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Yugoslavia Expels Foreign Reporters
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - The Serbian government today ordered the expulsion of all
foreign journalists from countries involved in the NATO airstrikes.
A statement faxed to The Associated Press said: ``Journalists of foreign public media from
the countries that took part or allowed their territories to be used in NATO aggression on
our country will be expelled.''
The expulsion order was issued ``because they, by their reporting from the territory of
the Republic of Serbia, strengthened the aggressive acts of NATO forces aimed at violent
destruction of ... the territorial integrity of Serbia and Yugoslavia,'' said the
statement.
``This order is effective immediately,'' said the statement, which accused the foreign
media of disinformation.
The order was signed by Information Minister Alexander Vucic.
In a related development today, all but one of two dozen foreign journalists detained by
police in Yugoslavia while watching NATO airstrikes were released.
The journalists were taken into custody late Wednesday and early today while watching the
attack on Yugoslav targets from the roof of a Belgrade hotel.
The Washington Post said Serb police took away the newspaper's correspondent, Peter Finn,
before dawn. Assistant managing editor Philip Bennett said plain-clothes police escorted
Finn from his hotel room early today, telling a clerk he would be expelled from
Yugoslavia.
Dimitri Messinis, a photographer for The Associated Press, said he and the others were on
the roof of the Hyatt Hotel when uniformed police detained them.
The reporters were transferred to police headquarters in downtown Belgrade, where they
were held for 31/2 hours while their passports were checked.
Belgian journalist Phillippe Deprez, who works for RTBF Radio, was still being held.
Refugees stream into Macedonia
By Kevin Cullen, Globe Staff, 03/25/99
SKOPJE, Macedonia - At a border checkpoint yesterday, Beckim Ahmeti leaned against his
white sedan, waiting for his cousin and his family, silently praying they would make it
out of Kosovo before the bombs fell.
''They are coming down from Pristina,'' he said, referring to the capital of the war-torn
Serbian province that lies to the north of here. ''They said Pristina is a ghost town.''
That is not surprising. For more than a year, as ethnic Albanian separatists fought for
independence and Yugoslav forces pummeled them and the civilians who support them, the
city of Pristina had largely avoided the conflict that raged in the countryside.
No more. Gunfire is random. Grenades are tossed into cafes and markets. Pristina is
emptying out. Many of its residents are fleeing, coming here to Macedonia.
An estimated 20,000 refugees are now in and around Skopje, the Macedonian capital. As
darkness fell last night, the solitary police officer at the checkpoint on the road that
leads out of Kosovo into Macedonia said that about 2,000 people had crossed the border
yesterday.
Those numbers could swell if the Serbian forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
respond to NATO's bombing with reprisals against ethnic Albanian civilians in Kosovo. But
with each passing day, there are fewer Albanians left behind to feel the boot of ethnic
cleansing.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that about a quarter of
Kosovo's 2 million people have been displaced, some 25,000 over last weekend, when Serb
forces began leveling villages of the ethnic Albanians who comprise 90 percent of the
population.
There are fears that Macedonia could be dragged into a wider Balkan war as a result of the
NATO attack. That would be history repeating itself. The first two Balkan wars of this
century were fought over Macedonia. Today, Macedonia - predominately Macedonian, Albanian,
and Bulgarian - has the most ethnically diverse population of any country in the former
Yugoslavia.
It also has 12,000 NATO troops dug in at the Kosovo border, which may prove an
irresistable target to angry Serb forces looking to hit back over the NATO air strikes.
Given their history, Macedonians know this could well become the second front of yet
another Balkan war. Here in the capital, lines at gas stations stretched for blocks
yesterday. The Vero supermarket downtown was crammed with shoppers stocking up on
provisions.
At the border, about 15 miles north, knots of taxi drivers stood a few hundred yards from
the checkpoint. Some had been sent by Albanian organizations with instructions to pick up
specific families. Others were hoping to find someone desperate for a ride.
