[ALBSA-Info] Rumsfeld Pays Visit to Troops in Balkans

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Rumsfeld Pays Visit to Troops in Balkans


By JAMES DAO


AMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo, June 5 — In his first foray into the Balkans, Defense 
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld heard today from American troops and commanders 
about the difficulties of stemming ethnic fighting along the Kosovo- 
Macedonia border, where some Bush administration officials want to curtail 
the United States' role.

Traveling by Blackhawk helicopter in the shadow of Kosovo's snow- capped 
peaks, Mr. Rumsfeld surveyed the intricate networks of mountain trails used 
by Albanian rebels to smuggle weapons into Macedonia from Kosovo. He also 
talked to soldiers involved in gun battles along the border and was shown 
dozens of weapons seized from smugglers in recent weeks.

Though Mr. Rumsfeld has said little about what he wants to do with the 6,000 
American troops in Kosovo, he has made clear in the past that he believes 
American forces are overextended across the globe, specifically pointing to 
Bosnia as one place where United States involvement should be wound down.

During the American presidential campaign, Condoleezza Rice, now President 
Bush's national security adviser, called for having the Europeans take up 
more peacekeeping duties in the Balkans — a position the administration has 
since backed away from. 

In brief remarks to several hundred soldiers inside a tentlike movie theater 
here, Mr. Rumsfeld did not mention the debate in Washington over peacekeeping 
missions, and instead praised the troops for having taken up a "noble cause" 
that he said has often been overlooked. 

Brig. Gen. William David, the new commander of the American contingent in 
NATO's peacekeeping force in Kosovo, told reporters that conditions seemed to 
have improved somewhat along the border in recent days. He said the recent 
decision to allow Yugoslav troops back into a buffer zone around Kosovo had 
allowed NATO troops to focus more resources on stemming rebel activity along 
the Macedonia border.

But General David said it remained difficult to stop the flow of fighters and 
weapons across the hilly and heavily wooded Kosovo-Macedonia border, where 
Albanian smugglers using mule trains and cell phones sometimes operate with 
impunity. 

Asked if he thought American troops were still needed to keep the peace, 
General David said yes. "This can be a deadly place," he said.

Camp Bondsteel is in a way emblematic of the growing entrenchment of the 
American military here. Two years ago, it was little more than an encampment 
of tents. Today, it is a sprawling, self-contained city with wooden barracks 
and command centers, a water treatment plant, makeshift helicopter hangers, a 
movie theater, gymnasiums and a hospital under construction. 

Mr. Rumsfeld and his contingent, aboard the helicopter protected by two 
Apache gunships, also dropped into a hilltop outpost just yards from the 
Macedonia border. During a brief clash in early March, an Army platoon 
captured the hilltop from Albanian rebels, who had been using a schoolhouse 
there as a base to fire mortars into Macedonia. 

As he surveyed the outpost, Mr. Rumsfeld, dressed in a dark suit and 
raincoat, looked like a politician on the stump, shaking hands, posing for 
photographs and entering a bunker to chat with the troops. "We're keeping 
track of you every day from Washington," he told them.

In Skopje, Macedonia, the secretary also inspected six unmanned aircraft 
known as Hunters that are being used for reconnaissance along the Kosovo 
border. The planes, slow- moving but hard to shoot down because of their 
small size, carry powerful cameras and infrared sensors that can transmit 
information almost anywhere in the world. The planes represent the kind of 
high- tech weaponry Mr. Rumsfeld has said should be at the heart of a new 
American military.

Mr. Rumsfeld began his day in Kiev where he met with the Ukrainian president 
and minister of defense to discuss the nation's recent political crisis, its 
efforts at military and economic reform and missile defense. Washington views 
Ukraine as an important buffer against Russia but has been alarmed by the 
recent ouster of its Western-minded prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, and 
accusations that its president, Leonid D. Kuchma, ordered the killing last 
year of a journalist, Georgy Gongadze.

Mr. Rumsfeld said in a news conference after his meetings that he had been 
"impressed with the very solid commitment" of the Kuchma government to making 
political reforms and strengthening ties to the West. But he said he also 
urged Mr. Kuchma to conduct "a thorough and transparent" investigation into 
the death of Mr. Gongadze.