The New York Times 4/8/99 Edmund L. Andrews Freeper Cicero "…By dropping bridges into the Danube, NATO has managed to cut one of Europe's main arteries of trade, effecting Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Kind of like dropping a bridge into the Mississippi around St. Louis…."

Associated Press 4/9/99 Barry Renfrew Freeper Brian Mosely "...MOSCOW (AP) - Almost a decade after the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia is resounding with Cold War rhetoric and gestures as politicians, officials and journalists denounce NATO attacks on Yugoslavia as an imperialist plot...."

Business Week 4/19/99 Patricia Kranz Freeper Stand Watch Listen "....EXCERPTS "Indeed, the crisis is dividing the U.S. and Russia like no other issue since the height of the cold war. And how the Kosovo war is resolved could have a huge impact both on domestic Russian politics and on the tenor of U.S.-Russian relations for years to come. The NATO strikes are fanning anti-American sentiment in Russia, giving a boost to President Boris N. Yeltsin's hard-line opponents, and undermining support for arms control. That's why, as a friend of Serbia, Primakov is scrambling to act as mediator in the conflict. If he can negotiate a cease-fire, he could be acclaimed for bringing peace and restoring Russia's prestige on the international stage. And he would become the leading contender to succeed Yeltsin as President in elections set for June 2000. "..."

Reuters 4/9/99 "...Russia locked horns with the West over Kosovo Friday, reportedly ordering its strategic missiles to be aimed at countries bombing Yugoslavia and warning that it would not allow NATO to launch a ground war. Parliamentary speaker Gennady Seleznyov also declared in Moscow that Russian troops would be stationed in Yugoslavia if a political union between Belgrade, Belarus and Russia went ahead and that ``our navy would be in the appropriate seas.'' Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said later he was not aware of any presidential order to target nuclear missiles on NATO countries involved in bombing Yugoslavia....``As far as the Foreign Ministry is aware, no orders regarding missiles have been issued,'' he told a news conference. ``Russia will stand by all international commitments, including those regarding arms.'' ..."

The Times of India 4/10/99 Agencies "...NATO jets unleashed wide-ranging attacks against Yugoslavia on Orthodox Good Friday, hitting an oil depot and a weapons complex containing the country's only auto plant, despite a Yugoslav declaration that the 14-month crackdown in Kosovo is over. The airstrikes came as a former Cyprus President began what he called a ``humanitarian mission'' to secure the release of three American soldiers held by Yugoslavia. In Moscow, Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov said on Friday NATO could be using a new type of weapon in its attacks against Yugoslavia. ``In several regions of Kosovo, experts noted a high level of radiation in the air and the soil,'' Ivanov was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS. ``This gives us basis to believe that NATO may be using a new type of weapon in Yugoslavia -- with radioactive components,'' Ivanov said...."

New York Times 4/9/99 Seth Mydans "...EXCERPTS "Vietnam has been free for 4,000 years," he said. "Whoever has come to fight us -- China, France, America -- they're all gone." News in Vietnam is carefully controlled and the opinions of people like Tuan are shaped by television news programs that emphasize bombing rather than Serbian persecution of Kosovar Albanians, and by newspaper commentaries that play up the surface parallels with their own experience. "The NATO air strikes have again divided the United States, which now faces the possibility of repeating the mistakes it made in its war against Vietnam," said the army newspaper, Quan Doi Nhan Dan...."

Boston Globe 4/8/99 Jeff Jacoby Freeper Stand Watch Listen "...EXCERPTS "The score after 15 days: The number of Albanians ethnically ''cleansed'' out of Kosovo is now above 400,000; the total for the past year is approaching 1 million. Macedonia and Albania, shaky to begin with, have been unhinged by the flood of refugees that poured across their borders. The war has convulsed Montenegro, Serbia's tiny sister republic; its government sympathizes with the West, but many Montenegrins are rallying to support Slobodan Milosevic. In Serbia itself, Milosevic is stronger than ever; his domestic opposition - organized and vocal just months ago - was the first casualty of the NATO attack. Europe, facing its worst refugee crisis since World War II, is stunned; tens of refugees are dying daily; the amounts of manpower and equipment needed to aid them are far greater than anything NATO anticipated. Three US servicemen are prisoners of war. "..."

STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update 4/9/99 Freeper Brian Mosely "...Economics and the control of natural resources figure into any conflict to a certain extent. The situation in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) has been no different. NATO has certainly been targeting the Serb energy infrastructure, hoping to cripple the military and reduce the will of the people to fight. In terms of natural resources, Serbia imports the majority of its crude oil and natural gas. The two Serb refineries are located at Novi Sad and Pancevo. Crude oil imports were coming primarily through the Adria pipeline, which runs through Omisalj, Croatia west to Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia, and then east to Novi Sad, Pancevo and Kukinda. At the start of the NATO air campaign, Croatia halted shipments via the Adria pipeline. Russian natural gas is imported through the Bratsvo pipeline, which runs through the Ukraine and Hungary. However, the main source of power for Yugoslavia is coal-generated electricity. ..."

FBI Awareness of National Security Issues and Response (ANSIR) 4/7/99 "...Threat to Kill American Military Personnel in the United States The following information was prepared by FBI SA Stephen Kosky on Wednesday, April 07, 1999, and is forwarded for information only: "On 3/20/99, three Serbian orthodox churches and one Serbian-American social club received the same one-page faxed threat message. This faxed message exhorts Serb nationalists in the United States to kill U.S. military personnel within the United States "on streets, in parks, in shopping malls, in movie theaters, in their homes, wherever they may be," with no specific targeting advice. The fax urges that these murders should be committed as soon as NATO bombing begins in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in order to sway U.S. opinion against military action in the FRY. The known recipients of this fax are located in the Midwestern and Western United States. The FBI requests that all Service members remain alert for persons acting on behalf of Serbia in response to this message. If Service members receive, or hear of, similar information, they should contact their local FBI office. To date, the FBI possesses no information indicating that any individuals have committed or are planning acts of violence in response to the ongoing NATO strikes. FBI investigation into the origin of this threat is continuing...."

AP 4/9/99 Freeper haffast "...The U.S. Army has begun deploying equipment to support the use of Apache helicopters in NATO airstrikes on Yugoslav forces in Kosovo, U.S. Army European headquarters said Friday...."

THE REAGAN INFORMATION INTERCHANGE 4/9/99 Mark Stokrp Freeper prometheus "...Kosovo is an integral part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As mandated by the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and more recently by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1199, to which both the U.S. and Yugoslavia are bound, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia must be respected. As a sovereign nation, Yugoslavia has every right to respond to neutralize an armed insurrection by the Kosovo Liberation Army to wrest control of Kosovo...."

STRATFOR 4/10/99 "...0109 GMT, 990410 - Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon was scolded in Washington on Friday by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for his warning that an independent Kosovo would be a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalist militancy in the heart of Europe and his thinly veiled opposition to NATO air strikes. That done, Sharon briefed Albright on his contacts with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov regarding the Kosovo crisis. Sharon said he had urged Ivanov to work for the release of three U.S. servicemen held by Belgrade, and received Ivanov's promise to do so. Sharon is traveling to Moscow on Saturday to meet with Ivanov...."

STRATFOR 4/10/99 "...0200 GMT, 990410 - Five explosions were reported in Belgrade shortly before midnight local time on April 9, 1999. Aircraft were heard overhead at 2125 GMT. Tanjug news agency reported that the official Serb RTS television transmitter near Pristina was hit by NATO bombs. An Agence France Presse reporter said there were two explosions in Pristina around 2210 GMT. In related matters, thousands of civilians reportedly gathered on bridges in Yugoslavia to act as human shields in protest of NATO bombings.

STRATFOR 4/10/99 "...0225 GMT, 990410 - NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark told reporters on April 9, 1999 that the air campaign over Yugoslavia had succeeded. At the same time, Clark has called for dozens more aircraft, among them F-16CJ's and EA-6B Prowlers, to be deployed to the region in support of the air campaign. In related matters, NATO officials said that 200 sorties have been flown by allied aircraft in the past 24 hours and have attacked five different target areas...."

STRATFOR 4/10/99 "...0210 GMT, 990410 - Pentagon officials continued to accuse Serbia of atrocities on April 9, 1999. "We're getting some very disturbing reports out of Kosovo recently that young Kosovar women are being herded into a Serb army training camp near the town of Dakovica ... where they are being raped by troops and ... that as many as 20 may have been killed in the course of this," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. Additionally, US ambassador at large for war crimes issues, David Scheffer displayed photographs of six of the nine Serb Army officers accused of war crimes...."

Washington Post 4/9/99 Mary Jordan "...North Korean officials are rejoicing in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia because they believe it distracts Washington from focusing on their repressive regime and illustrates the pitfalls awaiting any potential U.S. military action against Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is suspected of pursuing expensive nuclear weapons and missile-development programs while millions of his people are suffering from hunger.... Russian analysts who interviewed North Korean officials for a just-released report from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif., said the NATO bombing has had a major impact on the North Korean government, and might lead it to further upgrade its missile and military capability. "The bombing has 'completely and irreversibly' convinced Pyongyang that it is dealing with a 'new Hitler' who is determined to conquer the entire world through intimidation, pressure and aggression," the report said, referring to President Clinton. The Russian analysts also said North Koreans view the bombing in Yugoslavia as "broadening opportunities" for North Korea. While it is preoccupied in Europe, the United States, in the North Koreans' view, will be more "flexible in other parts of the world, including Korea," the report concluded....Pyon noted that when a top North Korean official, Hwang Jang Yop, defected two years ago, he said that North Korea would take military action when the Americans became "occupied with another international conflict." "That makes me nervous," Pyon said...."

4/10/99 Voice of Russia Freeper Thanatos "…We are addressing the servicemen by the NATO policy-makers to action against Yugoslavia/ It is a shame that you’ve been ordered to continue bombing Yugoslavia on Easter. You are committing a serious sin. Your bombs and missiles are killing people just as they are getting ready to celebrate Easter either this week or in a week. Why should this be? Just because NATO leaders and US President Clinton have refused to meet calls by Pope John Paul II and Russian Patriarch Alexiy for suspension of attacks during Easter. Neither the NATO leaders nor President Clinton are likely to be worried if this Easter happens to be the last in your lives. They don’t care if your missiles and bombs turn Easter into a nightmare and spell death for men, women and children of Yugoslavia. Use your brains…"

NewsMax.com (Inside Cover) 4/10/99 "…Ten days ago, after Staff Sgts. Andrew Ramirez, Christopher Stone and Spec. Steven Gonzales became the first P.O.W.'s of Bill Clinton's Balkan adventure, the President warned: Slobodan Milosevic should make no mistake -- the United States takes care of its own." But just days later Clinton's committment to winning the soldiers' freedom seemed to have cooled somewhat. Responding to reporters who asked whether our hostages would be let go soon, the President offered a tepid, "I hope so"…. While the Cypriot Prime Minister cooled his heels on NATO's orders, the Clinton administration seemed to take advantage of the delay to do everything in its power to discourage the hostage release. Here's how CBS radio covered Thursday's developments: "Even if Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic makes good on a promise to release three captured U.S. soldiers, he won't be off the hook. Speaking to American troops at the air base in Aviano, Italy, Defense Secretary William Cohen said Milosevic doesn't deserve a break." (Cohen soundbite): "He and his hooded thugs are going through and destroying the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people...." …Since Wednesday, when Milosevic unilaterally declared an Easter cease fire and began to dangle the hostages' freedom, NATO has conducted its most aggressive and destructive bombing campaign of the two week old war. On Thursday the Serb president ordered his army to stand down in Kosovo, an announcement which NATO dismissed as a propaganda ploy. That night's bombing was more furious than the last. On Friday Cypriot sources blamed the NATO air raids for the collapse of negotiations on the release of our G.I. hostages. Excuse us for asking -- But does Bill Clinton NOT want Milosevic to free our three P.O.W.'s? He certainly seems to be doing everything he can to undermine that prospect. For instance, how does bombing the daylights out of their captors the moment Serbia offers to discuss a release jibe with Clinton's pledge: "We take care of our own"? After all, can't we just as easily bomb Serbia back to the stone age after Ramirez, Gonzalez and Stone are set free? Thursday's New York Times reported that Mr. Clinton has adjusted to the life and death conseqences of his role as Commander-in-Chief, an adjustment which -- "allows him to turn off his concern not only for the lives of civilians but for American troops as well." …"

National Post 4/10/99 David Frum "… When a Serbian army detachment captured three American soldiers, President Clinton angrily complained that Serbia had no right to do that. Let me see if I have this straight: We're allowed to bomb the Serbian capital city, but the Serbs aren't allowed to shoot back. There remains a persistent air of unreality about NATO's Yugoslav war. We are supposedly bombing Belgrade into submission. And yet, when Serbs open the taps in their kitchens, the water still flows. When they flip on the lights, the electricity still runs. This is not a bombing campaign. It's the world's first attempt at bombing therapy: We are bombing the Serbs to help them to deal more constructively with their anger, and to find non-violent ways of expressing their feelings about their Kosovar neighbours….. Those who talk of "sending in ground troops" seem bitten by what wits in Washington are calling "the Yugoslav syllogism" -- "something must be done. This is something. Let's do it." They have no war plans, no definition of victory, no plausible operational plan that does not end with a permanent NATO occupation of Kosovo and an open-ended security guarantee to Albania….It is folly to start a war when you have no clear idea of what you are trying to accomplish, no realistic plan for victory, and no willingness to pay victory's cost. It was folly to start bombing, and having started it would be worse folly to continue. This week may be the last clear chance to call this war off. Once NATO troops land on the ground, the opportunity for saving face through elegant diplomatic formulas will have passed for good, and the West will be pledged to tramp its way through to true victory or unspinnable defeat…."