One driver said he was ferrying refugees to Skopje for nothing. Asked why, he replied,
''Because they don't have money.''
A nearby police officer smirked, not believing the cabbie's generosity. The officer said
one woman had been kidnapped by a taxi earlier. Further down the road, police were
stopping taxis to make sure they had willing passengers. Many of the taxis were crammed
with bags of clothing, pillows, lamps, and anything else the refugees could carry to the
border.
As he waited for his relatives, Beckim Ahmeti said he did not know if they would make it.
They had given him vague plans for the 60-mile journey from their home. But they have no
car and the journey was hard, along a winding road that passes over a bridge and through a
tunnel which, according to US officials, the Serbs have mined in case NATO decides to send
in ground troops.
Ahmeti, 25, remembers making the same journey as a young boy, but says it was not nearly
as fraught with danger.
''My parents moved from Kosovo to Macedonia in 1979,'' he said. ''I still went back and
saw my family. But not lately. It was too dangerous.''
Ahmeti said most refugees are being put up by friends and family in Skopje.
''No one will be left outside,'' he said.
Suddenly, Ahmeti, a tall man at well over 6 feet, sprung to attention. His eyes fixed on a
group of dark figures passing through the checkpoint.
''That's them,'' he said, almost to himself.
Ahmeti walked briskly over to his cousin, hugged him, kissed his cousin's young son, then
led his cousin's wife and the sleeping baby she held to the car.
More relieved than elated, they drove off into the darkness at approximately the same time
the first cruise missiles began wending their way toward the Balkan mountains.
U.S. Vows NATO Will Bomb As Long As It Takes
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States vowed Thursday that NATO will strike Serb targets
as long as it takes to force Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic into a peace agreement
with ethnic Albanians.
As NATO prepared a second wave of bomb and missile assaults on Yugoslavia, Defense
Secretary William Cohen declared the first night of attacks a success.
``We are satisfied with the progress of the military operation,'' Cohen told Reuters
Television News. ``It's in the first phase. It will continue until such time as we are
successful in achieving our military objectives.''
Cohen told ABC's ``Good Morning America'' that the bombing campaign would continue until
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic came to the negotiating table over Kosovo.
``It will intensify. What we are trying to do is indicate to Mr. Milosevic that he has an
opportunity to pursue the path of peace at any time. This is a signal to him that we are
serious,'' said Cohen.
President Clinton said Wednesday night it was a ``moral imperative'' to stop a Serb
offensive against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The president met National Security Adviser
Sandy Berger Thursday morning and planned to meet his senior foreign policy advisers
shortly.
``They'll review the strikes from last night and the situation on the ground and talk
about the next steps,'' said National Security Council spokesman David Leavy.
They were expected to go over the target list.
The White House said diplomatic channels were open should Milosevic want to signal
interest in a Kosovo peace deal that ethnic Albanian separatists signed last week.
``There's ample diplomatic channels for President Milosevic to send the message,'' said
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart. ''He knows what he needs to do and it's now up to him
to decide.''
The Clinton administration faced continuing calls from some members of Congress to define
an exit strategy for U.S. forces, who make up the bulk of the NATO assault.
The question they posed is what happens if Milosevic refuses to return to the peace table
but instead waits out the air campaign and then continues his offensive against Kosovo
rebels. Congress is concerned that U.S. troops would be sent in.
``There's no exit strategy that's in existence,'' Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich, a
Serb-American opposed to the strikes, told CNN.
Lockhart would not go beyond Clinton's statement Wednesday night that U.S. troops would
only go into Kosovo as part of a NATO peacekeeping force.
``I do not intend to put our troops in Kosovo to fight a ground war,'' Clinton had said.
Cohen told Reuters the United States had no intention of introducing ground troops into a
military campaign, something that is strongly opposed by many in Congress.
``We have no plans to introduce our forces into a hostile environment,'' he said.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, reflected some of the concerns many
members of Congress have about the operation.
Asked if it was a good idea to attack the Serbs, he did not answer but said: ``We're going
to have to see this thing out now that we're in it.''
