To take firm root, Bosnia’s fragile peace still needs the support of American and allied troops when the current NATO mission ends in June.  I think Senator Dole actually said it best.  He said:  “This is like being ahead in the fourth quarter of a football game; now is not the time to walk off the field and forfeit the victory.”

I wish all of you could have seen our troops in Tuzla.  They’re very proud of what they are doing in Bosnia, and we’re all very proud of them.  One of those—­one of those brave soldiers is sitting with the first lady tonight:  Army Sergeant Michael Tolbert.  His father was a decorated Vietnam vet.  After college in Colorado, he joined the Army.  Last year he led an infantry unit that stopped a mob of extremists from taking over a radio station that is a voice of democracy and tolerance in Bosnia.  Thank you very much, Sergeant, for what you represent.

In Bosnia and around the world, our men and women in uniform always do their mission well.  Our mission must be to keep them well-trained and ready, to improve their quality of life, and to provide the 21st century weapons they need to defeat any enemy.

I ask Congress to join me in pursuing an ambitious agenda to reduce the serious threat of weapons of mass destruction.  This year, four decades after it was first proposed by President Eisenhower, a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban is within reach.  By ending nuclear testing, we can help to prevent the development of new and more dangerous weapons, and make it more difficult for non-nuclear states to build them.

I am pleased to announce that four former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—­Generals John Shalikashvili, Colin Powell and David Jones, and Admiral William Crowe—­have endorsed this treaty, and I ask the Senate to approve it this year.

Together we must also confront the new hazards of chemical and biological weapons, and the outlaw states, terrorists and organized criminals seeking to acquire them.

Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation’s wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

The United Nations weapons inspectors have done a truly remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq’s arsenal than was destroyed during the entire gulf war.  Now, Saddam Hussein wants to stop them from completing their mission.

I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein, “You cannot defy the will of the world,” and when I say to him, “You have used weapons of mass destruction before; we are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again.”