Letter to President Clinton on U.S. Participation in NATO Military Action Concerning Kosovo

Washington -- Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich), Ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the attached letter to President Clinton from Members of Congress who accompanied Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen to NATO Headquarters in Brussels and to Aviano and Ramstein Air Force Bases on April 7-8.

Attachment

April 9, 1999

The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We want to share a few thoughts with you following our return from Europe where we accompanied Secretary Cohen to meetings in Brussels with General Clark, Secretary General Solana and the Permanent Representatives from our NATO allies, as well as visits to Aviano and Ramstein Air Force Bases to see our troops.

We were generally encouraged by the strong statements of support by all our NATO allies for pursuing NATO's policy objectives and their deep understanding of the strategic interests and values of freedom those objectives reflect. We were also most pleased by Secretary Cohen's comments and actions in support of these objectives as well as his strong insistence to our allies that they bear an appropriate and significant share of the burden and risks of NATO's mission in Kosovo.

Even assuming the success of the air campaign to significantly degrade Milosevic's military capability, there is less certainty that NATO's broader objectives in Kosovo (removal of Milosevic's troops and return of refugees with international protection) will be achieved.

As a result, we believe a number of steps would be appropriate.

• It is important for the Administration to reinforce the point to the American public that NATO's efforts could require many more weeks or months to succeed. (That would also have the possible salutary effect of driving home the point to Milosevic that the damage his military has sustained in the first three weeks is just the beginning of what he should expect.)
• The American public also needs to be better prepared for the likelihood of Alliance casualties. The success to date of avoiding casualties has been extraordinary but there is little likelihood that the required military operations can be sustained without casualties, and the public needs to accept that eventuality.
• While our focus is on accomplishing the current mission of significantly degrading Milosevic's military capability through an intense air campaign, we believe it prudent for the U.S. to urge NATO to plan for additional military missions, including the use of ground forces, in the event that proves necessary to carry out such missions to achieve NATO's broader objective -- reversing Milosevic's genocidal actions in Kosovo.

We support the position you have taken that NATO's success is in our vital national interests and critical to basic values that Americans hold dear. We are firmly resolved that NATO succeed.

Sincerely,
Senator Levin, Senator McCain, Senator Lieberman, Senator Hagel,
Senator Reed, Senator Hutchinson, Representative Buyer,
Representative Skelton, Representative Tauscher, Representative Turner