He said Serbs apparently had not yet used surface-to-air missiles against NATO aircraft
but expected them to do so.
``It's our job to support the troops and bring it (the mission) to fruition as soon as
possible,'' he said.
The White House acknowledged that Clinton still had some work to do to convince Americans
of the need to intervene in a civil war in a distant corner of Europe.
``I don't believe last night's address to the nation was the last thing the president
needs to say,'' Lockhart told a mass of reporters crowded into his office.
The air strikes were ordered after Milosevic refused to sign a peace deal accepted by
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who are seeking autonomy for the province. The Yugoslav leader
then massed 40,000 troops in and around Kosovo and began a bloody campaign to break the
backs of the rebels.
Clinton says the NATO strikes have three objectives: demonstrate the seriousness of NATO's
opposition to aggression and its support for peace; deter Milosevic from escalating his
attacks on civilians by imposing a price for those attacks, and if necessary, diminish
Serbia's capacity to wage war in the future.
Military confrontation along Skenderaj-Gllogoc road
Drenica, March 25 (Kosovapress) A heavy combatiment among serbian terrorist forces and
units of KLA was held along the road Skenderaj-Gllogoc, including villages of Polac,
Krushec, Morine and Poluzhe. Units of KLA have remained in their positions without any
loss, while the enemy incured gig losses in people, particularly in Krushec and in the
Istogaj ward of Pluzhina.Commando Units of KLA, known gy the people as "Black
Tigers",faced the enemy face to face in the Krushec. During this clash,many losses
have been caused to the enemy, including killed people ,one tank and many other vicles
being destroyed.While in the Istogaj ward of Polluzha,when the infantry troops have tried
to enter,unexpectedly have been attacked by KLA soldiers.More than 10 serbian soldiers are
killed during this fight,while from KLA side,there is nobody killed or being wounded.The
enemy was completly blocked.Units of KLA have been visited by Mr.Sylejman Selimi,Commander
of KLA, and he took place in the combation,itself.
Villages of Suhareka and Rahovec are under continuous
bombardments
Suhareka, March 25 (Kosovapress) Today,early in the morning about 6 o`clock, serbian
forces have undertaken an fiercely bombardment attack. Continuously under bombardment are:
Krusha e Madhe, Retia, Opterush,Samadrazha,Peçani, Doberdolani, ect. Bombardments are
taking place from the serbian military-police positions of Has, Damjan, Landovica, Samaç
and Biraç. Units of KLA are reaching to keep their positions, thanks to their high moral.
There are still bombardments today, in the villages of Llap
Podujevo, March 25 (Kosovapress) Again today, new sebian bombardments in the regions of
Llap went on,starting from early in the morning. The target of these fiercely are Albanian
villages and the positions of KLA. There are confirmations that in this region, heavy
clashes are taking place.
Houses being destroyed in Prishtina
Prishtina, March 25 (Kosovapress) Early in the morning, about 4.40 o`clock, few
projectiles have fallen in some Albanian houses inside the capital city of Prishtina. Till
now, there is a confirmation for a wounded albanian citizen. It is suspected for more big
losses.
Two freedom fighters are killed by mines
Skenderaj,March 25. (Kosovapress) Serbian military-police has put so many mines in
albanian homes.This act,caused the death of two brave soldiers, members of KLA, Musa Azemi
and Abit Veseli.Two other soldier were injured as result of this mine explosion.The
soldiers were members of the 3-rd Batallion of the 114 Brigade "Fehmi
Lladrovci".
Movements and bombardments
Llapushnik,March 25 (Kosovapress) Over than 40 tanks and other serbian military vehicles,
today from 10 to 13.30 o`clock have move through the Gryke of Llapushnik and they have
attacked the village of Negroc and in the areas around.There are no confirmations about
losses in people or in material things. After 13.30, this long convey of 40 serbian tanks,
moved in the Kijeva direction.