Boston Herald 4/10/99 Andrew Miga "…Chilling reports of the systematic rape of ethnic Albanian women at a Serb army base and the murder of perhaps 20 of them surfaced yesterday as NATO braced for a new peace plan from Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. Serb forces are brutalizing young women after separating them from their families and "herding" them to an army training camp near the southwest Kosovo town of Dakovica, the Pentagon charged. "We're getting some very disturbing reports out of Kosovo recently of young Kosovo women who are being herded into a Serb army training camp . . . where they are being raped by troops," said Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon. The charges come on the heels of a report from a Boston-based human rights group that there is evidence that Serb soldiers herded 21 young Albanian men into a pit and then blew them up with explosives. And that report was preceded by a BBC video that showed scores of Kosovar men found dead from bullets to the head…."

BBC 4/10/99 Freeper starlu "…The expulsion of refugees from Kosovo has restarted, prompting fears of a new wave of ethnic cleansing....BBC Correspondent Duncan Kennedy in Kukes said it is not clear whether the new expulsions mean the Serbs intend to start a new wave of ethnic cleansing or whether it was a one-off show of force against an isolated community…."

The Washington Post 4/10/99 Colbert King "…Secretary of State Madeleine Albright dropped by the Brookings Institution the other day to tell a gathering of scholars, excellencies of the diplomatic corps and distinguished Brookings officials how the war with Yugoslavia was going…... If the call comes, it won't be foreign policy wonks doing the fighting and dying in the mountains and valleys of the Balkans. That piece of nasty business will likely fall to men and women hailing from the other end of the economic and social spectrum. They'll be youth drawn from rural Appalachia and Midwestern working-class communities. They'll come from barrios and from the ranks of the disadvantaged in Anacostia, West Baltimore, East Los Angeles and Southside Chicago. Sparkling exchanges about post-Cold War missions in the Balkans are in short supply in those communities. Most know little about that southeast corner of Europe or the ethnic hatreds in that part of the globe. But American communities beyond Washington's think tanks are where the manpower to prosecute a ground war will be found. And those American troops deployed in the field won't look a thing like the Brookings audience Albright addressed on Tuesday. "When talk turns from airstrikes to a ground war, the dangers shift to us," a black congressional aide told me this week. That's borne out by the numbers. The combat arms -- the infantry, artillery and armor that fight land wars -- are where the Army's highest percentages of African Americans are found. Nearly 30 percent of the Army's enlisted personnel are African Americans -- vs. a 13 percent black U.S. population. Hispanics in the Army represent about 8 percent. The percentages of racial minorities may run even higher in some paratrooper, Ranger and Special Forces units. As happened in Vietnam, when casualties start mounting and body bags get shipped back to the United States, they aren't likely to end up in houses of worship in Chevy Chase, well-off suburbs or chapels on ivy-covered college campuses. A disproportionate number of the wounded and dead coming home from a ground war will be headed for neighborhoods rarely if ever ventured into by America's foreign policy elite.,,,,:

Capitol Hill Blue 4/9/99 "…A bipartisan group of congressmen who attended NATO briefings on the Yugoslavia conflict Friday urged the White House to prepare the nation for months of U.S. military action and for casualties. Nine of the 12 congressmen who accompanied Defense Secretary William Cohen to Brussels also said Clinton should push NATO to plan for use of ground forces if air strikes fail to reverse Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's effort to drive ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo…..The lawmakers said they were ``generally encouraged'' by the commitment NATO allies have toward the effort. ut they said they doubted air strikes alone would work to achieve NATO's broad objective of removing Milosevic's troops from Kosovo and returning the refugees to the province under international protection…."

AP 4/10/99 Freeper thewildthing "…the Pentagon announced Saturday that 82 U.S. planes would join airstrikes over Yugoslavia in a move to intensify the battle against Serb forces. Allies were expected to add dozens more aircraft within days. "The addition of these aircraft will allow us to ... expand the number of strikes over any 24-hour-day period," Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. The new U.S. aircraft include 24 F-16CJ fighters, four A-10 "tank killer'' aircraft, six EA-6B Prowlers that have radar-jamming abilities, 39 KC-135 refueling tankers, two DC-10 tankers and seven C-130 cargo planes. The deployment will bring the U.S. aircraft contribution to about 480 warplanes out of a total NATO force of nearly 700, according to Bacon. …"

stratfor.com 4/10/99 "…1810 GMT 990410 - On April 12, 1999 Yugoslav and Serbian parliaments will discuss joining a political alliance with Russia and Belarus Yugoslav according to the Tanjug news agency. "A meeting of both parliaments has been called for Monday," Tanjug said. "The main reason for calling the meeting is the decision to join a Union with Russia and Belarus." On April 9 Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic requested to join an existing alliance between Russia and Belarus. After consultations between the Russian and Belarusian presidents, the two countries approved the request…."

Sttratfor website 4/10/99 "…0136 GMT, 990410 Diplomatic efforts have kicked into high gear in the aftermath of Wednesdays Contact Group showdown. That deadlocked confrontation between Russia and the U.S. apparently sent other players, not eager to get caught in a renewed clash between the two, scurrying for a way out. Italy hinted it was not happy with the continued bombing campaign, while France on Thursday dispatched a senior envoy to Moscow. Israeli Foreign Minister Sharon has apparently played an intermediary role between Ivanov and Albright as well. The results began to emerge at Friday’s G-8 meeting, when the group began hammering out the details of an international, rather than NATO, peacekeeping force for Kosovo. Calls from France, the OIC, and others for a UN role in resolving the crisis appeared to be coming to fruition, judging from comments made by Kofi Annan and the UNHCR. What appears to be shaping up is a settlement involving a Yugoslav cease fire and withdrawal from at least part of Kosovo, the return of Kosovar refugees, and an interim government of a Kosovo autonomous region within Yugoslavia led by Ibrahim Rugova ; all guaranteed by a UN-mandated international peacekeeping force, modeled after or expanded from SFOR. The handoff from NATO to the UN allows all parties – NATO, Belgrade, Washington, and Moscow – to save face, and avoids both a bloody ground war and a renewed Cold to Warm War between Russia and NATO…."

Stratfor.com 4/10/99 "…2315 GMT, 990410 – According to Serbian sources, Yugoslav television in Kraljevo reported a strong blast from the village of Samaile, 10 km from Kraljevo in the direction of Cacak, at about 2300 local time…."

4/10/99 Freeper DonMorgan smh.com.au Martin Walker "…Europe and the United States are considering offering Yugoslavia and all other Balkan countries membership of NATO and the European Union as the incentives of a post-war stability pact for the region which seeks "to anchor them firmly in the Euro-Atlantic structures". The highly ambitious plan for using the Kosovo war as an opportunity for the long-term stabilisation of the Balkan countries, which would include debt relief, was presented on Thursday by the EU's German presidency. "The prospect of EU membership is a key incentive to reform," the stability plan says. "Alongside accession to the EU, the prospect of NATO membership is one of the most important incentives for reform for the countries of south-eastern Europe. "Therefore, it is particularly important that NATO continues its course and keeps the door open to new members in the long term." The broad outlines of the plan were floated earlier this week with the US and major European powers…."

Fox News 4/11/99 Barry Schweid "...Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Sunday the number of Serb troops permitted to remain in Kosovo would have to be reduced in light of the onslaught against ethnic Albanians in the province. In another potential policy shift bound to anger Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Albright did not rule out partitioning Kosovo as part of a settlement, provided there are ways to protect Orthodox holy sites..... But earlier Sunday, John Podesta, the White House chief of staff, said in Washington on NBC's "Meet The Press'' that "the partition of Kosovo is not on the table.'' And Defense Secretary William Cohen, on ABC's "This Week,'' said: "Partition is out the question. Partition would simply be a reward to Milosevic and what he has set out to do...."

Baltimore Sun 4/10/99 Kathy Lally "...In a solemn ceremony that bore the air of a religious crusade,Russia sent off its first shipment of humanitarian aid to Yugoslavia this week, with officials preaching that even a poverty-stricken, aid-receiving nation could give unto others. "Isn't there some discrepancy here?" a Russian reporter asked Sergei K. Shoigu, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. "We were receiving aid, and now we are rendering aid ourselves." ..."

Reuters 4/11/99 "...Kosovo refugees are throwing away U.S.-donated humanitarian rations by the thousands and have even burned some to keep warm, complaining that the food is inedible and has made people sick. Piles of unopened packages -- each labeled ``A Food Gift from the People of the United States of America'' -- litter the grounds of makeshift camps housing many of the 150,000 ethnic Albanians who have poured across the border in recent weeks..... A Defense Department spokesman had trumpeted the meatless, 2,200-calorie meals as enough to feed one refugee for a full day and ``suitable for all faiths.'' Desperate refugees fought each other for the packages, officially known as Humanitarian Daily Rations, when they were first distributed off the backs of trucks several days ago. But some later said the meals -- which include items such as three-bean casserole, legume stew and vegetarian goulash which are foreign to their normal diet -- made their children vomit...."

AP 4/11/99 "...President Clinton on Sunday sent greetings to Orthodox Christians around the world on occasion of the Orthodox Easter.... We hope and pray for the restoration of peace and a resolution based on democracy and tolerance. "On this holiest of days, when Orthodox Christians celebrate the triumph of life over death, of hope over despair, let us recommit to seeking peace, human rights and an end to suffering for people around the world."...

Washington Post 3/30/99 Ronald Linden "... In the Rambouillet framework, Slobodan Milosevic agreed to all aspects of the agreement except the NATO peacekeeping force. In part this was based on protection of Serbian sovereignty, but in large part it was based on hostility to NATO and suspicion of Western aims. It is possible, however,that the key aims of the Rambouillet agreement could be carried out by a force, in Kosovo, made up primarily of Russian peacekeepers, or a mixed force from Russia and other countries...."

UPI Spotlight 4/11/99 Freeper kattracks "...Defense Secretary William Cohen says (Sunday) he may have to seek President Clinton's approval for a call-up of reservists to buttress the U.S. forces taking part in NATO's bombing campaign in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. With 82 more planes authorized to head to the conflict, Cohen said: "It's not in the offing just right now. But it could happen....To the extent that we need a call-up of reserves, that's certainly something that we would recommend to the president."..."

The Wanderer 4/8/99 Farley Clinton "...The Pope's advisers are studying the possibility of his making a journey to Serbia, perhaps on May 9th, the Sunday following his May 2nd beatification of the Venerable(Padre)Pio of Pietrelcina. The Pope is most concerned that neither Serbia nor Orthodoxy in the East should think he identifies himself in any way with the bombing of Serbian cities and civilians. It would seem to ruin or at least compromise one chief object that he has aimed atthroughout his pontificate if the Catholic-Orthodox rapport should end in smoke because of an irresponsible action by a man who will only continue to be President of the United States for another year and half. There is also the urgent problem of the moral licitness of bombardments from the air on civilian populations, condemned in principle by Catholic moral theologians during and since World War 11....."

USA Today and Australia Broadcasting Corporation 4/11/99 "....The United States has images satellite showing the existence of mass graves in Kosovo, close to the town of Orahovac in south-west, according to the chain of American television ABC, quoting military sources. These tombs, with the number of a hundred, were dug there is little. They are laid out in two rectilinear lines and are similar to the mass graves found after the war in Bosnia-Herzégovine, affirms ABC, which however did not show the images in question. They corroborate testimonys of refugees making state of executions of mass in this area, continues the chain...."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 4/11/99 Richard Foster Freeper starlu "....Over the last three weeks, as the war in Kosovo has worsened, Congress indulged itself in a spring recess, abdicating its responsibility. Congress has supinely surrendered its authority in the awesome decisions of war and peace to a president who, only a few weeks earlier, it had threatened to remove from office...."

