Eva, thanks, here is the reprint:
Controversial plan to arm Kosovar rebels draws fire
by Andrew Miga
Saturday, March 27, 1999
Boston Herald
WASHINGTON - As NATO bombs began hitting Yugoslavia, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
was among the first to float an intriguing plan: arming Kosovar Albanian rebels
in war-torn Kosovo against the Serbs.
``We could conceivably arm the Albanians,'' said Kerry. ``That may be their
fight for independence.'' Several other politicians, diplomats and former
Cabinet officials such as Zbigniew Brezinski, the former national security
adviser to President Carter, also chimed in, signaling support for arming
Kosovar rebels this week.
Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), offered a
proposal yesterday to spend $25 million to build up the Kosovo Liberation Army
if the airstrikes failed to halt the Serbs' aggression.
``I'm sure that we spent more than $25 million the first night of bombing,''
McConnell said.
But what kind of ally would America, and NATO, be gaining?
The Kosovo Liberation Army has ties to Islamic fundamentalist groups and
European organized crime that could be hard for many Americans to swallow.
Muslim extremists in Iran and elsewhere have provided military support for the
KLA, according to congressional sources. The Kosovo guerillas are not directly
aligned with Islamic fundamentalist movements, however. Their aim is a free
Kosovo.
Money has also flowed to the Kosovar rebels from organized criminal elements in
Europe, the sources added.
The KLA's unsavory allies underscore the complexity allied leaders face as they
pursue peace in the volatile mix of ethnic, nationalistic and religious
passions that dominate the Balkans.
Kerry's informal proposal, on its face, could permit NATO forces to avoid a
ground war as Kosovo guerillas take up the fight against Serb aggression in the
province of Serbia.
A bipartisan group of senators Thursday announced plans to file a bill that
would earmark $25 million to arm and equip the Kosovars so they can defend
themselves.
The White House yesterday was cool to the idea of arming the KLA, insisting
that NATO air strikes would prove effective against Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic.
``We are pursuing a different track right now ... that lessens the military
clashes in Kosovo rather than increase them,'' said Clinton spokesman Joe
Lockhart. ``We are trying to demilitarize Kosovo and remove weapons, rather
than increase the flow of weapons there.''
Other voices on Capitol Hill echoed the White House line.
Kerry's Bay State colleague Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), through a
spokesman, said the senator opposed arming the KLA, or having Congress consider
taking any other action that might undermine the ongoing NATO air strikes.
The lightly armed Kosovo Liberation Army, which has less than 15,000 guerillas
spread out across a province roughly the size of Connecticut, wages a
hit-and-run warfare against Serb repression. Most are armed with AK-47 assault
rifles.
Some 90 percent of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian, the remaining 10
percent is mostly Serbian.
The White House said the KLA is not using NATO air attacks as a pretext for
launching new raids against Serb oppressors.
``The bulk of this is initiated by the Serb forces,'' said Lockhart.
This fact was just the opposite, until the barbarian believers - with the aid and comfort of American bombing - drove hundreds of thousands of Yugoslavians from Kosovo.
Excerpt: The bishop emphasized that prior to March 17 of this year 115 Orthodox churches and monasteries had already been destroyed, and on March 17 an additional 30. 'To date not a single perpetrator has been found. Over 3,500 Serbs have been abducted or murdered. All this occurred not during a time of war but under the eyes of the international community.