From staff reports

Failure.

Sunday, April 4, 1999

Failure. Despite the pomp of NATO briefings – the see the empty building-see the empty building destroyed sessions – it is abundantly clear that President Clinton and NATO have failed miserably in Yugoslavia.

The bombings were aimed at easing humanitarian suffering, but have given Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic a reason to escalate ethnic cleansing to a life-and-death crisis involving a half million human beings. NATO was caught entirely off guard by the unfolding crisis, which gets worse every day.

All of this is according to Milosevic’s plan, a scheme that was both apparent and ignored at the outset of military action. Clinton and NATO believed airstrikes alone were the solution, even though they were advised otherwise.

It is an embarrassment, one with no apparent way out.

There are a few last resorts.

One is a ground war involving hundreds of thousands of American soldiers (NATO countries are unlikely to provide many troops.) We could win it, but not without a long, bloody affair that will hold no appeal among voters.

Another is to bomb, bomb, bomb Milosevic’s Yugoslavia until there is no military left, an approach that could take years and kill countless civilians.

The refugees could also be granted residency around the world, leaving Milosevic’s &uot;cleansed&uot; nation scorned among nations; this option, too, would face widespread opposition, and set dangerous precedent.

Finally, there is an option suggested by Rep. Gil Gutknecht. Partition the region to allow the Serbs their areas of historic significance, and the refugees a safe home; Gutknecht has correctly urged including Russia in such talks. There is, however, no historic precedent for success in this scenario.

The representative also notes that consideration of using ground troops cannot be ruled out.

Given the current state of things, it is questionable whether Milosevic need bother with giving the refugees anything. Now, nothing short of an imminent, massive ground attack may be likely to gain his attention.

Poor planning, inattention to history, and other errors have resulted in a situation of last resorts, with the lives of American soldiers and a half million refugees at risk.

NATO demands for a three-year interim Kosovo autonomy agreement to be policed by 28,000 NATO-led troops are laughable; NATO still apparently believes it is winning by bombing, and in a position to demand.

It is not, and a solution other than bombing is needed.