New York Times 4/11/99 "...The interior of Kosovo Province is a wasteland of burned villages and wandering farm animals, empty of ethnic Albanians but swarming with Serbian forces, refugees allowed to cross into Albania said Saturday. They said that the Serbian forces included tank columns moving in all directions and that troops were taking up quarters in the ravaged houses. It's a desert, what we have seen," said Jakup Slamaku, 41, one of about 1,500 refugees who made a circuitous 12-hour journey though central Kosovo from their village of Vragolija, just south of Pristina. It was not clear why these villagers were moved out and allowed to go to Albania overnight Friday, three days after the forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic closed the border and drove an estimated 80,000 refugees waiting to cross into Albania back into Kosovo. Their fate remains unknown. ....The accounts suggested that, despite NATO airstrikes, the Serbs are still able to move and mass troops on the ground and appear to be digging in against any possible ground attack. The accounts also suggested that the Serbs have created such widespread destruction that it will be difficult for the refugees to rebuild their lives there...."

The Washington Post 4/11/99 Jeffrey Smith William Drozdiak "...After lingering beneath a Rembrandt painting in the Belgrade presidential palace, Yugoslav Gen. Momcilo Perisic quietly pulled aside NATO's two top generals, Wesley K. Clark of the United States and Klaus Naumann of Germany. Ducking into an office, he dismissed his security detail and turned up the volume on a television set to drown out any eavesdropping devices. He had something urgent to say. It was Oct. 25 of last year at the end of a long, strained day. Clark and Naumann had come to Belgrade to negotiate the terms of Yugoslav troop deployments in Kosovo. But the NATO generals had found President Slobodan Milosevic and his military high command - led by Perisic - brusque and almost carefree in their defiance of the West. Now Perisic sounded grave, worried: "He said the army was the last democratic institution in the country, and that it would be a disaster if his forces were ever destroyed in a conflict with NATO," Naumann recalled. "He gave the impression that for purely patriotic reasons, he wanted to save the army at all costs. But just weeks later, Perisic was gone - fired by Milosevic in a purge of independent-minded officers. And soon after, Milosevic's new military leaders and his security police would jointly begin laying the groundwork for a secret plan - "Operation Horseshoe" - designed to eradicate a rebel threat in Kosovo and, as it would turn out, radically change the ethnic landscape of the province, even at the cost of certain war with NATO. In retrospect, many Western analysts see Perisic's firing 41/2 months ago as a key turning point on the road to war - and an early, missed clue to Milosevic's intentions. Naumann believes that Perisic was trying to send a signal about the planned Yugoslav operation in Kosovo on that night in October. If so, it would not have been the last such signal - nor the last that NATO failed to interpret accurately..... "

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 4/11/99 Freeper RR "...Yugoslavia's armed forces are showing signs of cracking up under the pressure of NATO airstrikes, alliance officials said on Sunday. Chief spokesman Jamie Shea said the allies believed that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic could be in conflict with some of senior members of his military forces. "We have some indications that the purge of the upper echelons of the Yugoslav armed forces may not have ended with the replacement of eight generals in Montenegro last week," Shea said...."

AP 4/11/99 George Jahn "...Saying it showed restraint in deference to the Orthodox Easter holiday, NATO nonetheless hammered Serb targets in Kosovo on Sunday. Western officials, meanwhile, expressed growing alarm over reports of atrocities in the province and said a possible mass grave site had been spotted. In Belgium, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea showed aerial photographs of the site in Pusto Selo, southwest of the Kosovo capital, Pristina. He said from the air it appeared the ground had been freshly turned over, and that the site looked ``somewhat similar'' to aerial shots of mass graves seen during the war in Bosnia. ``I suspect ... that we are going to find more and more evidence of mass graves, mass executions, some pretty horrific stories,'' Defense Secretary William Cohen said on ABC's ``This Week.'' Underscoring concerns about conditions inside Kosovo, Western officials say hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians are believed to have fled or been driven from their homes but unable to make their way out of Kosovo....."

Fox News 4/12/99 Calvin Woodward, Associated Press "... More than two weeks after a stealth fighter-bomber crashed in Yugoslavia, U.S. and NATO officials have not acknowledged for the record that it was shot down. The success rate of the attacks is a mystery. Even President Clinton's role in approving targets is an off-limits "operational detail.'' ....But they have yet to disclose numbers of hits and misses or discuss likely percentages of success, and for reasons that go beyond the conflict at hand. Controls on war information are being tightened in response to a perception that military secrecy generally has gone lax since the Cold War..... "

New York Daily News 4/11/99 Mike Barnicle Freeper starlu "...I've been thinking about the "permissive environment" Bill Clinton is looking for in Yugoslavia so that he can finally throw some American troopers at the pathetic bullies masquerading as Milosevic's m ilitia. In an administration where language and definitions are contorted on a nearly daily basis, this new phrase sure seems perfect for a guy who pretty much told us he figures oral sex encompasses the same degree of commitment as shaking hands with a s tranger....He wants this war to be like his infidelities: quick, cheap, conducted with little long-term conviction and surrounded by plausible denial...."

LA Times 4/11/99 Doyle McManus "...The Clinton administration's top negotiator on Kosovo warned 13 months ago that airstrikes might be necessary to stop Serbian forces from continuing to massacre ethnic Albanians in the region. The White House rejected the idea as too extreme--and, within three months, the killing resumed at full force. ix months ago, the United States actually did threaten airstrikes. But the White House turned down proposals to enforce a truce with armed peacekeeping troops--and, within three months, the war was back on at full force. nd just two months ago, NATO belatedly brandished both airstrikes and peacekeepers. But it declared that it would never send ground troops into combat--and the Serbs ratcheted up the violence once more. In a recurring cycle of escalation, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic repeatedly tested NATO's resolve to stop him from using force to control Kosovo, a province of Serbia, Yugoslavia's dominant republic. Each time, NATO sent back a muddy signal: It was ready to use force, but only the minimum amount necessary...."

AP 4/12/99 George Jahn "...A new wave of NATO attacks Monday targeted fuel depots and heavy industry, and an allied hit turned a Yugoslav passenger train into a heap of burning wreckage, killing at least nine people and injuring 16. NATO said the bridge the train was crossing was the intended target. Even as the alliance expressed regret over loss of civilian life, NATO foreign ministers -- meeting for the first time since the nearly three-week-long air campaign began -- vowed to press ahead, saying the Kosovo crisis ``represents a fundamental challenge to the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.'' Yugoslavia's parliament, meanwhile, voted to join an alliance with Russia and Belarus -- an apparent move to try to draw Russia into the conflict, although Russia has said it will not get militarily involved. Russia favors the idea of incorporating Yugoslavia into the alliance that already includes it and Belarus, but said membership wouldn't be instantaneous..."

AP 4/12/99 Freeper Venezelos "...Saying hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians are faced with starvation, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and NATO allies today considered establishing a protectorate to shield Kosovo from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's forces. Such a protectorate would allow the ethnic Albanians ``to live with a high degree of self-government without the threats and terror that they have been living under,'' Albright said. About 1 million terrorized ethnic Albanian civilians have been forced from or have fled Kosovo...."

Salon magazine 4/10/99 David Horowitz "....LIKE MOST CONSERVATIVES, even those hawkish on the current NATO military action, I look at the war unfolding in Kosovo with grim foreboding. Our commander-in-chief is a liar and a cheat and it shows; and it will have consequences. Already Clinton has had to avoid speaking of Serbian rapes in his official statements because of the charges that have been leveled against him personally. More seriously, for nearly seven years Clinton has systematically gutted our military establishment and drawn down its forces. At the same time, he has surrendered decisions about the deployment of those forces to multilateral agencies like the UN and NATO. This has pushed us into conflicts whose relevance to America's national interests has not always been clear, and to military objectives that are often not matched with the political will to carry them out. This, in turn, has resulted in the spectacle of American forces lobbing bombs at hostile targets like Serbia and Iraq, inflicting just enough damage to entrench their aggressive leaders further into power, while blackening our national image in the eyes of ever-larger populations across the globe. Time and again, Clinton has attempted to assert military superiority on the political cheap, with the result that he has squandered our stockpiles and taunted our adversaries, without significantly affecting reality on the ground. After a series of mock wars against Saddam Hussein, Clinton has left the Iraqi dictator more firmly in power in his own country, still able to get on with his nuclear and chemical weapons program, but now without the annoying distraction of UN inspectors to hamper his progress. Saddam has even begun to advise Slobodan Milosevic in his spare time. The NATO air strikes in Kosovo have had a similar self-defeating impact on Milosevic and his agenda, causing the Serb nation to rally around his leadership and accelerating the expulsion of ethnic Albanians. At the same time, the flood of refugees has already begun destabilizing the next Balkan dominoes in his path. The bungling of the assault on Milosevic is not merely a case of political incompetence, but political malfeasance. Much as Clinton launched missiles into the Sudan without consulting his Joint Chiefs of Staff, so he authorized an air war in Kosovo that his military and intelligence advisers warned him could not accomplish the objectives he used to justify them. Now it is clear to everyone that only the introduction of ground troops can accomplish these objectives, but at much greater human cost than had they been introduced at the outset...."

frontpagemag.com / Boston Globe Columnist 4/9/99Jeff Jacoby Freeper sunshine "....This, after all, is the president who had Monica Lewinsky service him sexually while, on the phone to a member of Congress, he discussed sending US servicemen to Bos nia. Not even Balkan slaughter and the prospect of putting American troops in harm's way could hold his undivided attention. In retrospect, it was naive to imagine that Clinton could ever have mustered the seriousness or thoughtfulness required to be an e ffective commander-in-chief...."

New York Times 4/12/99 Caspar Weinberger "...This is not to say that we should eagerly intervene in the world's conflicts. On the contrary, American forces should be used only after other means have failed. That is clearly the case in the Balkans. We negotiated too willingly with Milosevic and for too long. We should have intervened two or three years ago, when Milosevic began his reign of terror. But we should not commit our troops unless we intend to win unconditionally. Sadly, the Clinton Administration is now taking us into a war without any apparent intention to win. In fact, we have neither defined victory nor established any real goals. Some in the Administration have said winning means getting Milosevic back to the negotiating table. In my view, that would be a useless exercise. Within 24 hours, he'll violate whatever agreement is reached and break any promise he makes...... But the United States is no longer as strong militarily as it should be. In 1997, the Clinton Administration said the country could fight a war on two major fronts simultaneously -- our stated strategy for many years. We are discovering this is not the case. The Balkan conflict has drained our resources in other key areas. The European Command has had to move jet fighters and other aircraft from an air base in Turkey to bases in Italy. This means that air patrols over northern Iraq have been weakened. Our ability to defend South Korea has been put in question by transferring naval strength first off Iraq, where it was not used, and now to the Balkans....."

NYT 4/10/99 Antony Lewis "...NATO now has three irreducible war aims: the removal of all Serbian military, paramilitary and police forces from Kosovo; the return of all the ethnic Albanian refugees, and their care and protection by an international force. In Britain, as in the United States, Serbian atrocities have brought public opinion solidly behind those objectives. But the leaders of NATO are not so clear in stating them. President Clinton and NATO spokesmen, for example, keep saying that Slobodan Milosevic must accept the plan he rejected at Rambouillet, France. But that proposal called for him to keep 5,000 Serbian troops in Kosovo and control its borders -- an unthinkable outcome after the Serbian terror campaign. Could ethnic Albanian families be expected to live in confidence if at the end of the block there was a Serbian unit that had killed their husbands and fathers? Even less clear is whether we are committed to the means necessary to achieve those objectives. That is the crucial question. And a painful one, given the shameful miscalculation by the Clinton Administration when it gave the go-ahead for the air campaign against Mr. Milosevic. ..."

Reuters 4/12/99 Randall Mikkelsen "...U.S. officials Sunday met mounting congressional and public concern over NATO's strategy of using just air strikes against Yugoslavia with assurances that standby plans existed to use ground troops. Officials blanketed the U.S. television talk shows to discuss the standby plans as President Clinton prepared to defend his Kosovo policy this week against growing assertions that ground troops may be needed to drive out Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic's forces. But the officials, backed by NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark, said that Clinton had no intention of introducing ground troops and that ``for the time being'' an intensified NATO air war against Yugoslavia would be enough to prevail...."

The Washington Times 4/12/99 Freeper Gritty "...President Clinton seems to have lost his natural eloquence when it comes to explaining the U.S. intervention in Kosovo, Andrew Ferguson writes in the Weekly Standard. In fact, Mr. Clinton has offered a number of explanations of "what this is about." But his "most remarkable statement to date" came at an event last week boosting "hate crime" legislation, Mr. Ferguson said. "For he found a commonality between ethnic cleansing abroad and anti-gay and anti-black violence here at home. 'To see what is going on in the Balkans,' the president said, 'and to see these terrible examples of violence here in our own country -- it's very humbling.' "And so it is -- but not so humbling that the president hasn't been able to tease from these seemingly unrelated acts a unified field theory of human acrimony. The IRA = the PLO = the Hutus = Slobo = the crackers who did in Matthew Shepard."..."

