To whom...,
If any of you caught Sandy Berger on the Lehrer News Hour you heard my suspicion confirmed that this is not a war with a "why?" so much as a "why not?." He put forward the idea that "If Milosovic doesn't pull out and stop the bombing he will lose Kosovo anyway." I love how Milosovic can stop the bombing as easy a flicking a light switch in the Administration's spin. When questioned further Berger explained that since the Milosovic military machine was the only way he could hold on to Kosovo, the destruction of that machine would mean an end to his ability to control Kosovo. The anchor was smart enough to realize that this meant not tacit, but direct support for the KLA in *their* effort to establish an independent Kosovo. Berger did not, or at least only partially. He started on about how the U.S. supported democracy in Kosovo and this and that about "opposition groups" ("groups" mind, you, not "group") but also hinted that the KLA weren't such bad guys.
Of course the KLA is the *only* native military that will take over a Kosovo not dominated by Serbia, that's clear. Compared to supporting the KLA, supporting Diem was simple genius. It is inevitable as night following day the KLA will be operating in Kosovo as soon as the Serbs are out. It is also incredibly clear that NATO will come to find the KLA distasteful. That insures that whatever government NATO try to conjure will be constantly undermined by KLA insurgency and political pressure. Albania, from which the KLA will certainly operate since the Albanians have neither the means nor the will to stop it, will then become involved. If Berger and his boys get to work their "strategy" we might actually end up with a strong, endemic Kurd/Kosovar/Albanian drug-financed political insurgency that will make the Balkans as livable as Colombia.
It's difficult to comprehend the kind of deep-rooted pig ignorance that informs the thinking of these ivory tower buttonheads, but I'll try: Clinton needs something to get our minds off rape allegations and his contempt of court citation so he brings the "concept" to NATO and they figure "Sure, a little saber rattling at Russia? Why not? It will be fun to tell them to get stuffed. It's kinda like getting to crash through the Iron Curtain, but without all that worry about New York or London getting vaporized." I truly believe that this favorably portrays the extent of the thinking that went into the Yugoslavia bombing campaign. What's going to be funny will be the terrible looks of surprise and disillusionment on the faces of the politicos when both sides, Serb and Albanian, start firing on the NATO ground troops. Forget C. Redmond's advice to buy the stock of the big Euro-Conglomerates. I say buy stock in the Eastern European companies that make sniper rifles.
peace