McCain Tells NATO To
Get Tough On Serbia
12:28 a.m. Apr 24, 1999 Eastern
BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. Sen.
John McCain on Friday spoke out
against what he called the Clinton
administration's ''mystifying''
handling of the military campaign
against Serbia.
McCain, who is campaigning to
become the Republican Party's
presidential candidate cited two
''critical'' errors of the NATO
campaign: an excessively restricted
air campaign, and repeated
declarations by Clinton that NATO
would not deploy ground troops.
''These two mistakes were made
with what almost seems willful
ignorance of every lesson we
learned in Vietnam,'' said McCain,
who spent five years as a prisoner
of war in Vietnam. ''You're never
supposed to show the enemy what
you won't do to win.''
''The war against Serbia is
necessary, and winning the war
against Serbia is necessary as well,''
the Arizona Republican told
Reuters following a speech to
Massachusetts business leaders
hosted by the Boston Herald.
McCain said not taking whatever
steps are needed to win, including
deploying ground troops, erodes
U.S. credibility and endangers the
future of NATO.
The NATO alliance, McCain said,
''will not survive another decade,
much less another half century,
should we fail to impose our will on
an inferior but dangerous European
power.''
He said the U.S. Congress should
next week grant President Clinton
authority to use whatever means are
necessary to win the war in
Yugoslavia.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. |
