WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton Tuesday rejected as ''unacceptable'' Yugoslavia's proposal for ending NATO bombing raids as the Pentagon predicted an extended air campaign.
Clinton quickly dismissed an offer by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who during Belgrade talks with visiting Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov proposed withdrawing some Serb forces from Kosovo if NATO halted the bombing.
Allied air raids began a week ago trying to force Milosevic to halt a Serb offensive against ethnic Albanians rebelling against repressive Serb authority in the province of Kosovo.
After telephone consultations with German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder, Clinton issued a statement saying he and Schroeder agreed the proposal was ''unacceptable.''
''President Milosevic began this brutal campaign: It is his responsibility to bring it to an immediate end and embrace a just peace,'' Clinton said. ''There is strong consensus in NATO that we must press forward with our military action.''
At the Pentagon, officials made clear that the bombing campaign was nowhere near its objective of diminishing the Yugoslav military's ability to carry out atrocities against the Kosovo Albanians, who have been fleeing Serb forces by the tens of thousands into neighboring Albania and Macedonia.
''We knew that a knock-out punch would not come quickly,'' Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said.
''I think it will take much longer to degrade the forces as much as we think we need to do,'' he told reporters, adding: ''We're prepared to go as long as it takes.''
In an effort to lift the virtual news blackout on the U.S.-led NATO operation, the Pentagon brought out charts and maps for a bomb-damage assessment.
Rear Admiral Thomas Wilson, director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the strikes have been effective in degrading Serb air defenses but they remained a threat.
At the briefing an aerial photograph was shown providing what officials called evidence of Serb burning of a Kosovo village, including its burned-out mosque. Kosovo Albanians are nearly all Muslims.
The State Department, meanwhile, warned Yugoslavia that any attempt to overthrow Montenegro's democratically elected government would escalate the conflict with NATO.
Montenegro remains part of Yugoslavia despite disagreements with the Serbs who dominate the federation. U.S. officials are concerned Milosevic may exploit the Kosovo conflict to move on Montenegro.
''Any attempt by Belgrade to overthrow the democratically elected government in Montenegro would only fuel wider regional instability, lead to deeper isolation for the Yugoslavian authorities and escalate the conflict with NATO,'' State Department spokesman James Rubin said.
The United States had been skeptical of the Belgrade visit by Primakov, doubtful he would achieve the unmitigated end to Serb repression in Kosovo that the allies want and suspicious that Milosevic would use it as a stalling tactic.
Clinton, in remarks at the State Department, made clear the NATO allies were ''determined to stay with our policy.'' He said NATO planes were striking a broader range of targets, including Serbian forces on the ground in Kosovo.
Taking aim at Milosevic, Clinton said the Serb leader for a decade has been ''using ethnic and religious hatred as a justification for uprooting and murdering completely innocent, peaceful civilians to pave Mr. Milosevic's path to absolute power.''
He added: ''The NATO air campaign is designed to raise the price of that policy ... For a sustained period, he will see that his military will be seriously diminished, key military infrastructure destroyed, the prospect of international support for Serbia's claim to Kosovo increasingly jeopardized.
''We must remain steady and determined, with the will to see this through,'' he said.
White House officials said Clinton spoke by telephone with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema Tuesday, saying that the leaders saw ''eye to eye'' on the need for continued NATO air strikes. D'Alema last week said the air strikes should be brief.
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