[I didn't even know Britain had 50,000 troops. This puts a whole new slant on Clinton's call for 90,000 -- the combined forces would be at least theoretically in the ballpark of what military planners have said is a viable force.]
[By the way, a couple of days ago German Greens accused NATO of having had a secret meeting with exactly this agenda, and they were angrily denounced by Scharping and Fischer for making baseless accusations.]
NATO ministers reportedly consider a 150,000-troop Kosovo invasion
force
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Agence France-Press
LONDON (May 29, 1999 6:54 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A
secret meeting this past week of the five senior NATO defense
ministers included discussions of using a 150,000-troop invasion force
for Kosovo, including 50,000 British soldiers, two London newspapers
reported Sunday.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen flew to Bonn for the unannounced
meeting, also attended by British Defense Secretary George Robertson
and ministers from France, Germany and Italy, said The Sunday
Telegraph and the Observer.
Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed the meeting had taken place
Thursday, on the margins of a gathering of European defense ministers,
but denied that any discussion had taken place about a 150,000-strong
invasion force.
A ministry spokesman said that the only discussions involving ground
forces were in relation to the proposed enhancement of the planned
international peacekeeping force from 28,000 to up to 48,000 agreed to
last week by NATO.
"There was certainly no discussion of figures in relation to options
other than that already agreed by NATO," the spokesman said.
However, The Sunday Telegraph quoted senior ministry of defense
officials as saying that Britain was now working on contingency plans
for sending up to 50,000 British personnel to the Balkans.
According to the newspaper, a spokesman for Robertson told it that the
defense ministers also had spoken about "other options" than an
international peacekeeping force.
They decided to intensify the air war but also looked at options for a
ground invasion, said The Sunday Telegraph.
The ministers were told that General Wesley Clark, NATO's commander in
Europe, estimated that a total force of 150,000 would be required to
eject the Serbs from Kosovo if Belgrade refused to accept NATO's terms
by late summer, it added.
Britain has been privately pressing other NATO members for weeks to
face up to the likely need to send ground troops into combat in the
Serbian province, said The Sunday Telegraph.
Another London newspaper, meanwhile, reported that the British army is
preparing to call up civilian doctors and nurses to serve in Kosovo as
it is faced with the mounting prospect of a ground invasion.
The Sunday Times said that Robertson wants call-up papers issued to
hundreds of state-employed doctors and nurses and other medical staff
with military ties.
A total of 390 medics were called up during preparations for the 1990
Gulf War. They complemented 700 reservist volunteers with medical
qualifications.
Robertson argues that larger numbers may be needed if British forces
enter Kosovo because they will have to tend to thousands of sick and
hungry Kosovars as well as caring for military casualties, said The
Sunday Times.
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Copyright © 1999 Nando Media