One of the finest congressional speeches on Kosovo received almost no media coverage. This was probably owing to the fact that it was delivered on behalf of a lost cause -- a Senate resolution urging the president to use "all necessary force" to win the war against Slobodan Milosevic -- and because it's considered poor form to interrupt the beatification of Jesse Jackson. Here, for the record, are excerpts from John McCain's speech on the morning of May 4, shortly before the Senate deep-sixed the McCain-Biden Kosovo resolution:
"Let me identify for my colleagues the price paid by Kosovars for the president's repeated and indefensible ruling out of ground troops. Mr. Milosevic was so certain of the limit to our commitment that he felt safe enough to widely disperse his forces. . . . He has been able to displace, rape and murder more Kosovars more quickly than he could have if he feared he might face the mightiest army on earth. That is a fact of this war that is undeniable. And shame on the president for creating it.
"Now, what is left to us, as our war on the cheap fails to achieve the objectives for which we went to war? Well, bombing pauses seem to be an idea in vogue. They were popular once before, in another war, and I personally witnessed how effective they were. No, I don't have much regard for the diplomatic or military efficacy of bombing pauses. As a matter of fact, it was only when bombing pauses were finally abandoned in favor of sustained, strategic bombing that almost six hundred of my comrades and I recovered our freedom. I dare say, some of the years that we had lost were attributable to bombing pauses. I will not support a bombing pause until Milosevic surrenders, not a moment before.
"My father gave the order to send B-52s -- planes that did not have the precision-guided munitions that so impress us all today -- he gave the order to send them to bomb the city where his oldest son was held a prisoner of war. That is a pretty hard thing for a father to do, but he did it because it was his duty, and he would not shrink from it. He did it because he didn't believe America should lose a war, or settle for a draw or some lesser goal than it had sacrificed its young to achieve. He knew that leaders were expected to make hard choices in war. Would that the president had half that regard for the responsibilities of his office.
"Give peace a chance. Yes, peace is a wonderful condition. Sweeter than many here will ever fully appreciate. The Kosovars appreciate it. They are living in its absence, and it is a horrible experience. But the absence of freedom is worse, they know that too. They know it well. And if the price of peace is that we abandon them to the cruelty of their oppressors, then the price is too high. . . .
"I ask my colleagues, in this late hour, to put aside our reservations, our past animosities, and encourage, implore, cajole, beg, shame this administration into doing its duty. Shame on the president if he persists in abdicating his responsibilities. But shame on us if we let him."