New Serbian Backlash Feared
By Thomas W. Lippman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 25, 1999; Page A32
For months, Clinton administration officials have said that a major goal of U.S. and NATO
policy in Kosovo was to avert a humanitarian catastrophe, but now that catastrophe could
be at hand, speeded up rather than forestalled by yesterday's commencement of allied
airstrikes against Yugoslavia.
Serbia, the dominant republic in the remnant Yugoslav federation, had even before the
attacks stepped up repression against a secessionist rebellion undertaken by guerrilla
forces from Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority. Tens of thousands of Albanian Kosovars were
driven from their homes and villages in the southern Serbian province.
With the onset of military action, humanitarian officials and representatives of volunteer
organizations expressed fear that the crackdown will intensify and perhaps result in
atrocities similar to those attributed to Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-95 war in
Bosnia.
The rebel news agency reported after the bombing started last night, for instance, that
Serb forces set fire to the town of Podujevo and that the population was surrounded and
telephone lines cut.
There was no independent confirmation of the report. Many journalists and virtually all
representatives of humanitarian organizations pulled out of Kosovo when it became apparent
that NATO military action was imminent, reducing independent reporting. International
monitors sent in by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also
pulled out Saturday.
"The humanitarian situation in Kosovo continues to deteriorate fast following the
evacuation of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission last Saturday, forcing increasing
numbers to abandon their homes and seek shelter elsewhere inside or outside the
province," the European Commission said yesterday in Brussels.
As of last Friday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimated the number of
civilians driven from their homes in a year of conflict in Kosovo but still camped in the
province at about 240,000. That includes 60,000 "driven from their homes since the
end of the first round of talks at Rambouillet [France] in late February alone."
An additional 50,000 people have been displaced since that U.N. report was issued,
according to Mark Bartolini of the International Rescue Committee, which pulled out of
Kosovo Tuesday after a local staff member was killed in a cafe bombing in Pristina, the
Kosovo capital.
Security forces dispatched to the separatist province by Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic "have intensified their attacks, burning down Kosovar Albanian villages and
murdering civilians," President Clinton said yesterday. "As I speak, more Serb
forces are moving into Kosovo, and more people are fleeing their homes."
News accounts from the region reported refugees streaming out of Kosovo, mostly into
Macedonia, which reopened the border yesterday. But according to John Fawcett, a Bosnia
monitoring veteran with the International Crisis Group who was recently in Kosovo, the
concern is that there are too few refugees, not too many.
He said Serb security forces appear to be driving Kosovar civilians out of their homes and
villages but then rounding them up in larger towns, under Serb control, rather than
letting them flee into other countries where relief agencies could care for them.
Near the town of Srbica, he said, "there is lots of anecdotal evidence of people
being rounded up, of separation of men from women," an ominous sign, if true, that
could portend Bosnia-style massacres of civilians.
The United Nations, in fact, reported "no major movements of refugees" across
international borders yesterday, although relatively small numbers did cross the reopened
border with Macedonia, where many Kosovars have relatives to shelter them.
Four human rights groups that monitor events in the Balkans issued a "disaster
alert," saying they are "alarmed by the escalation of systematic,
execution-style killings of Kosovar civilians."
They also reported "a new climate of fear in cities and towns, created by wanton
bombings, shootings, beatings, detentions and arrests; the stepped-up policy of ethnic
cleansing, manifested by the increased shelling, looting and burning of villages in
northern and central Kosovo; [and] the forced evacuation from their homes and farms of
tens of thousands more Kosovars."
Because of the departure of international monitors and aid workers, the groups said, food
distribution to encampments of displaced Kosovar civilians has halted.
NATO Forces Attack Yugoslavia
By Robert H. Reid Associated Press Writer Wednesday, March 24, 1999; 6:37 p.m. EST
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Wave after wave of NATO warplanes and missiles struck
Yugoslavia on Wednesday, pummeling army barracks, power plants and air defense batteries
in an effort to force the country's defiant leader to cease his onslaught against Kosovo
Albanians.
