Yaacov, read between the line..Clinton predictably blinked...I guess I would have to spend money on you <ggg >
Clinton Says Most of the Troops and Aid for Kosovo
Will Come From Europe
By Dina Temple-Raston
Clinton Says Bulk of Kosovo Troops, Aid to Come From Europe
Arlington, Va., May 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Bill
Clinton made a case for U.S. involvement in the war against
Yugoslavia and assured Americans that once the conflict is
settled, Europe will provide the bulk of the peacekeeping troops
and aid necessary to rebuild Yugoslavia.
''When the peacekeeping force goes in there, the
overwhelming majority of troops will be European and overwhelming
majority of investment will be European,'' Clinton said in a
Memorial Day speech that followed one of the most intense days of
NATO's 69-day air war. Allied warplanes struck targets throughout
Serbia, hitting army installations, communications lines and
highway bridges.
Tomorrow, representatives from the 19 NATO allies meet to
decide the makeup of the bulked-up peacekeeping force which NATO
would station on Kosovo's border. NATO governments agreed last
week to nearly double the ground contingent in the region to
around 50,000 troops.
While Clinton spoke of the composition of peacekeeping
troops once the war is settled, he didn't mention the latest news
out of Belgrade. Yugoslavia's official Tanjug news agency said
President Slobodan Milosevic had accepted the G-8 formula for a
diplomatic solution to the war. The report didn't say how
Milosevic proposed to abide by its conditions.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Milosevic's offer
provided evidence of the air campaign's effectiveness, though he
warned promises were not enough.
Any offer from Milosevic ''has to be on the basis of NATO
objectives,'' and must ''be turned into firm, unambiguous and
verifiable commitments,'' Cook said.
Recalling Nazism
Ahead of the decision on how the NATO will comprise the
peacekeeping force, Clinton clearly has on eye on trying to
soften growing American reticence about ground troops in the
region and the role of the United States in what many see as a
European problem in Kosovo.
Clinton's job approval rating has dropped 7 points, to 53
percent, in the past two weeks as opposition to the war has
increased, according to a Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll released last
week.
NATO's operation in Yugoslavia ''will save lives in the
future and give our children better lives,'' Clinton said today,
comparing Milosevic's effort to purge ethnic Albanians from
Kosovo with Nazi Germany's ethnic cleansing efforts 50 years ago.
''In Kosovo the world has said no, not just the United
States,'' Clinton said.
Cautious Optimism
White House aides expressed ''cautious optimism'' over the
reports of diplomatic progress, though they were quick to add
that Milosevic's actions, not words, would be judged by the
United States and NATO.
European Union ministers were equally circumspect and called
on Milosevic to withdraw his troops from Kosovo.
The Group of Eight -- which includes France, Germany, the
U.K., Italy, the U.S., Canada and Japan plus Russia -- has
demanded, among other things, the removal of Serb troops from
Kosovo and insertion of an armed international force to allow
ethnic Albanians routed from their homes to return.
Clinton reiterated those goals today at Arlington Cemetery.
''Our objectives in Kosovo are clear and consistent with the
moral imperative of ending ethnic cleansing,'' he said. ''The
objectives are that the Kosovars will go home, the Serb forces
will withdraw, an international force will deploy.''
Escalated Bombing
The stepped up bombing in the 69-day air war comes as Serb
forces continue to shore up defenses and persecute the ethnic
Albanians left in Kosovo. European Union ministers called on
Yugoslavia ''to translate its reported statements into a firm,
unambiguous commitment.''
In the absence of that, NATO officials said, the bombing
campaign would continue. Yesterday, allied warplanes flew 772
missions, the second-highest total of the campaign, NATO said.
Some 415 were bombing runs or attacks on Serb air defenses, the
most in a single day since the air war started March 24.
''There is always a cost in defeating great evil, but the
cost of failure to defeat a great evil is far higher in the long
term,'' said NATO spokesman Jaime Shea in a regular briefing
today when asked about a growing number of civilian casualties in
Yugoslavia. ''We will not let up until Milosevic and his killing
forces withdraw from Kosovo . . . and the refugees are allowed to
return.''
NATO aides were unable to confirm Yugoslav claims that stray
missiles killed civilians at a Serb retirement home and on a
bridge over a river in central Serbia.
NATO said it attacked an army barracks and an ammunition
dump near Surdulica in southern Serbia and had no immediate
indications that a bomb veered from its intended target.
The raid came after NATO struck a bridge on Sunday in an
attack that Serb media said killed at least 11 civilians and
injured 40. NATO called the bridge ''a major line of
communication and a designated and legitimate target'' and
repeated its policy of not taking deliberate aim at civilian
installations.
U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, the alliance's top military
commander, said the air campaign is now in full swing. NATO is
planning up to 900 support and combat aircraft sorties a day,
attacking Serbia from all directions in increasingly good
weather.
The U.S. said it's sending 68 more planes, bringing to 769
the number of U.S. planes in the NATO force and to 1,089 the
number of planes from all nations. The U.S. reinforcements
include 12 F16C/Js, 36 F15Es, and 20 KC-135 tankers.
NATO leaders are also watching peacekeeping efforts. While
the U.K. has urged the alliance to maintain contingency plans for
a land invasion, some NATO countries are leery of talk of an
aggressive ground force in Kosovo. In fact, Germany has
threatened to block such a move.
''Ground troops -- yes -- but no combat troops without the
consensus of the international community and a Security Council
resolution,'' Michael Steiner, foreign policy adviser to the
German administration, told Der Tagesspiegel.
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