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Pastimes : Kosovo
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To: capitalistbeatnik who wrote (801)3/31/1999 12:07:00 AM
From: Maarten Z  Read Replies (3) of 17770
 
What a military fiasco!

Are the lessons of history never learned.
I am not even going to get into whether or not the US and NATO should
be involved in this "humanitarian mission" in Kosovo.
(why not Rhwanda or Tibet or countless others)

But since the decision was made to use force in this situation -
why cann't they do it right for a change?!!

Clinton et al must have assumed that Milosevic would just come
cowering back to the negotiating with his tail between his legs
after the first day of airstrikes.
Suprise, suprise.
Now the serbs are expelling the albanians even faster than ever.
Obviously counting on lasting out an aircampaign while they present
NATO with a fait accompli of an empty Kosovo.

If these idiots are going to make the extremely serious step of
going to war over Kosovo, they had better been prepared to
go all the way.

If your are going to threaten Milosevic with violence then it
would have been better to mass ground troops on the Yugoslav border
so that he knows you are serious. And if you do that - you must
be resolved to use them.

The stated goal was to stop "ethnic cleansing" of Kosovo albanians
by the serbs. How on earth is bombing munitions dumps going to stop
that? As long as there are bands of serb soldiers loose in Kosovo this will continue. Therefore the ONLY way to stop it is to
go in with ground troops and force them out.

Surely NATO and US military planners recognized this fact. 40,000
serbian troops were massed several weeks ago before entering Kosovo.
They couldnt have thought they would knock them all off with
cruise missiles!

I understand that the public would get upset if US ground troops were sent in but how can you pursue this kind of foreign policy if you are not willing to use the means necessary for it's success?

Clinton is again running the show based on opinion polls. The irony
is that while he listens to the ones that say there is no support for ground troops - where was the support for US involvement in Kosovo
to begin with?

Now what happens - continue with airstrikes and hope there is
a single albanian left in Kosovo by the end of it all? And then
form a UN/NATO protectorate around him/her?

I don't condone the use of force but if it is deemed necessary then
it must be swift and devastating. You cannot worry incessantly about collateral damage. You must crush Milosevics will
to resist. Constant ariel bombardment followed immediately by
overwhelming ground attack to push the serbs out of Kosovo.

I hear people say this could be another Vietnam. I believe the
lesson of Vietnam was - no half measures. Either stay out comletely or throw everything you have into it. That means bombing
Hanoi from the beginning.


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