NY Post 4/12/99 Vincent Morris "...As bombs fell across Yugoslavia yesterday, a top aide to President Slobodan Milosevic said Serbs are ready for a "political accord" as part of a peace deal. Deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic said the Serbs are looking for a "political accord" for Kosovo and may agree to a "foreign presence" - presumably NATO or the United Nations - in order to make the deal work. "We want to conclude without delay a political accord on Kosovo," Draskovic told a French newspaper yesterday. "As soon as we get a political agreement ... we will accept a foreign presence which would guarantee implementation of this agreement," added Draskovic, whose statement marks the first time since NATO bombing began March 24 that a Serb leader has talked of allowing foreign troops into the country. NATO had no immediate reaction to the remarks. Western leaders also seemed ready to start deal making; French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said NATO is weighing several options for a political settlement to Kosovo, while NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana predicted "positive" diplomatic movement in coming days...."

http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpin17.htm 4/12/99 AP Freeper Thanatos "...Hungary and Russia struck a deal today allowing a convoy of Russian trucks to proceed to Yugoslavia, Hungary's prime minister told Parliament. Hungary stopped the convoy of 73 trucks at its border with Ukraine on Saturday, denying entry because five of the vehicles were armor-plated. The vehicles violated the 1998 U.N. arms embargo on Yugoslavia, Hungarian officials said. The Russians said the convoy was carrying humanitarian aid for embattled Yugoslavia and that the armored vehicles were deployed ``to protect personnel providing humanitarian aid.'' Moscow threatened dire consequences if the matter wasn't resolved quickly...."

Associated Press 4/12/99 Veselin Toshkov "...The smell of burned flesh lingered Monday as rescue workers used fire hoses and axes to pull charred bodies from the crumpled skeleton of an incinerated train, the aftermath of what Yugoslav authorities said was a NATO airstike. Serb officials said at least nine people aboard the passenger train were killed and 16 injured when a NATO warplane bombed it. The private news agency Beta said a 10th body was found later and that officials feared the toll would rise even higher. The allies said the train was not deliberately targeted, but acknowledged it may have been accidentally hit during an airstrike on a railway bridge...."

National Post 4/12/99 Freeper gaijin David Frum "...Kosovo is a liberal's war because it: 1.)Rejects the doctrine of national interest 2.)Is motivated by sentiment, rather than calculation 3.)Is fought by harming material rather than living people 4.)Purportedly strives to eradicate racism. Author points out that should NATO emerge successful, liberals will claim all credit. Should it fail, conservatives will be blamed with great relish...."

Letter from Tom Campbell to Dennis Hastert 4/2/99 "…I respectfully, and urgently, request that you allow to be brought to the floor of the House a resolution authorizing the House to bring a legal challenge to the President's use of force in Kosovo. The President has not abided by the conditions set forth in th March 11, 1999 concurrent resolution of Mr. Gilman (H.Con.Res. 42 as amended. The President does not have the authority to conduct military operations in this context without the prior approval of Congress. It is war, and only Congress can declare war. The federal courts, however, have refused to entertain lawsuits brought by individual Members of Congress to stop Presidentia actions in violation of the war declaration clause of the Constitution (Article I, Sec. 8) unless the Congress has adopted a resolution in favor of such legal action. Short of such a resolution, the courts have considered such lawsuits not to be "ripe" for adjudication. Sixty days from the start of the present insertion of US troops into hostilities in Kosovo, any Member of Congress is empowered by the 1973 War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. Sections 1541-1548) to bring a resolution of disapproval to be brought to the House floor at once. I respectfully urge you to do so, as the passage of sixty days may entail a great deal of irretrievable harm. I respectfully urge you to call the House back into session for this purpose…."

Reuters 4/12/99 "...NATO aims to play a "core" role in an international peace force in Kosovo but is ready to share the mission with the United Nations or the OSCE, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Monday. She said "some kind of international protective status" for the ethnic Albanian majority in the Serbian province was among ideas being discussed by the NATO allies. The change of emphasis in Albright's remarks, at a news conference following a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, signaled that the alliance was adapting its policy following the failure of the Rambouillet peace talks. NATO previously insisted that a Kosovo peace implementation mission be led by alliance commanders, although it welcomed participation by Russia and other non-NATO states. But President Slobodan Milosevic has said he will not permit a NATO-led force on Yugoslav territory, and some NATO allies have suggested compromising on a U.N. flag. Albright declined to say that the allies planned to create a Kosovo protectorate, removing the province from the control of Milosevic's federal government in a move that the Rambouillet accord prohibited...... "

Stratfor 0140 GMT, 990413 "...Madeleine Albright met Monday evening in Brussels with Jakup Krasnicki, a representative of the Kosovo Liberation Army. According to information provided by Albright to reporters on a background basis, Krasnicki demanded that the U.S. either deploy ground forces into Kosovo or arm the KLA. Albright claimed to have rejected both demands promising only to deliver humanitarian aid as best as possible...."

Stratfor 4/12/99 "... Hungarian radio, on April 11, reported that ethnic Hungarians living in the Vojvodina autonomous province of Serbia are becoming increasingly wary of an influx of armed Serbian refugees fleeing NATO attacks in Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia. The radio report went on to say that these refugees were organizing themselves in some villages, stepping up their verbal attacks toward ethnic Hungarians, and allegedly seizing and then dividing up the Hungarian houses among themselves. Jozsef Kasza, chairman of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM), expressed his concern over these developments, though he attempted to downplay the situation, saying, "This danger is not so explicit at the moment as to allow an atmosphere of panic to prevail in Vojvodina." Still, reports of ethnic Hungarians being drafted into the Serbian army have further increased tension in the province, and Budapest has begun to express its concern about the plight of Yugoslavia's ethnic Hungarians...."

CNS 4/12/99 Lawrence Morahan "...More people have been killed in the southern region of Sudan by the scorched-earth, forced-starvation tactics of their Muslim government than all the victims of Kosovo, Bosnia and Rwanda combined, one of the world's leading authorities on religious persecution told the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom and an award-winning author of studies of religious persecution, is urging the U.N. Human Rights Commission to summon the Khartoum regime before the U.N. Security Council to answer charges of gross civil rights abuses and possible genocide. "Sudan has demonstrated it is probably the worst human rights violator in the world," Kristina Robb of the Washington-based Freedom House, an organization that tracks religious abuses around the world, told CNS. "The Khartoum government practices the most blatant form of what we believe is religious genocide by a radical regime. It uses Islam very cynically to justify its policy of genocide against its own population in southern Sudan, which is mainly Christian and animist," Robb said. "Many people in the [Clinton] administration use the term genocide, or its definition of ethnic cleansing or systematic attempt to eliminate a population, to describe the situation in Kosovo, when there's been no effort to use the same terminology for a situation that is much, much more severe in Sudan," Robb said. "To a certain extent you have to ask if this is a case of racism, or a case of national interest playing as the most important factor in our foreign policy," Robb said. Up to 2 million people have been killed and 5 million displaced in south Sudan and the Nuba Mountains by the Sudanese Popular Defense Forces, a radical Islamic force that targets a Christian and animist population, Freedom House estimates. These forces are bombing, burning and raiding villages, enslaving women and children, kidnapping and forcibly converting young men and sending them to the front as cannon fodder, and precipitating genocide by preventing food from reaching starving villages...."

The Hindu 4/13/99 Sriprakash Loya "...Sir, The refugees fleeing Kosovo are being accepted by the European countries. The U.S. and Canada have also agreed to accept them. Even far-flung Australia, which traditionally has been averse to any such influx, has welcomed 4,000 refugees on its soil. All these first world countries have been magnanimous towards these refugees. But, recollect the fate of the recent refugees from Kurdistan, Afghanistan and Northern Algeria. Go back a few years and think of the boat people accepted by none. Also, everyone knows the fate of the refugees from Cambodia, Vietnam and then the ten million refugees on our own land in 1972 from Bangladesh. No first world country has ever discussed their fate, leave alone accept them. Should we conclude, therefore, that the colour of the refugees matters? - Sriprakash Loya, Secunderabad ..."

The Time UK 4/12/99 James Landale "...TONY BLAIR today calls for a "new internationalism" in which the world community never again tolerates the brutal repression of an ethnic group by a dictator struggling to remain in power. In an article for Newsweek magazine, the Prime Minister suggests that Nato's action in Kosovo could be a model for future international relations. Mr Blair says: "This is a conflict we are fighting not for territory but for values, for a new internationalism where the brutal repression of whole ethnic groups will no longer be tolerated, for a world where those responsible for such crimes have nowhere to hide." He adds: "We are fighting for a world where dictators are no longer able to visit horrific punishments on their own peoples in order to stay in power." Establishing the principle that outside countries can intervene in a sovereign state to halt "ethnic cleansing" would mark a radical shift in the basic norms of international relations and Mr Blair's remarks will provoke unease among many countries...."

CNN Transcripts 4/10/99 Sam Nunn (D) Former US Senator "... NELSON: Let's take a look at the public relations war for a minute. Has Mr. Milosevic won that one? NUNN: Oh no, I don't think so. I think he's antagonized his neighbors; I think he's alienated everybody around him; I think he's lost world opinion. He's got some countries rallying behind him, because some countries resent any invasion of sovereignty. Of course, the Russians and some other countries that are Orthodox and Slavic are more favorable toward him. But, no, I don't think he's won any kind of population... NELSON: Next question, probably the last one we'll be able to get in: Are we in -- is NATO in danger of losing Russia? NUNN: I think that's a big, big danger here, and that's when you have to distinguish between vital interests and important or humanitarian interests. Russia's emergence as a part of the community of nations, avoiding the proliferation of mass -- of weapons of mass destruction out of Russia today as their economy crumbles is a vital interest to the United States. We are alienating Russia. They feel isolated; they feel humiliated; they feel not listened to. Now, we can't give them a veto, nor should we, but we should have had them in the loop, at least communicated with them on a regular basis and gotten their views, listened to them every now and then. We still should do that. And as we accelerate bombing, we need to accelerate diplomacy, and we need to involve the Russians. They've got an election coming up at the end of this year. They've got an election next year for the president, parliamentary this year. If those elections end up being affected adversely here, we could have a Russia that really is difficult to deal with in the future...."

BBC 4/13/99 "...US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov have said some progress has been made on finding a settlement to the Kosovo crisis. The pair met in an attempt to reconcile differences between the two countries over Nato's bombing of Yugoslavia. Russia is a traditional ally of the Serbs, and President Boris Yeltsin has warned that Nato's actions could lead to a world war. After a longer than expected meeting in Oslo, Mr Ivanov said: "We agreed to continue our diplomatic efforts to get a political settlement" to the Kosovo crisis. Mrs Albright said they had reached an "agreement on many of the basic principles" for an end to the crisis in Kosovo, but not on an international force for the Yugoslav province. As the meeting was being held in Oslo, the Albanian Government said there had been a Yugoslav incursion into northern Albania. Ministers confirmed that Serbian forces had crossed into the remote Tropoje district of northern Albania and that heavy shelling could be heard...."

The Daily Republican 4/13/99 Frederic L. Kirgis "...The question arises whether international law permits the use of armed force against Yugoslavia under these circumstances. Kosovo is a province of Yugoslavia, not an independent state. Even though about 90 percent of its population is ethnic Albanian, the international community has not supported a right of secession for Kosovo. Since Kosovo remains a part of Yugoslavia in fact and in law, the current military action raises questions of external intervention in civil strife. In this case, though, the civil strife is likely to endanger peace and security in neighboring states and has already created large refugee flows into those states. Until the advent of the United Nations, international law had little to say about what a government did regarding its own citizens in its own territory. In the U.N. era, it has become well established that governments do not have a free rein to mistreat their own citizens, and a wide range of international human rights standards has been established to prevent or rectify such mistreatment. The right of self-determination is one of the currently-recognized human rights, but it has not normally been regarded as a right of an ethnic or other minority to secede....."

Rush Limbaugh Radio Show 4/13/99 Freeper bigk reports "...Rush is saying that the Kosovo War is being funded by our Social Security fund. There is no surplus...." Adds Steven W. "the point is that there was no real surplus - since social security is still on budget. That was supposed to be HR 1 this year under Livingston - before Hastert took over - to take SS off budget...."

Reuters 4/13/99 Freeper HAL9000 "...Several people have starved to death and disease is spreading among ethnic Albanians displaced in Kosovo by Serbian forces, according to reports reaching international monitors outside Yugoslavia. The sources said that while NATO air strikes were progressively destroying or immobilising Serbian tank and artillery units, taking pressure off Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas, the plight of ethnic Albanian refugees trapped in combat zones appeared to be worsening...."

