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To: John F. Dowd who wrote (23106)	3/28/1999 1:07:00 AM
From: Gerald R. Lampton	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 24154

OT -- John, check out the WSJ's latest blow-by-blow account. Your post is prescient: NATO Plane Goes Down in Yugoslavia; U.S. Pilot Is Rescued as Attacks Widen interactive.wsj.com From your post: <<(and you can bet our ground forces in the future)>> From the article: But NATO spokesmen said there were no present plans to send troops into Kosovo, as called for by ethnic Albanian leaders and guerrilla fighters. Ethnic Albanian leader Hashim Thaci, who wants NATO to send in ground troops, called Saturday the "worst day since the struggle began." So, the Albanians have already asked for troops, just four days into this. The South Vietnamese at least had the decency to wait a few years. The question is, how long can Klinton withstand the pressure for mission creep? Speaking of Albanians and TV, check out the following: As the NATO bombs fell near Belgrade, two local TV stations began airing "Wag The Dog," a film about an American president who fabricates a war in Albania to distract attention from a sex scandal. The Studio B station preceded the screening with an advisory that the film "will show what American presidents are capable of doing." I thought the movie was pretty funny when I rented it after Klinton invaded Iraq to distract attention from Monika. I had no idea just how accurate a predictor of future events it would be. << If they shoot a plane down are they going to send troops in for the pilot if he gets out and makes it to the ground alive? Hopefully they will but it will take folks on the ground to do it. >> The pilot of an American F-117A stealth fighter was rescued hours after his plane went down in Yugoslavia on Saturday, the Pentagon said. The crash and dramatic rescue marked the most harrowing moment thus far of the 4-day military action against Serbian forces. "[The pilot] and the combat rescue team that picked him up are all safe," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said at a hastily called news conference. Thankfully, this pilot was rescued and is safe, but how long before we start seeing large numbers of POWs? Will Klinton send Jane Fonda to Belgrade to try to negotiate their release? <<I find myself nearly retching every time Bill C. puts on his "war" face and appears on my TV screen speaking as C in C. >> I think the turning point on this for me was when CNN had on a talking head law professor from some East Coast law school saying how they were going to try Milosevic for war crimes. Right. They're just going to serve a subpoena by dropping it out of a B 52, and he's going to show up in court. In his weekly radio broadcast to the United States, Mr. Klinton said the campaign would continue until Mr. Milosevic "accepts peace or we have seriously damaged his capacity to make war." . . . something Milosevic has already made clear as a bell he will never do. << I am not unconvinced that one of the influences propelling the Klinton Admin. to beligerence is to make them look patriotic distracting the public from the distinct lack of patriotism displayed in the now forgotten China affair. >> This may be one factor. However, I think Klinton has been planning this for some time. I suspect the bureaucrats in Washington and Brussels may see this as a way to enhance NATO's prestige and show it can work as an effective collective security strike-force in the post cold war world. Of course, the Russians' sending weapons to Milosevic was not part of the plan; I wonder if Klinton was surprised when Primakov, on his way to Washington for IMF talks, turned his plane around in mid-flight after the bombing started. There is a total disconnect between the war objectives as articulated by the European and Klinton bureaucrats directing this thing, who obviously have never fought a day in their lives, and the limited resources made available to the troops having to do the day to day dirty work, who have. For example, from this very article: President Klinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair repeated their insistence that NATO had to act to prevent Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's forces from carrying out "ethnic cleansing" in the Kosovo province. The move to Phase II of the military operations plan means allied aircraft will begin going after tanks, artillery and troops directly involved in the Yugoslav security forces' operation in Kosovo. "I have taken this decision with the support of all allied governments, which are determined to bring a halt to violence in Kosovo and prevent further humanitarian catastrophe," Mr. Solana said. In another apparent example of bureaucratic disconnect from reality: In his weekly radio broadcast to the United States, Mr. Klinton said the campaign would continue until Mr. Milosevic "accepts peace or we have seriously damaged his capacity to make war." And, now for the punch line: The secretary-general insisted once again that NATO's ultimate objective remains to contribute to the achievement of a political solution to the crisis in Kosovo. * * * Mr. Blair told Britian's Sky TV that NATO had to help the embattled ethnic Albanians. "For these poor defenseless people, we are the only chance they've got," he said. Gag!!! Don't get me wrong. I wish God Speed to our troops in the field who have to do the real work in this. I just wish the elites and bureaucrats in Washington were more prudent about using them and about not involving the United States in entangling alliances that get us into pointless, unwinnable wars that have nothing to do with genuine American strategic interests.

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (23106)	3/29/1999 9:56:00 PM
From: nommedeguerre	Respond to of 24154

John, >>The great irony of all this is that Battling Bill is sending our planes (and you can bet our ground forces in the future) into harms way I'm with you on this one; why go to Kosovo when I can get killed on our own streets. When we can solve our own problems then we can go looking elsewhere for new ones. Yugoslavia was not exactly known for its arms industry; if foreigners stopped supplying them with arms the whole thing would burn itself down to the level of acceptable domestic violence we enjoy here in the land of milk and honey. Cheers, Norm