The NATO attack came after months of diplomacy failed to end a year of fighting between
Yugoslav forces and ethnic Albanian separatists that has killed more than 2,000 people and
left over 400,000 homeless in Kosovo, a Yugoslav province.
``Only firmness now can prevent greater catastrophe later,'' President Clinton said from
the White House shortly after the bombing began. ``Kosovo's crisis is now full-blown and
if we do not act clearly it will get even worse.''
Yugoslavia declared a state of war shortly after the first attacks, a move that would
allow them to call up more troops and seal its borders. The Yugoslav army said more than
20 targets were hit in the first hour but claimed that no air defense units were damaged
-- reportedly a major target of the NATO strikes.
Explosions resounded in Kosovo's capital of Pristina starting at 7:55 p.m. (1:55 p.m.
EST), and the city of 280,000 was plunged into darkness when the electricity failed. The
official Tanjug news agency reported four heavy blasts in the city, including three from
the area of Slatina airport.
More than a dozen explosions were heard around Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, including
some near Batajnica military airport and one near a power plant.
In neighboring Montenegro, which with Serbia forms Yugoslavia, an army military barracks
in Danilovgrad was in flames after being hit. One soldier was reported killed and three
others were wounded, officials said.
Reporters were not immediately able to get to the targets to see what effect the attacks
had. The center of Belgrade was quiet and unhit, and early Thursday, and state-media
reported that the air alert had been called off.
Targets were spread throughout the country. In Kosovo, targets appeared to be at least 15
miles from Pristina, in areas where it is dangerous to travel at night.
During the bombardment, about 25 foreign journalists who were on the roof of the Hyatt
Hotel in Belgrade were detained by police. Some were later released.
Explosions also were heard in the area of Novi Sad in northern Serbia, northwest of
Belgrade.
Scores of cruise missiles and one-ton bombs were fired at Yugoslav targets. Dozens of
warplanes were used, including six U.S. B-52 bombers and two B-2 stealth bombers,
appearing in combat for the first time.
Belgrade TV reported that one NATO plane was shot down in the Cicavica Mountains,
northwest of Kosovo's capital Pristina, according to Yugoslav military forces.
Defense Secretary William Cohen in Washington said he could not immediately confirm the
report, but added that ``our aircraft have safely returned'' after the first wave.
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least one Yugoslav MiG
fighter was shot down.
14 Houses Burned, 200 Vandalized and Looted in Barileva
Village of Prishtina
PRISHTINA, March 24 (KIC) - The Serbian forces' crackdown in the Barileva village,
municipality of Prishtina, in the past few days has resulted in 14 Albanian houses burned
and some 200 looted and vandalized, local sources told the KIC. Most of the population of
the village, excepting family heads, have fled their homes.
Serbian forces have been stationed in neighboring Lebanë village, hugely restricting the
movement of the population of the surrounding villages along the Prishtina-Podujeva area.
Serbian Forces Building up, Vushtrri Villages Shelled
PRISHTINA, March 24 (KIC) - From their positions in Mihaliq and Druar, Serbian forces
shelled last night the Drenica region's village. A number of houses in Mihaliq were set on
fire at the same time.
Huge Serbian reinforcements were sent to the Vushtrri area last night and today, local
sources said.
A Serb convoy of troops and armor headed to Pasomë village today morning.
At 7:40 CET today, Serbian forces started shelling the village of Pasomë and the Shalë e
Bajgorës region, an UÇK stronghold.
A Serbian convoy headed to Karaçë village today.
Albanian people from the villages have been streaming towards the town of Vushtrri and
relatively safer villages.
B-2 Bomber Makes Combat Debut
By John Diamond Associated Press Writer Wednesday, March 24, 1999; 6:16 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The B-2 stealth bomber made its combat debut Wednesday, dropping
2,000-pound satellite-guided bombs on targets in Yugoslavia. The missions came more than a
decade after the $2 billion bat-winged plane first rolled out into public view.