Mary Mostert 4/1/99 Original Sources "...Only Two days ago, on March 30th, I wrote "Somehow I've had a feeling for a couple of days that I was watching one of those military situations where one side had prepared defenses for the last war fought and the other side was fighting a new kind of war that had never been fought before - and would win a stunning victory." The only problem I had was trying to figure out which combatant was which. Was the victor going to be NATO with its stealth bombers and sophisticated bombs that could destroy cities from afar? How could Yugoslavia, a poor country the size of the State of Kentucky, win? It is being attacked by the best military hardware of 19 nations - led by the United States of America. Yet, NATO certainly seems to be losing so far. "Milosevic simply did not DO what he was ordered to do by Bill Clinton. He didn't sign a paper agreeing to allow foreign troops into Kosovo, an agreement which was clearly written from the Albanian perspective. At the end of three years a vote would be held to decide whether Kosovo, which is about 10% of Yugoslavia, would be allowed to secede from the Yugoslavia. "The threat to the cradle of the Orthodox Eastern Church of the Serbs instantly unified the Serbs throughout the world behind a man that many of them actually don't like. Milosevic would not sign and Clinton ordered missiles and bombs to force him to change his mind. Obviously, no exit strategy was planned in the event Milosovic refused to sign. Clinton arrogantly announced he WOULD sign or his country would be destroyed...... "As the super-tech bombs dropped on Belgrade and Pristine, Milosevic's army began the Serb defense - not by mounting an all out attack on the missiles and bombs, which they undoubtedly could not stop, but by addressing the root of the problem at hand - the rebel Albanians who had moved into the area in the last 40 years. In 1961, Kosovo's population was 963,565, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, of which about 642,000 were mostly Muslim Albanians, and 321,565 were Serbs . When the conflict began last year the population of Kosovo was about 2 million, and almost 1,800,000 were Albanians, and 200,000 were Serbs. Somehow the about 121, 565 Serbs who are being accused of "abhorrent and criminal action on a maximum scale" and "genocide" by Madeline Albright's assistant, James Rubin disappeared in the last 40 years whereas the persecuted minority to almost tripled to 1,800,000. I thought genocide was supposed to reduce a group's population, not increase it." ...I said two days ago: "It should be obvious to everyone by now that the Clinton spin machine is trying to convince the American people, and hopefully the world, that he is a great humanitarian world leader who ordered the bombing of the Serbs to save the down-trodden Albanians from disaster." ...."Why were we not concerned when 300,000 Serbs were driven out of Croatia a couple of years ago? And, when did the Administration begin to consider the KLA a "Liberators" rather than "terrorists?" ..."

Reuters 4/13/99 Freeper R2 "...Serb forces withdrew from Albanian territory Tuesday after surrounding the northern village of Kamenica and exchanging heavy fire with Albanian border guards for several hours, Albanian television said.``Serb troops entered 500-600 meters (yards) inside Albania. Albanian police, supported by police from the neighboring border post of Padesh, fought with them for many hours, obliging them to withdraw,'' state television said...."

Toronto Sun 4/13/99 Peter Worthington "...An "immoral war" is not only one waged for a bad reason, but one that is deliberately prolonged and not won quickly. If you're not prepared to win it quickly - don't fight it. The reason for this "war," although we don't like calling it that, is one man: Slobodan Milosevic. Eliminate Slobo, and there's no cause for war. The bottom line is that the most formidable military alliance in history (NATO), coerced by the most powerful nation in history (the United States), has rained bombs and missiles on one of the world's historic cities, Belgrade; has destroyed the infrastructure of a country; has incited vengeful retaliation that has increased atrocities; has contributed to nearly a million refugees; has killed God knows how many innocents; and has achieved little except unifying a hitherto divided nation around the unpleasant despot of a threadbare country of 10 million. Makes one proud of NATO and our leaders, eh? To justify what's being done, the public has been misled, manipulated, deceived in a way that's mindful of the one-time Evil Empire. It is shameful, sad, so needless. And all the "allies" are guilty - Britain, NATO, the White House, the Pentagon, Ottawa....."

CATO Institute 4/13/99 Doug Bandow "...The result was a disastrous miscalculation: Washington has simultaneously magnified violence against ethnic Albanians and destabilized neighboring states. Yet administration officials have astonishingly responded that they did indeed foresee the risks of their strategy. If true, they were criminally negligent in failing to prepare for the horrors they unleashed. In any case, the administration obviously intends to keep on reinforcing failure. More intense bombing will weaken the Yugoslav military, but will not prevent operations against the Kosovo Liberation Army. Destroying buildings and even tanks is not likely to drive Serbian troops out of Kosovo. Expanding the number of targets may ruin what is left of Yugoslavia's economy, but is not likely to break the Serbians' will. Moreover, the broader the assault, the more civilian casualties. And the more damage done the Yugoslav military and economy, the more unstable the regional balance of power. Although Washington has treated Croatians and Muslims as allies, both have committed their own atrocities and expressed their own expansionist territorial ambitions. Indeed, until now the single largest case of Balkans ethnic cleansing was Croatia's 1995 expulsion of as many as 175,000 ethnic Serbs from the Krajina region. Even more worrisome is the prospect of Albanian nationalists turning their attention to Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and even conceivably Greece. Washington's pleasure at wrecking Yugoslavian power might be short-lived. Thus, continued bombing will kill for no purpose, reducing Yugoslavia to rubble without getting the Albanian refugees home. It will make any kind of compromise settlement less possible and increase the likelihood of war among neighboring countries. Unfortunately, to many, the preferred alternative to muddling through is massive escalation: a ground invasion. Some would merely seize Kosovo. Others would conquer all of Yugoslavia. The mind boggles. Of course, NATO would win. But victory would come at a high price. The Yugoslavian military is tough and Serbs would fight for their homeland. In World War II, they made Germany pay a high price for what at first seemed to be an easy conquest. The U.S. has nothing at stake to warrant paying a similar price. A ground war against a sovereign state which has done nothing against America--why? It is not Serbia but NATO which has caused the conflict to spill over Kosovo's borders. Overrunning Kosovo and Serbia would create a fragile protectorate and a resentful prisoner, requiring military protection and subjegation, respectively, for years to come...."

Associated Press 4/13/99 Robert Burns Freeper Brian Mosely "...Bringing the Kosovo conflict closer to home, U.S. military reservists are likely to be ordered to active duty as part of a major new buildup of American air power in the Balkans, officials said Tuesday...."

The Times Of India 4/14/99 Freeper lyonesse "...Monday's meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels expectedly decided to continue bombing Yugoslavia till President Milosevic capitulates unconditionally to NATO. Meanwhile, the Yugoslav Parliament has voted unanimously to join the union of Russia and Belarus. Russia has moved the International Court of Justice on the legality of NATO's bombing action against Yugoslavia..."

USA Today 4/13/99 Freeper Cincinatus "...Defense Secretary William Cohen and other U.S. officials in recent days hinted at the likelihood of a partial mobilization of the National Guard and Reserve, and that was before Army Gen. Wesley Clark, the top NATO commander, submitted his request Monday for a more than 50% increase in U.S. warplanes. Many of the additional planes, such as aerial refuelers, are the type flown by reservists. Pentagon officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Cohen was expected to approve most or all of Clark's request...."

USGAO 10/98 Report No NSIAD 99-7 Freeper XGMan "...How many generals have estimated that an overwhelming force of 300,000 to 400,000 ground troops would be necessary for an invasion of Kosovo, while others claim 200,000 could do the job? As most Americans believe, there really are more than a million uniformed "persons" presently in the U.S. Armed Forces. So sending 200,000 --or even 500,000-- to the Balkans seems no problem from a numerical position. But according to data contained in a recent GAO report (NSIAS-99-7), no such scenario could ever take place. While the GAO confirms there are 1.4 million armed forces positions, the investigators also reveal that more than 90% of them occupy non-ground combat occupations... In other words, instead of having a million-man force of combat-ready soldiers and marines, the real number of total U.S. troops is half the lowest estimate of forces required for Kosovo. Here are the facts as reported by the GAO: ...Direct US Combat Ground Troops Total ................ 101,733 The report also indicates there are 89,755 positions that are considered "Collocation" with ground troops--including combat engineering, field artillery, and air defense artillery...If a major U.S. led invasion of Yugoslovia does happen, it will either require a call-up of the Reserves, or a reinstatement of the draft, or both. Footnote: When the Chinese say they have a million-man army, they mean a million-man COMBAT FORCE. ..."

The White House 4/13/99 The White House Bill Clinton "... Pursuant to the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, including section 112 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 112), I designate, for the purposes of that section, the following locations, including the airspace above such locations, as an area in which Armed Forces of the United States are and have been engaged in combat: - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia/Montenegro); - Albania; - the Adriatic Sea; - the Ionian Sea north of the 39th parallel. For the purposes of this order, I designate March 24, 1999, as the date of the commencement of combatant activities in such zone..."

AP 4/13/99 Tom Cohen Freeper TheOtherOne Igniting fears of a widening conflict, Serb forces pushed into northern Albania on Tuesday, fought an hour-long skirmish with Albanian troops, seized a border hamlet and torched homes before withdrawing, Albanian officials and international observers said. With Albania a major staging ground for NATO forces, even Tuesday's incident -- short-lived, small-scale, with no reported casualties -- brought a warning from Washington that Yugoslavia would make a grave mistake in expanding the fighting. In Belgrade, Yugoslav officials denied any incursion into Albania. The chief of the army information service, Col. Milivoje Novkovic, said on state television that Yugoslavia's defense of its own borders was ``being fabricated as an alleged invasion.'' Albania, in turn, said the Serb push into its territory would carry consequences. Sokol Gjoka, an Albanian Foreign Ministry official, said his country would take necessary steps to defend itself, ..."

Stratfor.com 0030GMT990414 "...Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon stated today that there will most "likely be a reserve call-up" as NATO operations expand in the region. General Wesley Clark, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, requested on April 13th 300 additional aircraft, including ground attack planes, planes designed to conduct SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense) operations, and tankers for refueling operations. The U.S. active duty military is being stretched thin and Bacon noted that some of the call-up would probably include pilots to fly some of the refueling planes, along with reservists from some specialities that only exist in the reserve components, like civil affairs..."

Defense Week 4/12/99 martin Sieff "...EXCERPTS "It was not meant to be this way. ...the Clinton administration finds itself caught up in the most dangerous and unpredictable foreign policy crisis. U.S. aircraft are bombing Belgrade; the s trategic relationship with Russia is in ruins; and administration officials have been forced to admit they may have to put large forces of NATO ground troops into Kosovo. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled Kosovo into neighboring countries, creat ing destabilizing conditions there. And there is no end in sight. Facing this unexpected succession of disasters, "White House policy has been an exercise in improvisation," said analyst Ariel Cohen of the Heritage Foundation. "The administration has stumbled into an impromptu war instead of exercising any strategic del iberation." ..."

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 4/11/99 Richard Foster Freeper Stand Watch Listen "...EXCERPTS "For nearly three weeks now, the United States and its NATO allies have been involved in the largest bombing mission in Europe since World War II. Yet the air strikes have not prevented -- they may, in fact, have accelerated -- the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo, so that the use of ground forces, perhaps large numbers of them, may be required. Thus, the war may become even bloodier and longer. ....Ordinarily, U.S. involvement in a war such as this would generate lively and even ferocious debate in Congress. The run-up to Operation Desert Storm, the military action that expelled Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait in 1991, witnessed major congressional hearings on the Persian Gulf. Even the use of small numbers of U.S. troops in Panama and Haiti raised eyebrows and generated angry rhetoric in Congress. But in the face of the historic and worsening debacle in Somalia, one so bloody, dangerous and intractable that U.S. troops may be called on to end it, Congress has been almost completely silent. "..."

Aleksandar Ciric, IWPR Correspondent Belgrade 4/15/99 "...The initial effect of the NATO bombing was relief. Since the first threats of airstrikes last October, the Yugoslav population has been under extreme psychological pressure. On the night of 24-25 March, when the bombing began, the situation finally became clear: the country was under attack and the enemy was identified. In short, NATO has done an incalculable favour to Slobodan Milosevic, who, whether we like it or not, is president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At the same time, the NATO attack has - probably in the long term - shaken to the foundations, if not destroyed, both the civic opposition in Serbia and Yugoslavia, that has been built with much effort over the years, and the room for manoeuvre for independent media and their associations. Paradoxically, those Serbs who follow world news with the help of relatives abroad, the Internet and satellite dishes are much better informed than ever before. But alongside the programming of the state Radio-Television Serbia, the news from CNN, SKY, BBC and other European networks looks like poorly disguised propaganda. Viewers in Yugoslavia react with a shrug of the shoulders, or even outright laughter. When, on the night of 3-4 April, a heating plant in New Belgrade was hit, the question on the streets was: "How will [NATO Gen.] Wesley Clark explain this 'military' target?" Attitudes hardened noticeably when on 12 April a NATO war plane destroyed a passenger train killing 11 and wounding 20 civilians.....These are not gatherings in support of Milosevic. As Vlade Divac, a Yugoslav player in the NBA, explained to CNN's Larry King, "It is not about our president, it is about all of us." Nor are these the gatherings of Serbs who are uninformed about what is happening in Kosovo, since the citizens of Serbia believe they know very well know about the plight of refugees. .... But the dominant feeling is not fear but anger, and defiance. Before the outbreak of fighting in Kosovo in February 1998, the Yugoslav army had been reduced by the regime to being little more than a police service. Now, however, it is an unchallenged leader and hero defending the country...."

