THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270384
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF & WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
In a repudiation of President Clinton's policy on Bosnia, the Senate voted by a wide margin Wednesday to abandon American participation in the U.N. arms embargo against the war-ravaged nation.
The 69-29 vote came despite an intense lobbying campaign by the administration that included visits to Capitol Hill by Cabinet members and last-minute telephone calls by Clinton to wavering Democrats.
And it signaled the growing impotence and frustration felt by both Democrats and Republicans in the face of the brutal Bosnian Serb military operations against U.N.-designated ``safe areas.''
``I think the Congress wants something done,'' Clinton said Wednesday. But he added, ``I do not believe a unilateral lift of the arms embargo is the right way to go.''
In a speech before the vote, Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., the majority leader and his party's top presidential candidate, insisted his bill was not a partisan slap at the president.
``This is not about politics,'' he said. ``This is about life or death for a little country.''
But the vote seemed a political rebuke of the administration for what many senators regard as an inconsistent and failed policy rather than a practical measure that would provide weapons for the besieged Bosnian government forces anytime soon.
For the bill to become law, the House of Representatives must pass the measure - and then both the Senate and House would need to override an expected presidential veto.
The margin of passage in the Senate was barely more than the two-thirds majority it takes to override a presidential veto. Normally, when a president is that close to sustaining a veto, he can persuade enough senators to switch to his side. The moral issues raised by this bill, however, could make it harder for the president to sway votes.
If the bill becomes law, it will only end American participation in the embargo, though this could lead other nations to abandon it. The Islamic Conference, a group of Muslim nations, announced at a meeting last week in Geneva that it would no longer participate in the arms embargo.
France, Britain and some other countries with troops in the U.N. force in Bosnia have threatened to withdraw them if the United States acts on its own to lift the arms embargo.
That threat worries the Clinton administration, which has promised to use American troops to help in any evacuation of U.N. forces and would therefore prefer to keep the U.N. troops in Bosnia. However, the Dole bill paves the way for the troop withdrawal by stating that it would have to happen before the embargo is lifted.
An unusually strong emotional current ran through the debate Wednesday, as member after member rose to read news accounts of suffering by Bosnians and of squabbling between the United States and its European allies.
The debate was about ``whether some small country that's been ravaged on all sides, pillaged, women raped, children killed, has any rights in this world,'' Dole argued.
Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., urged senators to act ``not only from our hearts but our heads as well'' but acknowledged it was difficult under the circumstances. ``We all want to scream, `Enough, Enough,' '' Daschle said.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., one of the Senate's authoritative voices on military matters, switched his vote Wednesday in favor of arming the Bosnians.
Warner told the Senate that he did so because ``some political body had to speak with authority'' about what action to take.
``There remains, in most regions of Bosnia, no peace to keep,'' Warner said. ``We should at least be willing to allow the Bosnians to acquire the weapons they need to defend themselves.''
Sen. Charles S. Robb, D-Va., who also voted for lifting the arms embargo, said his support came despite the fact that he was ``deeply troubled by the invasive means by which we encroach on presidential authority. . . . Serbian atrocities beyond the pale, however, force the Senate to act today.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
HOW THEY VOTED
A ``yes'' vote is a vote to pass the bill.
John W. Warner, R-Va.Yes
Charles S. Robb, D-Va.Yes
Jesse A. Helms, R-N.C.Yes
Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C.Yes
KEYWORDS: BOSNIA by CNB