Word: kosovo
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...NATO assessment last year determined it would take up to 200,000 allied troops to invade and secure Kosovo. Both Cohen and General Henry Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were leery of any such mission, especially when its goals seemed vague. Now it is obvious that NATO could not have built up such a force before Milosevic had gobbled up Kosovo. And sending in ground forces in the face of Serb resistance would be bloody. Mountainous Balkan terrain makes for tougher fighting than Iraq's wide open deserts; Serbs would hold the high ground, including passes...
...certainly possible that air power may yet subdue Milosevic--or that he will sue for peace once he has emptied Kosovo of ethnic Albanians. By Friday the White House was cheered that NATO strikes were cutting critical fuel supplies. But perhaps it was always unlikely that one could bomb Milosevic into negotiating an acceptable political solution for Kosovo. Now it looks out of the question. The down-the-middle construct of Rambouillet that retained Serbian sovereignty over the province but gave self-rule to the ethnic Albanians for three years seems dead. No one believes the Kosovars can live with...
Washington insists it has not dropped its opposition to independence for Kosovo, but what else, if the ethnic Albanians ever return, is there? Some in Washington and at NATO talk of making Kosovo into an allied "protectorate" that would require Western troops to escort the Kosovars back and stand guard inside Kosovo's borders for years to come. Yet any new political arrangement butts up against the fact that Milosevic has captured the kingdom. "As much as we wish we could stop him in his tracks," says a senior NATO diplomat, "it's obvious there will have...
...three captive American soldiers. Against that, NATO's tally looks meager. And the geopolitical consequences of continuing to bomb are also piling up: deep strains with Russia; the possible chain reaction of instability in Macedonia and Albania; and above all the terrible tide of human misery flooding out of Kosovo. In fact, for Milosevic, the refugees have become his most potent offensive weapon, distracting NATO's leaders as they struggle to find a way to deal with hundreds of thousands of displaced persons...
...that, Bill Clinton counsels patience "if we expect to see this mission through." NATO vows that the bombing will go on, day after day, week after week, until Milosevic cries uncle. But what if, having gobbled up Kosovo, he simply stops fighting and declares victory instead? How will patience cope with that...