Time for US to get tough with Milosevic
By Bob Dole, 08/12/98
The recent history of the Balkans has been one
of promises made and promises broken. No doubt US and European diplomats
would think of broken promises from Balkan leaders such as Slobodan Milosevic.
But they, too, have made countless promises that went unfulfilled.
The most important among
these were made by two American presidents. As war raged in Bosnia in December
1992, President Bush promised that military force would be used if Serbia
instigated attacks in Kosovo. President Bill Clinton repeated that "Christmas
warning" soon after entering office. More recently he pledged that the
United States would not allow another Bosnia to take place in Kosovo.
Despite these promises,
NATO planes remain in their hangars as Serbian forces pound scores of villages,
towns, and cities in Kosovo and drive tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians
from their homes. Many of these people have been living in the hills in
blazing heat with no water, shelter, food, or medicine.
The reaction of the
United States to this outrageous and barbaric action has been to look the
other way. Apparently hoping that the world had forgotten Bush and Clinton's
promises, US officials have done nothing.
Indeed, US officials
were anonymously quoted as saying that they hoped that this Serbian show
of force would make the Kosovar Albanians sit down and negotiate with Milosevic,
the man who has masterminded their slaughter - and that of the Bosnians
before them.
The United States should
have sent a message to Milosevic that unless his forces pulled out of Kosovo,
we would once again lead NATO to take any necessary military action. Instead,
Washington sent an envoy to extract promises from Milosevic that he would
allow humanitarian aid to reach the people whose homes he has burned. Even
if Milosevic fulfills this promise, the US and its allies will have achieved
precisely what the United Nations achieved in Bosnia: feeding the victims
of Milosevic's war machine.
The only explanation
for this weak and ineffectual response is that the Clinton administration
and key European leaders have accepted US envoy Dick Holbrooke's view that
Slobodan Milosevic is the key to peace. This sort of convoluted logic is
only possible in the corridors of places like the United Nations, where
diplomats are reluctant to speak the truth for fear it may offend even
the worst of dictators.
The fact is that Slobodan
Milosevic is the source of war and, therefore, the obstacle to peace. It
is Milosevic who imposed martial law on the Kosovar Albanians and revoked
their autonomy a decade ago. It is Milosevic who ordered the Yugoslav Army
to attack Slovenia and Croatia. It is Milosevic's generals who razed and
ravaged the city of Vukovar, killed its hospital patients, and dumped the
bodies in a mass grave. It is Milosevic's henchmen, Radovan Karadzic and
Ratko Mladic, who waged a bloody war of aggression in Bosnia, displaced
two million people, and killed more than 250,000 - including 17,000 children.
Slobodan Milosevic is
no more the key to peace than Pol Pot was in Cambodia, or Saddam Hussein
is in Iraq.
In these troubled waters,
the US Congress has once again waded through the diplomatic mud, found
the facts, and sought to take appropriate action. Three weeks ago, the
US Senate unanimously approved a bipartisan resolution sponsored by Senators
Alfonse D'Amato and Joseph Lieberman.
This resolution calls
for the US to provide the UN War Crimes Tribunal with all war crimes evidence,
in particular that related to Milosevic's culpability for crimes against
humanity. It also calls for the Tribunal to indict Milosevic if sufficient
evidence is found and for US officials to cease any contact with him.
This is a bold step
in the right direction. It is high time to stop treating Milosevic as if
he is anything but the key to instability, aggression, and genocide in
the Balkans.
As a next step, President
Clinton should immediately and publicly repeat the Christmas warning to
Milosevic; demand that his forces cease their attacks; and give him a firm
deadline for the withdrawal of his troops from Kosovo. Only with a genuine
cease-fire and a complete pull-out of Serb military and security forces
can genuine negotiations begin.
The US should support
a solution that provides the Kosovar Albanians with self-determination
and full political rights and civil liberties. An internationally guaranteed
republic with the same standing of Montenegro and Serbia could be an acceptable
solution.
In addition, US envoys
should immediately cease their efforts to replace the legitimately elected
Kosovar leaders with former communists. While these ex-communists may be
more amenable to certain options preferred by US diplomats and Milosevic,
they do not enjoy the trust of the Kosovars. Without the support of the
people no deal will be lasting.
Furthermore, it is time
the US recognizes that we are not only on the brink of a regional war,
but also of a humanitarian catastrophe. Washington should thus bolster
its military actions by leading a humanitarian airlift to Pristina. With
winter rapidly approaching and more than 260,000 Kosovars without shelter
and adequate food or medicine, there must be a concerted effort to provide
for these internally displaced people, as well as refugees in Montenegro
and Albania.
Keeping the promises
that this country's leadership has made not to allow a second Bosnia to
happen is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.
It will save the Kosovar Albanians from further genocide, and spare the
United States from becoming involved in a full-scale conflict beyond the
borders of Kosovo.
Bob Dole is chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons in Bosnia and a former US senator from Kansas. He was the Republican presidential nominee in 1996.
This story ran on page A19 of the Boston Globe
on 08/12/98
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
senden