The Peace Powers Act
BARNES, FRED
The Peace Powers Act by Fred Barnes President Clinton ought to be deliriously happy about the Republican response to his plan for deploying as many as 25,000 soldiers in Bosnia as...
...Dole also told Clinton that if he lifted the arms embargo, "you wouldn't have to send any American troops...
...Dole was especially irritated to see Democratic Sen...
...Fear of taking responsibility has always been a very big factor around here," McCain says...
...Gore was one of 10 Democratic senators to back Bush...
...George Stephanopoulos, the president's aide, immediately leaked Gingrich's accolade to the Washington Post...
...Republicans won't want to risk being blamed for causing the peace accord in Bosnia to crumble in the absence of American troops...
...He's opposed to partitioning Bosnia into Muslim, Serb and Croat sections, which the American-negotiated peace plan would, in effect, do...
...He noted waspishly that while Clinton wants bipartisan support now, Democratic leaders had refused to give that to President Bush in 1991 when he sought congressional approval for Desert Storm against Iraq...
...How many...
...This is the first time we'd been consulted in a real way," Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said later...
...And how much is it going to cost...
...Bosnia becomes Lebanon writ large," a Helms aide said...
...True, three (Steve Forbes, Bob Dornan, Morry Taylor) of the 10 GOP presidential candidates declared their opposition on the WMUR-TV debate in New Hampshire on October 11...
...The Senate hearings may not be friendly...
...I don't want to be like the Democratic leaders in the Gulf crisis," Dole told Clinton...
...But he held off until after House hearings...
...I hope [Republican Governor] Bill Weld runs" against Kerry for the Senate next year, Dole commented later...
...The Peace Powers Act by Fred Barnes President Clinton ought to be deliriously happy about the Republican response to his plan for deploying as many as 25,000 soldiers in Bosnia as peacekeepers...
...John Shalikashvili, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, they'll be confronted by a committed, vociferous opponent of dispatching American forces to Bosnia, Chairman Jesse Helms of North Carolina...
...Again, Clinton was silent...
...It's not because they have bought the current White House line, vigorously pitched to the media, that the president has matured into a deft foreign policy leader...
...Both Dole and Gingrich are inclined to back the president, though they're not on board yet...
...Dole gave Clinton a harder time at the meeting...
...How much...
...Tony Blankley, Gingrich's press secretary, said they will be "friendly hearings...
...How many troops are you going to send...
...Next spring, he said, American troops may be "caught in a crossfire...
...John Kerry of Massachusetts jump on Clinton's bandwagon, since Kerry had rarely backed George Bush or Ronald Reagan...
...McCain is dubious whether the Serbs, Bosnians, and Croats are truly set on peace or whether they're just taking a break for the winter...
...Even Bob Dole isn't immune...
...How long...
...Dole expressed concern when administration officials described American soldiers as "peace enforcers" instead of "peacekeepers...
...That's a ratchet up...
...There are three basic questions we have to answer...
...When Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Defense Secretary William Perry, and Gen...
...But I don't think you've made your case to the American people...
...Clinton didn't offer answers at the meeting...
...House Speaker Newt Gingrich said at the end of the two-hour session across the street from the White House that it was the best meeting he'd ever had with Clinton...
...So when Clinton argued at the September meeting that he has the right to deploy troops without seeking congressional approval, neither Dole nor Gingrich (or anyone else) challenged him...
...And when they appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee, they'll face another, John McCain of Arizona, a strong voice in Republican policymaking on foreign affairs.Helms's problem is with the peace settlement itself...
...But the president's first meeting with Republican congressional leaders-Democratic leaders were there, too-on September 26 went swimmingly...
...The Bosnians could defend themselves...
...Of the two, Gingrich will be the easier for Clinton to enlist...
...That means you're going over there knowing you're probably going to do something that endangers somebody's life," he said afterwards...
...Rather, they are internationalists who have often endorsed the president's prerogatives in foreign affairs...
...The senator is also skeptical of the Clinton plan to bring Russian troops into the NATO force that polices the peace agreement...
...And at least two more (Phil Gramm, Pat Buchanan) are sure to be opposed...
...Many Democrats voted for it," interjected Vice President Al Gore...
...Newt's inclination was to commit on the spot," a GOP colleague said...
...Unless the administration embarrasses itself at congressional hearings in mid-October, it's not likely enough Republican opposition will develop to block the deployment...
...How long are they going to be there...
...Should the administration make its case effectively at the hearings, McCain insists, opponents of the troop deployment will be thwarted...
Vol. 1 • October 1995 • No. 6