The Washington Post 4/14/99 Charles Hutzler "...In the Chinese media, President Clinton is a Hitler-like figure leading a ruthless NATO. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is a hero. Kosovar refugees are the victims of NATO bombing, not Serb-driven ethnic purges. Chinese leaders have loosed the state-run media to build support for their opposition to the NATO air attack on Yugoslavia. The result has been a demonization of the West rarely seen in Chinese propaganda in recent years. The emotional pitch has surprised even the communist leadership that unleashed it -- and could backfire. .... Chinese leaders hope the slanted coverage will unify Chinese public opinion against the bombing campaign, according to the source. Chinese leaders fear the NATO airstrikes could set a precedent for attacking a sovereign state without U.N. approval. China has simmering ethnic rebellions of its own, in Tibet and the Muslim northwest, and also hopes to coax a reluctant Taiwan into reuniting with the mainland. So far, the propaganda campaign appears to be working. Hundreds of Chinese have written to the Yugoslav Embassy offering money or volunteering service. Polls published in newspapers show more than 70 percent of Chinese oppose the NATO airstrikes. ``They are attacking a sovereign country, and that's not right,'' a retired factory worker, surnamed Li, said as he strolled past a sign advertising movies about Yugoslavia's resistance to the Nazis in World War II. ``Our views are the same as our government's.'' ..."

The Independent 4/15/99 Robert Fisk in Tevzicki Most Freeper Brian Mosely "...This is a horror story. There are no other words for it. It is the story of a series of massacres along a road lined with torched houses and cherry blossom, of smouldering skeletons and women cut in half, of a man's head lying in a field with the wind blowing his brown hair against the grass, and of corpses lying in a squalid hospital nearby..."

the independent Richard Lloyd Parry 4/16/99 "...The Macedonian government angrily denounced Western nations yesterday for breaking their promises to give sanctuary to Kosovo refugees, and warned that the country's fragile economy was heading for collapse under the burden of the Balkans crisis. "We can accept refugees at the borders and transport them to other countries or to the airport," the Macedonian interior minister, Pavle Trajnov, said in an interview with The Independent. "Why the foreign countries don't accept that, I do not know. They declare that they want to help the refugees, but is it enough just to come to the camps, take photos with the refugees, and then tell the whole world, 'See, we've done so much for the refugees'?"..."

AP Wire 4/15/99 John Diamond "...U.S. officials said Thursday that Yugoslavia has stockpiled chemical agents that are ready for use as weapons. President Clinton promised a ``swift and overwhelming'' response to any chemical attack. Yugoslavia, however, has made no threats to use deadly chemical weapons and Pentagon officials said they have no intelligence indicating that Belgrade has any such plans...."

http://www.interfax.ru/freshnews/enews1844.htm 4/13/99 Interfax "...Russia and the United States are certain that "it will be necessary" to work out "an acceptable form of international presence [in Kosovo] to ensure conditions for a political settlement," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said regarding his talks with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. "This issue will be addressed in the future, it will have to be worked on," Ivanov said at a press conference in Oslo. "Any form of international presence requires the consent of the Yugoslav authorities," he stressed. His talks with Albright were "very useful," Ivanov said. However, Russia and the United States continue to differ in their approaches to the Yugoslav settlement, he said. Ivanov said Albright and he agreed to continue their dialogue to bridge the differences...."

Newsday 4/14/99 Robert M Hayden Freeper starlu "...This solution will not be the plan that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright tried to force on the Serbs during a charade of negotiations. More a public relations fraud than a diplomatic compromis e, the document produced through those negotiations only pretended to preserve Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo, giving de facto independence to the ethnic Albanians. Rather than making the Serbs an offer they could not refuse, Albright offered one they c ould not accept...."

AP 4/14/99 Laura Myers Freeper TheOtherOne "...Refugees fleeing Kosovo are reporting to relief workers that Yugoslav helicopters and airplanes have been attacking refugee convoys in the Serbian province, a Pent agon official said today. The Pentagon said it had ``no direct evidence'' that an attack on a convoy today, in which 64 civilians were killed, was committed by the Yugoslavs, although NATO has known for some time that Yugoslav warplanes have been attacking Kosovo Libera tion Army forces. The Serbs claimed that the convoy was hit by NATO bombs, but Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said NATO planes hit only military targets. ``We did hit military vehicles in a convoy,'' he said. ``We are quite sure we hit only military vehicles. We will obviously review what happened.'' Bacon said officials had heard for the first time today, through relief organizations in the area, that refugees entering Albania were saying Yugoslav planes had attacked civilian convoys...."

Daily Telegraph 4/16/99 Hugo Gurdon "...THE air war against Slobodan Milosevic will go on for several months at least, President Clinton said yesterday, warning that there is a "very real and high" prospect of American casualties. In grim testimony to Congress, members of his national security team tried to prepare the country for a long and bloody battle, saying it could last into the summer, and hinting yet again that it might eventually involve a massive land war. William Cohen, Defence Secretary said: "This is not going to be quick or easy or neat."..."

New York Times 4/16/99 Steven Lee Myers "...The Pentagon plans to ask President Clinton to call up as many as 33,000 reservists and National Guard members to bolster the attack against Yugoslavia, significantly widening the American contribution to NATO's war in the Balkans, senior military and Administration officials said Thursday.

Because of the size of the call-up, its impact is likely to ripple across the country, affecting families, interrupting college educations and putting strains on employers. Since a majority of those activated will be pilots or aircraft crew members, the impact may be felt most in the aviation industry, which employs thousands of reservists and Guard members, the officials said. ..."

Washington Times Bill Gertz 4/16/99 Freeper cyberaxe "...U.S. intelligence agencies warned NATO military commanders last week that Yugoslavia could resort to nuclear-laced weapons in the Balkans conflict, The Washington Times has learned. Nuclear material for a radiological weapon -- also known as a "dirty nuke" -- is being stored at the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, located about six miles southeast of the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade, according to officials familiar with a Pentagon intelligence report. A "dirty nuke" does not result in a large explosion but could kill by spreading radioactive material with conventional explosives in lethal doses, the officials said. NATO bombing planners have taken steps to make sure the facility is not bombed, the officials said...."

Washingon Post 4/18/99Alex Todorovich Freeper Lonnie "...BELGRADE: For many of the Serbs I've met and talked to over the past three weeks, this conflict is about anything but refugees. The idea that 19 countries would go to war for the sake of Albanian refugees strikes people here as absurd. Taking their cue from state-run television, the vast majority of Belgraders seem to believe that the refugee crisis was caused by a combination of NATO bombing and the Yugoslav army trying to ferret out terrorists. Contributing to Serbian incredulity is the fact that nobody blinked when 300,000 Serbs were driven out of the Krajina region of Croatia three years ago..."

4/16/99 AP Freeper Thanatos Parliament urged Boris Yeltsin on Friday to include Yugoslavia in a Slavic union with Russia and Belarus, despite warnings the move could push Russia into a conflict with the United States. The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, voted 293-54 in favor of a resolution asking the Russian president to immediately take steps to bring Yugoslavia into the alliance, which some see as an attempt to revive the Soviet Union...."

4/16/99 AP Freeper Thanatos "...President Clinton is prepared to ask Congress for $5.9 billion in emergency spending to cover the cost of U.S. participation in NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia and related humanitarian relief, administration officials said Friday. The package will be submitted formally to Congress early next week, said a senior administration official. The plan ``is adequate to fully replace the resources that have been used,'' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity...."

Washington Post 4/16/99 Charles Krauthammer Freeper Mert "...Kosovo reveals how deeply unsuited a lumbering and clumsy NATO is to its new extraterritorial task. The idea of this bureaucratic behemoth -- a 19-member alliance that operates exclusively by consensus, which means that all 19 have to sign off on everything -- trying to be nimble and flexible in managing such brush fires as Kosovo is simply crazy. The result is the Kosovo campaign, already famous for its ineptness: its absurd recapitulation of Vietnam escalation strategy, its confusion of aims, its timidity of means, its slowness to respond to unexpected contingencies...."

STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update 4/16/99 "...2045 GMT, 990416 - Both Serbian and Kosovar Albanian sources have alleged that NATO missiles are hitting empty buildings. The most notable account of NATO planes attacking empty targets is the NATO attack on the Yugoslav and Serbian Interior Ministries' headquarters in Belgrade. These headquarters reported no casualties, having apparently been evacuated prior to the NATO strike. Serbian forces in Kosovo are reported to widely use civilian houses and other sensitive sites for barracks and command posts, in order to avoid NATO bombs. Recent bomb camera footage shown by the U.S. Department of Defense seems to confirm allegations that NATO continues to bomb empty targets...."

Reagan Information Interchange 4/14/99 David Hackworth "... Also relevant many of these baby boomer hawks like Bill Clinton, his Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger manipulated the system to avoid the mean streets of combat when they themselves were of dying age. Maybe if they'd answered their country's call then and seen their best friend's legs blown off and watched him slowly bleed to death - or been with a rifle platoon caught in an ambush on foreign turf, unable to see the enemy, trying and failing to lure him out of the shadows; or heard the cry of "medic" from 19-year-olds who had wounds more horrible than if they'd been worked over by a chain saw; or had friendly aircraft bomb or strafe them and not been able to shut it off because their 21-year-old leader and his 18-year-old radio operator had already had their lives snuffed out - maybe their attitude about sending grunts to Serbia would be a lot less enthusiastic...Sadly, the public's buying the rush to war propaganda. Recent polls say 70 percent of the public wants to send ground troops. Seventy percent is probably close to the number of Americans who've never served in our armed forces.... Ironically, when I went to Korea in 1950 and Vietnam in 1965, the opinion polls were in the 70's too. But when the body bags started coming home, the polls sank like the Titanic and the public started demanding "What are we doing there?" Which rapidly changed to, "Let's get out now." I was recently on a radio show in Columbus, Ga., the home of the U.S. Army Infantry. Columbus knows about war like few other U.S. cities. They've been producing our nation's front-line fighting men since early in this century -- and burying them too. Many serving grunts live there and real warriors have retired there. The radio show had just conducted a poll of the local folks. Eighty percent were opposed to a ground commitment in Serbia -- which is 180 degrees out of synch with the national polls. Unlike the Alters, those polled in Columbus know the horror of war. They know this one won't be another CNN special like Desert Storm, where green missiles zip through the sky and genial generals joke as they talk about chopping off snake heads. They know the horror of war because they've been there. It's tragic that they along with veterans all over America aren't on the tube debating the experts and telling the people like it really is...."

The Times Of India 4/17/99 "...The question is of basic rationality in NATO decision-making. President Slobodan Milosevic has been indicted by the US as a war criminal along with many of his lieutenants. Therefore, yielding to NATO's demands would mean not only surrendering the sacred soil of Kosovo to NATO military occupation but also the personal ignominy of a `war crimes' trial. Which leader would rationally choose such an option? Mr Milosevic would prefer to go down fighting, even if this means NATO bombs kill thousands of Serb and Kosovar civilians. Having gambled on the assumption that a few bombs would lead to Mr Milosevic's surrender -- there was even pre-war propaganda that such bombing would actually give Mr Milosevic a handy pretext for accepting NATO's terms -- the US and its allies propose to inflict more casualties in the name of human rights. This was the way in which Washington decided to use more explosives on the people of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia than had been manufactured up to that point of time in history. President Clinton's present decision-making logic is as flawed and immoral as that of Lyndon B Johnson...."

STRATFOR's Global Intelligence Update 1830 GMT, 990416 "...On April 12, the U.S. Navy listed the aircraft carrier U.S.S. John C. Stennis, CVN 74, as underway. The site did not list the carriers destination. Prior to this announcement, the U.S. S. Stennis had been undergoing a minor refit scheduled to until January 2000. The U.S. navy did not state the reasons for the Stennis' early departure, however, the most likely explanation for its early departure could be to fill the "carrier gap" in the Pacific Ocean that has been crated by Operation Allied Force. As Allied Force began to increasing in tempo, the U.S.S. Roosevelt was diverted from its assignment in the Persian Gulf to support operations in the Adriatic. That change of plans required the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, which was in the Pacific Ocean, to cover operations in the Persian Gulf. The only other carrier in the Pacific theater at the moment is the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, which is heading back to Bremerton, Washington after an extended tour to the Persian Gulf...."

Reuters 4/18/99 Freeper HAL9000 "... NATO pounded Yugoslavia's industrial and transport infrastructure on the 25th night of its bombing campaign, with smoke from burning chemical plants threatening to engulf Belgrade, Serb media said. Industrial targets included refineries and chemical plants in Belgrade and Novi Sad, the site of a military airport near the capital and the main motorway from Belgrade to the Montenegrin capital Podgorica, they said. Fires burning at industrial sites near Belgrade were threatening serious air pollution to the capital, an official said...."

BBC 4/18/99 Freeper tellw "...Aid agencies in northern Albania are reporting the first cases of malnutrition among children crossing from Kosovo. With more refugees fleeing Kosovo, the United Nations says it fears there will soon be no ethnic Ablanians left in the province..."

