Trippi
Just checked that your "favorite" armchair general wrote today's editorial on the WSJ. He seems to reiterate his claims and contradict yours, that Nazis attacked yugo thru Hungary(I don't know who to believe at this point, but will gladly check up on any references about attack through Croatia instead of Hungary). Before you respond, I would urge you to check your sources since this general has the following credentials:
By William E. Odom, a former U.S. Army general and
director of the National Security Agency, is a senior fellow at the
Hudson Institute
A couple excerpts follow:
A ground invasion must not be limited to Kosovo. In fact, the approach
from Hungary--now a NATO ally--into the Voivodina region of Serbia and
directly to Belgrade is open country that invites a high-speed armored
ground attack. The German military swept down this corridor in World War
II, taking the whole of Yugoslavia in a couple of weeks. NATO forces
today probably have an even greater qualitative edge over the Serbs than
the Wehrmacht had then. And supplying our forces on this front should be
much easier than in Kosovo, at least at the beginning.
Some official spokesmen have estimated that 200,000 troops will be
required for an invasion; others put the figure at 30,000 to 40,000. Only
NATO planners with the latest intelligence are in a position to make sound
judgments on this issue, but after following the behavior of the Serbian
military for several years, I have become convinced that the lower figure is
much closer to what is actually needed, especially after a long bombing
campaign has degraded Serbian forces.
More than 20,000 NATO troops are already in Macedonia, poised to
make the "permissive" entry into Kosovo envisioned by the peace
agreement Mr. Milosevic rejected. They should now make a
"non-permissive" entry, supported by 24,000 U.S. troops stationed in
Germany. Facing an invasion from Macedonia and Hungary at the same
time, Mr. Milosevic will be doomed.
Unfortunately, we cannot destroy him in time to save the Kosovars from
slaughter, but we can at least ensure retribution and an end to any further
slaughter, especially in neighboring Montenegro.
American lives will inevitably be lost in such an invasion. This is a legacy
Mr. Clinton cannot escape and a price that we must now pay. If we don't,
Mr. Milosevic will survive and NATO will unravel. |
