Crofton Online: Winning in Kosovo

Allies Nearing Total Victory in Kosovo; Ethnic Cleansing Abruptly Stopped; Rebuilding to Begin

Tabloids, GOP frustration builds; President Clinton again out smarts opponents

As the Baltimore Sun (BS) and its fellow tabloids keep up their daily attacks on the President and U.S. allies, the war effort is going so well that preparations are already under way for the postwar rebuilding effort, although you could hardly tell it from the one sided news reporting in the United States.

Every day the American public is bombarded with video of civilian casualties and smart bombs gone astray, as the Republicans in Congress [see Ehrlich Flip Flops] attempt to use their 'Monica Lewinsky' tactic to beat the President politically. To no one's surprise, they are failing miserably.

What the BS and the GOP can't understand is a foreign policy based on morality rather than just self interest.

The U.S. invaded Iraq to reinstate one dictator who had been overthrown by another dictator. Why? We all know the answer: oil. The U.S. invaded Panama because Manuel Noriega knew about CIA links to drug trafficking begun when George Bush was the Director of the CIA. And the U.S. invaded Grenada because ... does anyone really know why? We needed to be distracted from Ronald Reagan's rapidly spreading Alzheimers? Or the multi-billion dollar savings and loan taxpayer ripoff? So naturally people are perplexed by America's first war since World War II based on morality rather than self interest. Like Adolf Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic has been exploiting the misplaced nationalism of his countrymen in a campaign of "ethnic cleansing," which is clearly the moral equivalent of Hitler's "final solution to the Jewish question." The United States and its allies bent over backwards striving for a diplomatic solution that would protect the targets of Milosevic's atrocities, while the Republicans kibitzed from the sidelines, criticizing President Clinton for not taking a tough enough stand. When other efforts failed and the decision was made to use force in a clearly humanitarian effort, the Republicans began complaining that we weren't immediately sending in ground troops. The GOP hoped to pressure the Allies into a premature ground war which would have resulted in heavy American casualties. They could then attack the President as America grieved for its dead. President Clinton has clearly out smarted his opponents. Again. Not really that difficult when you recall that the GOP leadership wasted a full year of the nation's attention and resources demanding to know "Who did the President touch, and where did he touch her?" They are now reduced to ranting about the "draft dodger in the White House" and to attacking Hillary for having the gall to be an independent woman. The truth is, the NATO effort in Kosovo is based on very solid moral ground. We are there to prevent a new millennium Europe from developing based on Adolf Hitler's ideas. Militarily we are proceeding in a way that minimizes both American military casualties and Serbian civilian casualties. We are winning, in part because of our superior military technology, and in part because we have the support of the entire NATO alliance and the vast majority of Europeans. As a nation we must now begin the rebuilding effort. The innocent victims of Milosevic's terror must be made whole to the greatest extent possible. We must all help. And we must try the war criminals so that any other world 'leaders' who might be tempted to move down the path of false nationalism will understand what will await them if they try. We welcome your response. Back to Crofton Online