New York Times 4/18/99 Elaine Sciolino Ethan Bronner "...On Jan. 19, President Clinton's top aides met in the Situation Room in the White House basement to hear a fateful new plan for an autonomous Kosovo from Madeleine K. Albright, the Secretary of State. NATO, she urged, should use the threat of air strikes on Yugoslavia to force a peace agreement to be monitored by the alliance's ground troops. The President, who had other matters on his mind, was not there. His lawyers were starting their arguments on the Senate floor against his removal from office. That night he was to deliver his State of the Union address. Nearly 5,000 miles away, in Belgrade, Gen. Wesley K. Clark, the NATO commander, and Gen. Klaus Naumann, chairman of the NATO military council, were sitting with President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia. They came brandishing a plastic portfolio of color photographs documenting a massacre of Albanians three days earlier by Serbian security forces in the Kosovo town of Racak. They also came with threats of NATO air strikes..... It is unclear whether the President's decisions on Kosovo would have been any different if he had not been distracted by his own political and legal problems. But it is clear that his troubles gave him less maneuvering room to make his decisions. Diplomacy that came to rely heavily on military threats reduced the wiggle room even further..... The eruption of violence in Kosovo in early 1998 could not have come at a more inopportune moment for the Clinton Administration. The President and his aides were consumed by the Lewinsky affair. The Clinton foreign policy team was focused on Presidential visits to China and Africa and on Russia's economic implosion. Legislative electoral politics, especially with an incendiary sex scandal enveloping the White House, was never far from the President's concerns. And Kosovo did not register in any public opinion polls. One of the President's political advisers said in an interview: "I hardly remember Kosovo in political discussions. It was all impeachment, impeachment, impeachment. There was nothing else." ....."

4/17/99 Reuters Freeer Thanatos "...Yugoslavia rejected a week-old United Nations peace initiative supported by the European Union but Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was not surprised at the news. ``Nothing but NATO bombs threatens peace in Kosovo,'' Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic said in a letter to Annan that arrived Friday. He complained that, despite repeated appeals for urgent action by the Security Council, nothing had been done ``to condemn and halt this brutal aggression against my country.'' ..."

Baltimore Sun 4/18/99 William Ferroggiaro Freeper starly "...NATO's Balkan campaign raises a troubling question: Where was the West when nearly a million Rwandans were being slaughtered? In April 1994, a genocide several times more swift than the Nazis' slaughter of the Jews swept through the African nation of Rwanda, claiming nearly 1 million victims -- and the United States and the rest of the world turned a blind eye...It appears the United States cares about ethnic cleansing only when it happens in Europe. How many of us know, for example, that more than 6,000 people were killed in Sierra Leone in January alone -- more than three times the number of deaths in Kosovo during the year before the NATO bombing...."

Insight 5/10/99 Sean Paige "...In Yugoslavia the United States may not just be stepping into its greatest foreign-policy debacle since Vietnam. With little public discussion or consensus, and driven by humanitarian imperatives rather than strategic ones, it may have pinned on the badge of sheriff to the world, handcuffing itself to the lonely role of "globocop."....The blacks and whites of the Cold War having given way to shades of gray, and a doctrine of Communist containment given way to no doctrine at all, Clinton-administration policymakers seem unsure of how to define the United States' new role in the world. The demise of the Soviets, economic globalization and the so-called "CNN effect" -- cabling into American homes whatever compelling images of humanitarian crisis the media see fit to cover, inviting Somalia-like misadventures -- have upended the paradigm that guided and misguided U.S. foreign policy since World War II. Consensus is lacking on what a lonely superpower is to do....."The problem with a national-interest approach vs. a human-rights approach to foreign policy is that they're apples and oranges," says Brent Scowcroft, former national-security adviser to President Bush. "With a national-security approach, you have set priorities; but how can you do it with human rights? How do you choose sides? Is one group of people being killed better than another group of people being killed?" .... "The most powerful political movement in the world today is nationalism, and yet we have no coherent policy on nationalism," says Arnold Beichman, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. If we're going to involve ourselves in independence movements, asks Beichman, "what are we going to do about Laplanders unhappy in Finland, the Basques who are unhappy in Spain? At some point it becomes absurd"..."

Atlanta Journal- Constitution 4/18/99 Jim Wooten Freeper starlu "...This president is very deep into a mess. When and how will he get out of it? Lord only knows. Standing outside the hotel where President Clinton addressed the American Society of Newspaper Editors -- intending to explain and lay philosophical groundwork for deeper involvement in Kosovo -- some 500 protesters marched and shouted "No war, no bombs, no new Vietnam." Chill bumps pop up. This could very well be Clinton's repeat of LBJ's legacy, another war that is vaguely defined, escalating and indefinite....Clinton, a war protestor, is now their target. And Clinton, a prevaricator under oath, responds to a question concerning his moral authority to dispatch Air Force pilots to war as follows: "I am their commander in chief and they swore an oath to the Constitution..." And so they did...."

The London Times 4/17/99 Ben Macintyre Freeper Sakida "...THE United States is preparing to summon as many as 33,000 reservists and National Guard members for active duty in Kosovo in the largest call-up since the Gulf War, as Congress braces itself for an emergency military operation Bill likely to double initial estimates for covering the costs of the conflict. The extra troops will be made up principally of tanker pilots, maintenance and other air force personnel to man the increased deployment of US aircraft. With a far larger call-up than originally expected, the war in Kosovo will be brought home to ordinary American families with renewed force as thousands of civilians are called to arms.....Mr Clinton can authorise the Defence Department to choose troops from a "Presidential Selected Reserve Call-up" numbering around 200,000 reserve and National Guard troops...."

Reuters 4/17/99 "...officials held secret talks with the Kosovo Liberation Army earlier this month about providing it with European-made anti-tank weapons and other support, U.S. News & World Report reported on Saturday. The magazine, in its edition due on newsstands on Monday, gave no indication what the outcome of the talks was and did not name its sources for the information. Defence Secretary William Cohen and CIA Director George Tenet, in private meetings with Republican senators this week, praised the KLA's recent battlefield performances, the report said...."

UK - Electronic Telegraph 4/18/99 Andrew Gilligan, Tom Baldwin Olga Craig in Macedonia and David Wastell "...THE United States has blocked Nato from releasing the cockpit video of last week's attack on a refugee convoy in Kosovo. The Telegraph has learnt that the US action has provoked a bitter row inside the alliance. A senior Nato officer has revealed that Jamie Shea, the official spokesman, was about to show the video at Friday's press briefing when the Americans intervened. Nato officers suspect the film undermines the account of the raid given by US officials to the American press. "We are not sure there is any sort of a cover-up," said the Nato officer. "It may just be that the Americans are trying to get their stories to tally and will release the video later when the public attention is off."..."

stratfor.com 4/18/99 Freeper henbane "...In yet another delay of what is becoming an increasingly mysterious deployment, Pentagon spokesman General Charles Wald said that Apache helicopters would not arrive in Albania until Sunday or later. Wald said that the helicopters are en route to Brindisi Italy, and would be in place "probably tomorrow [Sunday], or early next week." Wald said heavy rain at Tirana's airport had slowed transportation of the helicopters.,,,:

Washington Post 4/18/99 George Wil Freeper Penny "..."It would be nice," says Sen. John McCain with acid understatement, "if the president would say to the American people that things are not going according to plan." Bill Clinton be truthful and lead? This utopian suggestion is a rare McCain departure from realism regarding the Kosovo crisis...."

Reuters 4/18/99 Laurence McQuillan "...As criticism of U.S. policy on Kosovo increases, the war in the Balkans is fuelling new questions about President Bill Clinton's foreign policy skills and the impact of the crisis on other diplomatic fronts. The three-day NATO summit that begins on Friday in Washington has been dramatically altered by the escalating intensity of the daily air strikes in Yugoslavia. What once was to be a triumphant gala celebration of the alliance's 50th anniversary, instead will be a far more sombre affair..... ``There is a very, very big problem here and it is exemplified in Kosovo,'' said John Steinbruner, a foreign policy expert with the Brookings Institution, in discussing Clinton's ventures in diplomacy. ``At the core of the problem is his tendency to see all foreign policy issues simply as an extension of immediate domestic American politics, which is what he understands,'' Steinbruner said. .... The unusually blunt assessment from a fellow Democrat underscores the risk Clinton has taken with his presidency. ``The economy is great, they couldn't pin Monica on him but boy Kosovo may hang him if he doesn't find a good way out,'' said Valerie Hudson, a foreign policy professor at Brigham Young University. ``He's never been in the military, and that was by his own design,'' she said. ``Now he's calling other people's sons and daughters to war ... There's some very deep ironies here that can't help but undermine him in his role as commander-in-chief.'' She echoed the concern expressed by numerous foreign policy experts about the impact of the Kosovo war. ``Americans are now worried about looking like the biggest idiots on the world stage,'' she said. ..."

United Press International 4/18/99 Peter O'Donnell "...NATO reported a "highly successful day" which resulted in another long list of military successes. But at the same time, NATO admitted today that the flow of refugees remains unchecked, and that there is growing evidence of atrocities against Kosovar Albanians. The organization also said it is still losing the propaganda battle...."

Capitol Hill Blue 4/18/99 "...The inflation of war: Now Clinton wants $5.9 billion for an air war that is expected to last until at least Oct. 1 The price for Bill Clinton's Kosovo war keeps going up and the timetable for fighting it keeps getting longer. Just a week after the Pentagon said it would need about $4 billion to fight the war, Clinton plans to ask Congress for emergency spending of $5.9 billion to fund costs of the Yugoslavia conflict. A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the amount of money should comfortably fund the cost of the conflict to the U.S. military for more than five months, if it lasts that long..... "

Cato Institute 4/18/99 Gary Dempsy "...Citing the preservation of NATO credibility as a policy imperative, a growing number of political figures and foreign policy experts are calling upon the Clinton administration to dispatch U.S. ground troops to Kosovo. For example, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who originally opposed air strikes, now says that if Yugoslav strong man Slobodan Milosevic doesn't give in, "there will be no alternative to continuing and intensifying the war, if necessary introducing NATO combat ground forces . . . to maintain NATO credibility." Similarly, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) concludes, "now that we're in, we must win." But should the United States really risk the lives of thousands of its soldiers to win back the NATO credibility that was irresponsibly wagered in the Balkans in the first place? And if so, how many American lives should we be prepared to sacrifice to make up for NATO's bad judgment? ....Moreover, the argument that NATO must escalate its war in Kosovo to preserve its credibility should make Americans nervous...Instead of being persuasive, the "credibility" argument also raises serious questions about the prudence of the Clinton administration's foreign policy. Indeed, by involving the United States in Kosovo in the first place, the administration has transformed a conflict that posed no threat to the territorial integrity, national sovereignty or general welfare of the United States into a major test of American resolve...."

Electronic Telegraph 4/18/99 Freeper starlu "...SENIOR officials in Paris are claiming that the French government has vetoed plans by the Western allies to intensify the war against President Milosevic with an all-out aerial onslaught...."

Reuters 4/18/99 Susanne Hoell Freeper LPH2 "...A German junior minister joined calls for a ceasefire in Yugoslavia on Sunday -- the first open rift over the war in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's coalition government. But Schroeder sounded a defiant note, telling CNN television the NATO bombing must go on until Belgrade relented. Gila Altmann, a deputy environment minister, told Reuters she had added her signature to a ceasefire petition by some 1,000 Green party members to be published on Monday...."

NY Times 4/17/99 AP "...A leading Russian politician warned today that the United States and NATO could spark another Vietnam and possibly World War III if they send ground troops to Yugoslavia. ``In the event that NATO and America start a ground operation in Yugoslavia, they will face a second Vietnam,'' Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said. ``I do not want to forecast what is going to start then. I cannot rule out a third world war.'' ..."

www.yu/ 4/18/99 Freeper Ymani Cricket "BRITAIN sent a second Trident nuclear submarine to sea within hours of the Russian threat to re-target Moscow's nuclear missiles on the West. The move almost certainly means that the UK went on a higher level of nuclear alert, indicating that the Russian threat was taken much more seriously than the Government admitted at the time...."

 Email Yandaojie Middle School,Chengdu China 4/16/99 Freeper cyberaxe "...We have a popular saying here"IF you want to watch a bad news to entertain,go to watch CNN".We are behind you,but can we just do in our way to better our life.Why should we be like you and why should you want us be like you?? Look the CNN and BBC recently,they are eulogizing NATO and US aggression into a sovereign country,regardless of the homes for Serbs and Albanians being bombed.Did any bomb dropped in Yugoslavia helped a single fleeing ethnic Albanian????....We can wait 100 years for Britten to return HongKong back to us,why your president cannot wait for a few more weeks to find out better solutions to deal with the Kosovo crisis with peace? Yes,we know you have money and weapons to fight. Since Bill cannot wait to show off his high tech weapons,why he sing songs of world peace and freedom? You can fight to solve the Kosovo crisis,can we learn from you and fight to take back Taiwan back? We will not for we believe war only can worsen things and deepen hatred and widen the difference and increase confrantation. I hope you and other people who has prejudice upon China can use some of those money(waging wars)to come and see what we are doing here to better our life.Do not be fooled by those so-called Chinese dissidents who just want to please your government for a visa to US or a green card to stay in your country.I am a famouse dissident here and I am very critisizing my government,but I am doing so just to help my country not to please US government and other western anti-China organizations or governments..."

