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Letters to the Editors

From: Richard M. Carpenter Subject: Kosovo

The war is won, send in the troops!

This declaration of victory seems premature. Perhaps this is just
standard for an administration prone to smoke-and-mirrors foreign
policy. Prompted are memories of Somalia, when President Clinton staged
a photo-op to declare victory. He surrounded himself with
camouflage-clad soldiers and staged a dramatic storming of the White
House lawn. At the time we were introducing more Special Forces into the
country for an ill-defined mission of hunting warlords. A few weeks
later we took heavy casualties in a firefight and watched the corpses of
our soldiers drug through the streets. That was the real end of
involvement in Somalia.

Military conflicts are not over until we disengage the enemy. We are
currently introducing more troops into a more dangerous and ill-defined
mission. The idea of getting out is not even conceivable.

Kosovo cannot be returned to Serbian control. Even if Milosevic is
ousted, he will likely be replaced with someone equally as sinister. The
Serb people are not inclined to live and let live. That means we must
establish in Kosovo a government and a military capable of holding back
the Serbs once international forces leave, a potentially endless task.
The KLA are currently exacting severe retribution. They are a long way
from becoming either a responsible political, or disciplined military,
force.

Policing Kosovo is a waste of US resources as well as the worlds. We are
the superpower. We are the only nation capable of projecting sufficient
power into the world's hot spots. With our current deployments in
Yugoslavia, and related logistical support, bogged down indefinitely we
risk being spread too thin to be an effective deterrent in the Middle
East, the Prattle's or Korea. Don't forget our presence in Haiti, but at
least that is in our own hemisphere.

The Eurasia should handle this police stuff by themselves, and leave our
troops to protect their oil supply and commerce in the Pacific Rim

Those silly Serbs think Kosovo is part of the "Serbian Mythology." Their
opaque quest to reunite the traditional Serbian homeland (which seems to
entail anywhere a Serb has ever pitched a tent). Little did they know
that Kosovo is part of our "manifest destiny"

We could make Kosovo the 51st state. By the time we finish dumping money
and blood into this hole in old Byzantium we could at least expect some
tax revenue from the lucrative gambling operations that would surely
spring up around their soon to be popular ski resorts. Who wouldn't want
to ski slopes with names like "Soccer field cemetery" or the "Bones of
separated men" runs. And you can't forget the black diamond "Vodka and
Mortars" slope.

I am not predicting heavy casualties or a Somalia-like exit in Kosovo. I
simply believe this is a premature declaration of victory and a waste of
the planet's best military assets. I also doubt our ability to create a
Kosovo that can govern and defend itself after the UN leaves. The
various factions in the Balkans have a historic record of waiting out
interlopers in their grudge match and picking up where they left off.
Until we leave and Kosovo fends off the impending Serb assault there is
no victory

President Clinton has taken the easy out: celebrate alleged personal
success, wallow in some self generated glory and let the next president
worry about how to get out. In the Clinton administration the buck stops
at the strippers G-string.

From: Bongo Fury Subject: Kosovo

A Centrist is one whose views fall more in the middle.

Anyone who does not share the rabid ideologies of the fringe is usually
labeled as having "no core", by these fringe elements. This includes
both far-right and far-left camps. While it is easy to pass this off as
only following "the polls", the fact is that polling can be quite
scientific, if properly done. While having a President who actually
considers the will of the people may be horrendous to some, I feel much
better knowing that we have a President who considers the people of the
nation and not just his/her own interpretation of what America is and
should be.

Clinton's involvement in Kosovo certainly didn't follow any poll. He
took the action he did because he felt it was the right thing to do and
the best way to do it. The GOP, on the other hand, certainly rallied all
of their troops together in order to oppose this action. They fell over
each other in their zeal to get before any camera or microphone in order
to denounce it as "unworkable", in order to skew public opinion (a.k.a.
"polls") to their way of thinking. Clinton continued in spite of their
misguided efforts, and against "the polls", and reached his objective as
planned. The first major engagement of the U.S. Military without a
single combat-related fatality to our forces.

Clinton did this in accordance with the NATO Alliance, with which we are
a member by treaty. By doing so, Clinton kept the word of this nation,
while the GOP was screaming for him not to do so. I'd say Clinton showed
quite clearly who had the true Moral Character to lead this great
nation, and who didn't.

Others may recall Brown vs. Board of Education and Strom Thurmond
raising the Confederate Battle flag of Lee's 7th Army of Northern
Virginia atop the South Carolina State house the day the decision was
finalized (were it continues to fly to this day). Many will recall
seeing Bull Connor turn the fire hoses on the not-so-white citizens of
Birmingham, Alabama. Sadly, the list goes on and on.

The actions of some local politicians concerning public funding of
religious schools in direct conflict with our Constitution shows that
some of these "people" still to this day cannot be trusted to uphold the
Rights of all of our citizens.

I truly believe that, left to their own devices, some states would
actually resurrect slavery and choose "leaders" by a puff of white smoke
from the newly-constructed state house chimneys.