Built to unleash nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union, the B-2 instead participated as a
small part of a conventional attack on one of Moscow's longtime allies.
Flying nonstop across an ocean and two continents, a pair of B-2s each carrying 16
precision-guided weapons attacked multiple ``hardened'' targets, including command bunkers
and air-defense systems, according to a senior defense official who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
In a strike that consisted mainly of $1 million cruise missiles that could be launched
without endangering U.S. and allied pilots, the B-2s slipped inside Yugoslavia's
formidable air defense system, dropped their weapons and escaped unscathed, defense
officials said.
``The air defense system in Yugoslavia is very capable and it poses a considerable
threat,'' said Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Added
Defense Secretary William Cohen: ``The aircraft performed according to its capabilities.''
Use of the B-2 marked a culmination of sorts for a weapon system that became a lightning
rod for debate over defense spending since the Reagan presidency.
Total cost for a fleet of 21 B-2s is expected to be $44 billion. The plane is built by
Northrop Grumman Corp. near Los Angeles.
The plane first was seen by the public in November 1988 in a much-ballyhooed roll-out
ceremony. Since then, technical problems have plagued the bomber: a radar system had
difficulty distinguishing mountain ranges from clouds; radar-absorbent paint wore off too
quickly; wing skins developed holes; and ejection seats failed to work properly.
Congressional boosters of the B-2 failed repeatedly to expand the program beyond the
planned 21 aircraft.
The radar-evading planes took off in the early morning hours Wednesday from Whiteman Air
Force Base, Mo., flew 11 hours with several midair refuelings, spent several hours
loitering over and then attacking multiple targets and then flew directly back to
Whiteman.
They were still en route home Wednesday afternoon.
The senior defense official said the B-2 was selected because of its heavy payload -- by
comparison, the F-117 Stealth bomber, also used Wednesday, can carry only two bombs -- its
ability to attack multiple targets, and its ability to drop weapons precisely at night and
in all weather conditions.
The satellite-guidance system on the B-2's conventional bombs can direct the explosive to
a target without any visible contact or laser-designator.
With only a pilot and co-pilot aboard, the B-2 also puts fewer crewmen at risk than the
B-52, which unleashed cruise missiles from launch points outside Yugoslavia.
B-2s can be shot down -- if they are seen by enemy ground crews or fighter aircraft. Such
a development would be seen as a full-blown calamity for the military: the pair of B-2
bombers used Wednesday cost almost as much as a Navy aircraft carrier.
The Air Force has been anxious to prove the weapon's worth but leery of the consequences
of a loss.
In 1996, explaining how the B-2 would be used in conventional combat, the then-Air Force
chief praised the plane's ability to attack multiple targets.
``Instead of talking about how many sorties are required to bring down a given target set,
we look at how many target sets can you engage with one sortie,'' Gen. Ronald Fogleman
said.
But the use of the B-2 Wednesday as only a small part of a strike that involved scores of
expensive cruise missiles undercut an argument made by B-2 proponents that its $15,000
bombs would represent a low-cost substitute for cruise missiles.
Conceived in the 1970s, the B-2 only became operational in 1997 after the Air Force and
Northrop dealt with spiraling budgets and emerging technical problems. The conversion of
the plane from a nuclear bomb-dropper to one with conventional capability further delayed
the program.
Kosovapress
Appeal to stop the
humanitarian catastrophe in the region of Drenica
Drenica,March 23 (Kosovapress) The human tragedy that the world is
calling 'humanitarian crisis' in these moments has reached its most dramatic moment in the
village of Qirez. The population of dozens of villages from the four municipalities of
Skenderaj (Srbica), Gllogoc (Gllovovac), Mitrovice (Kosovska Mitrovica) and Vushtrri
(Vucitern), are gathered in the village Qirez. During the last few days, about twenty
thousand women,children, elder people and the sick are living in extreme conditions
without any food, shelter or the minimal living conditions. until this very moment, not a
single humanitarian NGO has come to their rescue. There has been no food or clothes sent
there. Qirez is surrounded from all sides by the Serb forces. The tragedy that is
happening there before the eyes of the world is caused by the same people that perpetrated
the war crimes and the genocide in Croatia and Bosnia.
