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D. 11th Hour Diplomacy
After Sandy Berger reported his advisers recommendation, President Clinton accepted the call to bomb. On Thursday he called U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had strongly favored military action. Blair’s Foreign Minister would host a Contact Group diplomatic strategy session in London on January 28 while NATO ministers met in Brussels to prepare a military response. Both groups declared publicly that Milosevic must accept KFOR, up to 30,000 NATO-led armed peacekeepers in Kosovo. The Contact Group demanded a safe return of all refugees and Yugoslav cooperation with a war crimes tribunal investigation of the Racak killings. NATO openly threatened air strikes if Milosevic refused to grant substantial autonomy to Kosovo. The British and French agreed to deploy peacekeeping troops. France and Germany agreed to expand NATO's mandate, but still pressed for approval by or at least notice to the U.N. Security Council.
A fresh clash with police left 23 rebels dead at Rugova. The "Director of Central Intelligence, predicted in Congressional testimony in February that there would be a major spring offensive by the Serbs in Kosovo and huge refugee flows."38
In an effort to achieve a European "Dayton," the allies summoned KLA and Yugoslav representatives to Rambouillet, France. Milosevic never joined the talks. Both sides rejected the proposed settlement despite Albright's personal intervention. On the home front, Clinton's impeachment ordeal ended with the Senate vote on February 12.
After seventeen days at Rambouillet the recalcitrant negotiators were granted a recess and two week extension. The Albanian negotiators then dropped their demand for a referendum on independence and agreed to three years of "autonomy" within Serbia. At a March 13 meeting in the White House, Clinton's advisers learned that Yugoslavia categorically rejected a NATO peacekeeping mission. The rebels signed an eighty-page agreement professing respect for Yugoslavia's territorial integrity, but also obtained allied support for regional autonomy.
NATO military commander Clark deplored further delay that would allow preparation for ethnic cleansing. The Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair predicted a refugee catastrophe. Clinton however responded to the European foreign ministers' appeal for diplomacy by sending Holbrooke to Belgrade for a final March 23 session with Milosevic. Holbrooke recalled the following exchange as their fruitless meeting ended:
when I leave this room, if you have not accepted the position that the United States and our NATO and Contact Group allies and friends, including the Russians, put forward at Rambouillet, is it clear to you that NATO bombing of this country will start immediately and it will be -- and I used the three words deliberately and after consultations with the Pentagon -- swift, severe, and sustained?
. . .
Milosevic said: "I understand this. You will bomb us. There's nothing I can do to prevent it."39
On March 24 the U.S. Commander in Chief ordered the launch of Operation Allied Force, NATO airstrikes against Serbian forces. He reported personally to Congressional leaders. In a television address to the nation Clinton recognized Kosovo was a province of Serbia, but added that American national interest justified intervention to prevent a wider conflict. Clinton noted the Milosevic regime’s intransigence towards numerous diplomatic attempts to solve the Kosovo problem and the urgent need to act quickly in order to prevent Bosnia like bloodshed due to ongoing Serb aggression against the Kosvars. Russia's premier heard the news while en route to Washington and ordered his plane back to Moscow. You may wish to consider his rationale by reading the text and/or by listening to a recording of the President's speech. Does the President identify both geopolitical/strategic as well as human rights interests to justify war? Why would he state: "I do not intend to put our troops in Kosovo to fight a war."?
Practice Questions: Before reading further, answer the study questions for this section and then review the correct responses to assess your comprehension and to practice critical thinking skills.
