A L S O+T O D A Y Arm the KLA? By Laura Rozen Watching what looks like genocide, a growing chorus begins to ask whether it's time to arm Kosovar rebels "Pec is burning! Where are the ground troops?" By David Brauchli An AP photographer who fled Yugoslavia at the 11th hour reports on the horror in Kosovo Humanitarian enclave? By Daryl Lindsey Experts debate NATO's options for protecting Kosovar Albanians without a massive commitment of ground troops Soldiers missing in action NATO and the Pentagon report that three U.S. troops may have been captured during a reconnaissance mission   T A B L E+T A L K Kevorkian's conviction: Was it a boon or a bomb to the assisted suicide movement? Join in the fray in the Social Issues area of Table Talk   Find deep discounts and great selection on the books you need to read at barnesandnoble.com Search by:  Keyword Title Author       R E C E N T L Y Beginner's guide to the Balkans By Laura Rozen A week ago, few Americans could find Kosovo on a map. What's behind the crisis Clinton's committed to solve Kosovo update By Laura Rozen Macedonian officials leave hundreds of Kosovo Albanian refugees stranded Bombing the baby with the bath water By Veran Matic Each missile worsens the humanitarian disaster that NATO is supposed to be preventing Milosevic's proposal The Yugoslav president says he's ready to stop his campaign against Kosovar Albanians and take his place at the negotiating table, but only if NATO halts its airstrikes Endgame? By Jeff Stein As the crisis spirals out of control, everybody scrambles for a quick solution. Everybody but Milosevic (03/30/99) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		LIMP WILLY? | PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - Many human rights advocates maintain that the time is long overdue for the United States to adopt clear guidelines for humanitarian intervention. So far, President Clinton has actually remained fairly consistent, in that he has consistently drifted into one foreign policy crisis after another, rather than steering a clear course. The Clinton administration never took the time to present a strategic argument to justify the current need for humanitarian intervention, or outline how this intervention would achieve its goals. And those looking for a "Clinton Doctrine" will be disappointed. The administration has certainly never articulated a set of guidelines on when to intervene and when not to. Genocide has not been a reason to intervene before. The Clinton administration has stood by while genocide occurred at least twice. In 1994, by Clinton's own belated admission last year, the administration watched by satellite as at least 500,000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda's genocide. And in 1995, as he acknowledged last week, the United States and other NATO member states did nothing to stop the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica. One place the Clinton administration did intervene to stop a mass tragedy was in Somalia, and that 1993 experience is one reason the president resists deploying ground troops anywhere. The Somalia intervention began under President Bush, who in 1992 ordered U.S. military forces to the clan-split African country, trying to provide order for a besieged relief effort. Bush even visited U.S. forces there near Christmas as one of his last official acts. But Clinton paid the price months later when Somalia clansmen killed 29 U.S. Marines and Army Special Forces "Green Berets." The tragic loss still limits the Clinton administration's options. Surprisingly, Zakaria, the de facto dean of the contemporary realist school of thought about the use of U.S. power, says that Somalia should stand as a model for future intervention. "It was in and out," he says, with the modest objective of trying to help distribute food to starving people, rather than intervention in an internal crisis. But even among Clinton's fractious critics, who disagree with each other about what to do next in Kosovo, there's consensus that the current policy is failing fast. Bombing alone is "too little, too late," says Bianca Jagger -- who has long advocated for intervention to stop Serbian aggression in the Balkans -- by telephone from London. Zakaria says the current policy is "futile." And Burkhalter worries that ground troops might be too late, as Milosevic "may have already accomplished his goal" of driving out most of the ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo. SALON | April 1, 1999 Frank Smyth, a former investigative consultant for Human Rights Watch, wrote about Western countries arming Rwanda just before its 1994 genocide in Foreign Affairs. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - War in Kosovo Salon's complete coverage.