The world must act to help the civil population now, because tomorrow is going to be too
late. What is happening now in Kosova, is not just a second Bosnia; it is its replay in a
much larger scale.
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U.S. Senate Supports NATO Air Strikes In
Kosovo (Reuters)
By John Whitesides
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With the United States poised to take part in
military action in Kosovo, a deeply divided Senate Tuesday backed President Clinton and
supported impending NATO air strikes on Serb targets.
The Senate authorized U.S. participation in the strikes aimed at
forcing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to halt an offensive against ethnic
Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo and sign a peace deal.
After two days of sometimes heated debate in which lawmakers
expressed grave concern about the NATO action, senators voted 58-41 in favor of a
resolution authorizing the United States to conduct ``military air operations and missile
strikes'' in cooperation with NATO.
``History will judge us harshly if we do not take action to stop
this rolling genocide,'' said Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, one of 14 Republicans to
support the resolution.
The vote followed a morning meeting at the White House in which
Clinton pushed about 40 lawmakers for support from Congress before U.S. pilots were sent
into harm's way. He later sent congressional leaders a letter seeking backing.
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana directed NATO Tuesday night to
begin air operations against military targets in Yugoslavia, but did not give a time for
the attacks.
The move followed U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke's failed last-ditch
bid to persuade Milosevic to call off his army and accept a peace plan for Kosovo that
would include a 28,000-strong NATO peacekeeping force.
``We're coming close to starting World War III,'' Alaska Sen. Ted
Stevens, a Republican, said shortly before the Senate vote.
Several Republicans took to the Senate floor during the day to
support the strikes, arguing a failure to act in Kosovo would result in further genocide,
the spread of unrest into neighboring countries and the splintering of NATO.
``America's and NATO's credibility are on the line here,'' Hagel
said. ``If we are the only NATO member not to be part of this effort, it surely will be
the beginning of the unraveling of NATO.''
But Republican opponents said it was foolish to think NATO could
bomb the Serbs into accepting the peace agreement, or force them to end centuries of
ethnic strife.
``I think we're making a mistake,'' said Sen. Don Nickles, an
Oklahoma Republican and outspoken critic of the Kosovo operation. ``Instead of bringing
about civility, it may be that Serbian forces will move more aggressively.''
Even some senators who supported the air strikes criticized
Clinton's Kosovo policies and questioned whether pressing national interests were at stake
in another country's civil war.
``Typically, the administration has not convincingly explained to us
or to the public what is at stake in Kosovo; what we intend to do about it; and what we
will do if the level of force anticipated fails to persuade the Serbs,'' noted Sen. John
McCain, an Arizona Republican.
``Congress and the American people have good reason to fear that we
are heading toward another permanent garrison of Americans in a Balkan country where our
mission is confused and our exit strategy a complete mystery,'' McCain said.
Senators complained that Clinton had failed to consult Congress as
he prepared to join forces with NATO in the Kosovo operation.
``I say shame on the president,'' Sen. Pete Domenici, a New Mexico
Republican, said. ``If this is such an important matter, why couldn't he trust the United
States Senate and United States House and ask us whether we concur?''
Senators said the resolution did not authorize the future use of
ground troops in Kosovo, and called on Clinton to consult Congress fully before making any
decision on troop deployments.
Lawmakers made clear that the strikes against the heavily fortified
air defenses of the Serbs were likely to result in U.S. casualties.
``This act will result in the deaths of American servicemen,''
Republican Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire said of the bombing plans. ``This is a
certainty.''
The House of Representatives earlier this month narrowly supported
the use of U.S. ground forces in a NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, but that was
before the collapse of the pending peace agreement and plans for the air strikes.
House Republican Leader Dick Armey of Texas told reporters he didn't
anticipate any more House floor action on Kosovo.
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