Speech by Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), March 30, 2000

Speech by Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), March 30, 2000
(Mr. ABERCROMBIE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Chairman, I think that it is very, very important, speaking as a Member of the Committee on Armed Services who was there when this statement was made, and reflecting for a moment on very cogent remarks of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bateman), the reason that we need to pass this today is to at least set in motion the fact that we are not going to make an open-ended commitment here.

We are dealing with numbers that have been the case so far with the commitment of the United States. It is very, very important in the context of what has happened from Vietnam on that we not find ourselves stumbling into something from which we cannot come back, getting into something from which we cannot retreat if it is found to be necessary. Of course, we need to take into account exactly what should be done with respect to numbers or anything else, but failing to do this today we will find ourselves in a position where that kind of benchmark has not been established.

Mr. Chairman, I think it is very, very important for us to pass this amendment today on the basis that we do not find ourselves drifting inextricably into a situation that we cannot only control, but for the consequences of which may be something that all of us would find most grievous in terms of what the Congress of the United States did.

I recognize that we are near the end of a day in which people may be leaving; that the full attention may not be on this question right now. That is even a more important reason that we pass this amendment today.

As of March 31, 2000, this document was also available online at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r106:H30MR0-20: