonates with our values, flicts we might otherwise have avoided. York benefit greatly by his invigorating service and which is reflective of our interests. Nor is the option of creating and maintain­ in the House. But we, too, profit from his In policy terms, we must convince the ing a Pax Americana-where we garrison House service and the wisdom he shares with American people that, even after the end of troops all over the world, ready at a mo­ all of us. the cold war, we recognize that we live in an ment's notice to rush off to singlehandedly I urge my colleagues to read his insightful unsafe and uncertain world, and that ethnic quell rebellions and contain aggression-a comments about our party and our Nation conflicts, religious rivalries, irredentist am­ real or a desirable possib111ty either. bitions, and acts of terrorism can all gen­ Notwithstanding our victory in the cold which follow: erate unexpected challenges to important war, we have neither the economic resources REMARKS BY HON. STEPHEN SOLARZ American interests. nor the political will to sustain a policy of Over the course of the last two years, we We must convince the American people we unilateralism over the long haul. have witnessed a series of events that have recognize that a strong defense is a nec­ The role of global policeman is one the literally reshaped the history of the world. essary condition for the protection of our American people do not seek and will not ac­ From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in most vital interests. cept. the Adriatic, the iron curtain has ascended Last year's budget agreement-crafted by, Yet, if being the solitary sheriff for the all across Europe. among others, your own Les Aspin-will re­ whole world is not a role the American peo­ The Warsaw Pact has collapsed. sult in a 25 percent or $130 billion reduction ple are likely to embrace with enthusiasm, Marxism-Leninism has been discredited as in previously planned defense expenditures they are perfectly prepared, as we saw in the a model for nation-building throughout the over the next five years, meaning that by Gulf, to support a policy of collective secu­ Third World. 1995, defense spending will constitute only 3.5 rity in which our country serves as the head The threat of Soviet aggression and a nu­ percent of our GNP, its lowest level in half a of an international posse attempting to clear holocaust has greatly diminished. century. bring regional bandits to justice. And we have waged and won a war in the So while we may be able to squeeze a bit Half a century ago, Franklin Roosevelt and Gulf that demonstrated the international more from the Pentagon-perhaps by further the other leaders of the wartime alliance community is prepared to act collectively to reducing the level of our troop strength in dreamed of a world in which the inter­ uphold the sanctity of existing national bor­ Europe or scaling back the Star Wars pro­ national community enforced the peace ders. gram-it would be strategically imprudent through collective action. What are the implications of these devel­ and politically unwise for us to call for addi­ Now that the cold war is over, we have the opments for both our party and our country? tional major reductions in the defense budg­ opportunity to fulfill that dream. For the party, I believe it is fair to say et. The Gulf crisis demonstrated that it is now that we are not likely to win the 1992 elec­ We must also convince the American peo­ possible to get the Soviet Union and the tion on foreign policy. ple we recognize that collective security, other members of the Security Council to But we could very easily lose the presi­ rather than a retreat into neoisolationism or work with us instead of against us. dential election on foreign policy. an attempt to enforce a Pax Americana, is The United Nations wasn't paralyzed. I do not mean to suggest that the Adminis­ the best way to preserve the peace. And the principle of collective inter­ tration is immune to criticism when it And finally, we must convince the Amer­ national action against regional aggressors comes to the management of our affairs ican people we recognize that collective se­ was dramatically strengthened. abroad. curity can work only if American leadership Throughout this process, American leader­ It can clearly be criticized for its indiffer­ makes it work. ship was absolutely essential. ent response to the butchery in Beijing. Now that the cold war is over and the So­ Had we not been willing to take the lead in It can legitimately be condemned for its viet Union no longer poses a serious threat mobilizing an international coalition against opposition to sanctions against Iraq before to our physical security, we may be tempted the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Saddam would the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. to assume that we can cease worrying about still be in possession of what he arrogantly It can fairly be faulted for its failure to fol­ getting dragged into overseas conflicts. characterized as the 19th province of Iraq. low through, after the war was over, when But it would be a serious mistake to at­ If, in the future, we simply walk away the Iraqi people, in response to our urging, tempt to avoid the messy complexities of the from our responsibilities, as we did after rose up against Saddam, and we did virtually world by trying to hide behind an illusory World War I, the very idea of collective secu­ nothing to help them against the tanks and shield of neo-isolationism. rity and international action will fall apart. helicopters of the remaining divisions in Such a policy would serve the interests of And we will pay the price. Saddam's murderous military machine. neither our party nor our country. But if we are prepared to take up the bur­ But let us be honest with ourselves. We must not forget that hundreds of thou­ den of leadership, as we did after World War In view of the fact that communism has sands of American lives were lost, and hun­ TI, it should be possible to mob111ze inter­ collapsed in Eastern Europe, the Warsaw dreds of billions of dollars were spent, be- national coalitions capable of resisting those •This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. 20912 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS July 31, 1991 who would wantonly invade their neighbors, Ten babies die in the United States for build a strong economy and a compassionate thereby determining aggression in the first every 1,000 live births, a shamefully high in­ society here at home. place. fant mortality rate that places us behind 18 It will require a President and a political There is one further message the Demo­ other countries around the world.