Mr. President, I have just learned from press accounts that our government has announced its intention to accept upwards of 20.000 Kosovar Albanian Refugees and that other members of the NATO alliance will accept 100.000 more. Even though the mass extermination and expulsion of the Albanians of Kosova is, by all accounts, the worst crime against humanity in the heart of Europe since the Nazi era, The Albanian American Civic League believes that any attempt to remove the Albanians from their ancestral homelands - where they have lived since the Illyrian times - will be another crime against humanity. Moreover, we believe that such attempt would prevent the resolution of the Balkan conflict for years to come.

A much more just, sensible, and economic alternative would be to build large refugee villages in northern Albania and perhaps in other neighboring areas so that the refugees can be repatriated as quickly as possible. The homes and other facilities constructed could later be used by host countries, especially Albania, which is the poorest nation in Europe.

On Friday, April 2, Vice President Al Gore stated on "Larry King Live" that "we understand the history" in the region, and that is why we will accept only Autonomy under Serbia, and not Independence, for Kosova. The reality is that Al Gore does not understand the History of the Balkans. Or perhaps, instead, his words confirm a rumored, unholy collusion by Holbrooke and other U.S. officials with Slobodan Milosevic in the effort to expel enough Albanians from Kosova to help Serbia redraw the borders of Kosova. We have seen Milosevic do this in 1990s in Bosnia, and we have seen the Serbs do this to Albanians for the past one hundred years.

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