Washington Post 4/17/99 Daniel Williams "...NATO dropped a veil of silence today over airstrikes that hit civilians in Kosovo. Spokesmen provided no fresh information but reaffirmed an account of the bombing that the Pentagon had already discarded as outdated and incomplete. For the second day in a row, the officials who brief reporters at NATO headquarters here said only one airstrike was made on one refugee tractor during aerial assaults Wednesday. The Pentagon said Thursday evening that alliance jets also attacked two convoys, possibly killing civilians, on a road well southeast of the site described by NATO. The result was that while NATO and the Pentagon have expressed regret over the airstrikes that Yugoslavia said killed 75 ethnic Albanian civilians, it remains unclear exactly how they were killed. The lack of new details fits the evolving character of NATO's handling of public information. For several hundred international journalists who crowd an auditorium for daily briefings, upbeat assessments of the war routinely overwhelm the sparse facts provided. Today, in response to horrific television images and printed accounts of devastated refugee convoys, a flood of good news was released. "We had one of the best nights in our campaign," said NATO spokesman Jamie Shea. "It's clear that life is increasingly unpleasant for Serbs in Kosovo." ..."

AP News Service 4/18/99 "... President Clinton branded Slobodan Milosevic a ``belligerent tyrant'' and said Sunday the Yugoslav president could not be part of any democratic transition by his nation into a free Europe. Clinton stopped short of calling for Milosevic's immediate removal. Writing in a London newspaper, Clinton said NATO airstrikes that began March 24 will continue until Milosevic's Serb forces are too weak to fight in Kosovo or until he agrees to peace and autonomy for the Serbian province's ethnic Albanians. ...."

Fox News 4/18/99 Robert Burns, Associated Press "....NATO's Solana denied a British newspaper report the alliance is preparing for a late-May invasion of Kosovo. "At this point, the alliance has no plans to go into an invasion,'' Solana said on "Fox News Sunday.'' "We are going to maintain the air campaign to the end.'' ..."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 4/18/99 "...With allies preparing for a three-day summit in Washington April 23-25 to mark NATO's 50th anniversary, the air war against Yugoslavia has come under increasing fire as inadequate to secure an autononomous Kosovo safe for ethnic Albanians. But US, British and German leaders brushed aside growing calls to plan for a ground force option and insisted there was no reason to depart from NATO's air campaign strategy....The Washington Post, citing US intelligence reports, said there are now 7,000 more Yugoslav forces in and around Kosovo than there were when the bombing started March 24. Asserting that NATO is losing the war, Republican Senator Richard Lugar said "things are going even more poorly than one might have predicted then. It was incredible that the president started by saying no ground troops, incredible that he still is saying no planning." ...."

PRNewswire 4/18/99 "...Intelligence reports read to Newsweek say the Serbs are capable of reconstituting much of their command and control structure every 24 hours -- mainly in bunkers, which also house the Yugoslav high command. The result, Pentagon officials say, is that NATO has "degraded" only one third of the Yugoslav military. The story, part of Newsweek's April 26, 1999 coverage of Kosovo (on newsstands Monday, April 19), also reports the following: ...-- In an interview with Newsweek, former defense secretary Robert McNamara, coauthor of "Argument Without End," a new book about the mistakes of Vietnam, warns that "Bombing has distinct limitations. I don't think the current generation -- either in the capital or in the country at large -- fully understands that." ..."

stratfor.com 4/18/99 "...1813 GMT, 990418 Ekho Moskvy radio in Moscow cited RIA-Novosti news agency reports that NATO has delivered thousands of coffins to a British military base in Cyprus today. The reports suggest NATO is preparing for a ground attack and expects heavy losses...".

The Associated Press 4/18/99 "...``NATO deeply regrets the loss of life from this tragic accident,'' NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said Thursday at the alliance's daily media briefing. After Shea's introductory comments, Marani played a tape of what he said ``may be this incident.'' The F-16 pilot, who was not identified, described an attack on a three-vehicle convoy he believed to be military vehicles involved in burning villages. Since then, NATO has faced mounting criticism of its refusal to explain discrepancies between the mistaken strike it acknowledged and remains seen by journalists. NATO acknowledged hitting just one civilian vehicle, possibly a tractor on a road north of the Kosovo town Djakovica. The Serbs showed several vehicles hit on a road south of the town. In Washington, Navy Capt. Steve Pietropaoli said Saturday that the pilot heard on the tape ``is not thought to be responsible in any way for anything other than the attack that he described on a military vehicle.'' However, Pietropaoli said he did not mean there was not an accidental attack on civilians in the area. ``It appears to be that that may be the case,'' he said.

NATO's military command is refusing to offer any further details of the refugee attack pending results of an investigation...."

London Times 4/18/99 Tom Walker "...AN ecological disaster was unfolding yesterday after Nato bombed a combined petrochemicals, fertiliser and refinery complex on the banks of the Danube in the northern outskirts of Belgrade. A series of detonations that shook the whole city early yesterday sent a toxic cloud of smoke and gas hundreds of feet into the night sky. In the dawn the choking cloud could be seen spreading over the entire northern skyline....."

The Times - UK 4/19/99 William Rees-Mogg "...This is not just an American war, or an Anglo-American war. It is a Nato war. The base of public support for a ground war has to be European. The more closely one examines European opinion, the clearer it becomes that the unity of Nato extends only to the bombing campaign; it could not expect to be maintained if there were a ground invasion of Yugoslavia....Undoubtedly the attitudes of these Governments reflect public opinion and the advice of their own defence staff. They are much influenced by concerns about Russia; the German and French Governments are in more or less continuous conversations with the Russian Government. Last week the Russian Minister of Defence, Igor Sergeyev, accused Nato of preparing an imminent ground war against Yugoslavia. One of the unexpected revelations of the opening of Russian Cold War documents has been how seriously the old Soviet Union feared an American invasion. Russia is again very sensitive. The main European governments want Russia as a diplomatic ally for a negotiated peace, not as an arms supplier to Serbia in the middle of a war....."

Washington Post 4/19/99 Richard Haass "... This inherent flaw in NATO's policy has produced two camps of critics. Each puts forth alternatives designed to narrow the gap between the means and ends of policy, although in fundamentally different ways. One approach, favored by isolationists and others, argues that the West's interests do not warrant serious military involvement. They would provide some help to refugees but not remain directly involved using military force. Theirs is the Rwandan option. The shortcoming with this approach is that it does not protect the people of Kosovo. A NATO foreign policy cannot be so morally neutral if it is to retain the support of Western publics and the respect of the world's peoples. Such a narrow policy also ignores the West's interest in promoting Europe's stability. A different course, one favored by a surprising coalition of liberals and conservatives, would have the United States and NATO increase dramatically what they are prepared to do militarily to "win" this war and realize all the stated objectives in full. Here the problem is that our interests simply do not justify such a commitment in blood and treasure. Liberating all of Kosovo or using military force to oust the Milosevic regime would cost billions of dollars, produce thousands of casualties, leave U.S.-Russian relations in tatters and stretch U.S. military forces to the breaking point, leaving us ill-prepared to act on behalf of vital interests elsewhere...."

4/19/99 Reuters Freeper Thanatos "...AN ecological disaster was unfolding yesterday after Nato bombed a combined petrochemicals, fertiliser and refinery complex on the banks of the Danube in the northern outskirts of Belgrade. A series of detonations that shook the whole city early yesterday sent a toxic cloud of smoke and gas hundreds of feet into the night sky. In the dawn the choking cloud could be seen spreading over the entire northern skyline. Among the cocktail of chemicals billowing over hundreds of thousands of homes were the toxic gas phosgene, chlorine and hydrochloric acid. Workers at the industrial complex in Pancevo panicked and decided to release tons of ethylene dichloride, a carcinogen, into the Danube, rather than risk seeing it blown up...."

AP 4/18/99 William Mann "...Tens of thousands of young ethnic Albanian men - possibly as many as 100,000 - may have been killed by Serb ethnic cleansing of Kosovo, the U.S. ambassador for war crimes said Sunday. David Scheffer also said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ``certainly (is) a prime target for investigation'' as a war criminal. Milosevic has been advised of that in a letter from prosecutor Louise Arbour of the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands...."

Jewish World Review 4/19/99 Don Feder Freeper incognito "...Of what does Milosevic stand accused? Adopting brutal tactics to deal with a rebellion? Abraham Lincoln did as much. Milosevic is fighting the Kosovo Liberation Army to keep his nation intact. Lincoln went to war with secessionists to preserve the Union, which was then less than 100 years old. Kosovo has been Serbian since the 12th century...."

The Express-UK 4/19/99 Freeper Geronimo "...THE RAF warned a U.S. bomber pilot not to attack the ill-fated refugee convoy in Kosovo minutes before the raid that killed 64 innocent people. A British Harrier GR-7 pilot on a search and destroy mission radioed the American F-16 saying he could clearly see civilian vehicles among military ones after a low-level flyover. Senior defence sources say he advised the US pilot against bombing the convoy because of the risk of "collateral damage". But the American airman decided to go in for the "kill" anyway, aiming at a military vehicle at the head of the procession..."

Original Sources 4/20/99 Mary Mostert "..."We are not going to stand by and watch the Serbian authorities do in Kosovo what they can no longer get away with doing in Bosnia.." Barton Gellmon of the Washington Post quoted Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as saying to Italian Prime Minister Lamberto Dini during a stopover in Rome, March 7, 1999. She was en route to a meeting of the six outside powers known as the Contact Group on the Balkans. Madeleine Albright made that statement AFTER the Croats had ethnically cleansed the Krajina Province of it's Serb population, and AFTER she and Clinton had allowed Iranian weapons through the United Nations blockade to arm the Croatians and the Bosnian Muslims. The largest number of refugees in the former Yugoslavia, who are victims of ethnic cleansing, are the Serbs. Croatia does not list ANY other ethnic minorities, other than 5% Serb, down from its prior 14% Serb population. Slovenia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, which the American people were told fought to PREVENT ethnic cleansing, actually did the opposite. Only Yugoslavia remains an ethnically mixed state, with about 63% Serb, a percentage increase in its Serb population largely because of over 1 million refugees from Bosnia-Hercegovina, Slovenia, and Croatia. From World Almanac figures, it would appear that ALL the Albanians who lived in the break-away states are now in Kosovo - plus hundreds of thousands of new Albanians who arrived in the last 6 years. Yet, NATO has done nothing about the Serb refugees from Krajina, Croatia returning to their homes in peace, while bombing Yugoslavia to force its government to keep millions of economic refugees who fled Albania when its Stalinst government and economy disintegrated in 1991...."

Washington Times 4/19/99 Wes Pruden "...That's where Bill Clinton's trouble lies, in getting the nation and the world to take him seriously as a warrior and a leader of what the newspapers and television networks, going along with the gag, call "the allies." He's not regarded as a serious man, so nothing he does can be regarded as serious. Deadly, but not serious. He projects the gravitas of a child playing with his daddy's loaded Winchester. This is not so much a war -- the NATO bureaucrats in Brussels actually refuse to call it a war, preferring "the crisis." It's amateur night at the circus, or, to put it in terms the president might find more exciting, amateur night at the bordello. Bill Clinton presides over the gang that can't shoot straight, willing to expend the blood and bone of young men for a cause that he can't define and goals he can't describe. Nor can he and his colleagues in the kiddy korps even tell us how much "the crisis" will cost. Estimates of the NATO unpleasantness campaign against Yugoslavia were first put at $3 billion to $4 billion. Nobody believes that, as Madeleine Albright, the captain of the Pep Squad, learned to her chagrin Thursday...."

The Times Of India 4/20/99 K Subrahmanyam Freeper lyonesse "....The US politicians, media and academia are now calling for an intensification of the war because they do not want to accept that their leadership blundered. In their view, America must win and cannot accept defeat. Therefore, for blunders committed by the American leadership, the Serbs and Kosovars must die. This is the approach of western `humanitarianism'. Some superficial minds compare this US bombing with the Indian action in Bangladesh. India sheltered ten million refugees on its soil for months while the US is putting 20,000 Kosovars behind barbed wire in Guantanomo bay outside US soil. India did not bomb Bangladesh or Pakistani infrastructural targets or release carcinogenic substances into rivers. Above all, 3,954 Indian officers and men laid down their lives in battle to liberate Bangladesh...."

NewMax.com 4/19/99 Jon Dougherty "...Over the weekend another report surfaced which said, basically, that the Serbs have been inflicting a number of casualties upon U.S. and NATO forces but the Allies are sneaking the dead home. According to the report, which admittedly was from Tanjug, a Serbian news agency, about 30 or so American and NATO pilots who have been shot down and killed in action in the skies over Yugoslavia were being sent to a