Milosevic stays defiant despite NATO air strikes
ivusuvu from page 1
gets were hit in the first waves, but he
claimed that damage was “minimal ”
Explosions resounded in Kosovo’s
capital of Pristina starting at 7:55 p.m.
(12:55 p.m. CST), and the city of
280,000 was plunged into darkness
when the electricity failed The official
Tanjug news agency reported four
heavy blasts in the city, including three
from the area of Slatina airport.
More than a dozen explosions were
heard around Belgrade, the Yugoslav
capital, including some near Batajnica
military airport and one near a power
plant
In neighboring Montenegro, which
with Serbia forms Yugoslavia, an army
military barracks in Danilovgrad was in
flames after being hit One soldier was
reported killed and three others were
wounded, officials said Serbian televi
sion said several civilians were wound
ed in attacks throughout the country.
Montenegro’s pro-Western leader,
Milo Djukanovic, blamed Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic for the
attacks, calling them “the tragic conse
quences of an irrational policy of con
frontation with the entire world”
Reporters were not immediately
able to get to the targets to see the
effects of the strikes. The center of
Belgrade was quiet and not hit, and
state-media reported early Thursday
that the air alert had been called off.
But at least four more cruise mis
siles were later fired from two U.S.
ships in the Adriatic Sea, the first from
the vessels since the attack began six
hours earlier.
NATO bombing targets were
spread throughout the country. In
Kosovo, the targets appeared to be at
least 15 miles from Pristina, in areas
where it is dangerous to travel at night.
During the bombardment, about 25
foreign journalists on the roof of the
Hyatt Hotel in Belgrade were detained
by police. Some were later released.
CNN said those detained included four
of its producers and photographers.
In Belgrade, many military-age
men left their homes, spending the
night with friends to avoid the draft
“This is serious, but I don’t want to
be killed without knowing why,” said
Filp Pavicevic, 30, as he packed his bag
to take refuge in another apartment.
Scores of cruise missiles and one
ton bombs were fired at Yugoslav tar
gets. Dozens of warplanes were used,
including six U.S. B-52 bombers and
two B-2 stealth bombers.
“We are attacking the military
infrastructure that President Milosevic
and his forces are using to repress and
kill innocent people,” U.S. Secretary of
Defense William Cohen said in
Washington. “NATO forces are not
attacking the people ofYugoslavia.” '
A NATO spokesman in Naples,
Italy, denied a claim by Pavkovic that
two NATO planes had been shot down.
“We have not - repeat not - lost an air
craft,” Capt. Steve Burnett told the
British Broadcasting Corp.
German Defense Minister Rudolf
Scharping said without elaborating that
Yugoslav planes were shot down.
The NATO bombings drew harsh
condemnation from Russian President
Boris Yeltsin, who ordered his nation to
pull out of its partnership with NATO
and warned of possible farther steps to
protest the airstrikes.
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Reactions to NATO bombings of Yugoslavia mixed
REACTION from page 1
ing the president’s and NATO’s inter
national credibility,” he said.
The airstrikes could strengthen
Serbian support for Slobodan
Milosevic, he said, and could also
accelerate the slaughter of ethnic
Albanians by Serbian forces.
Whatever happens, Bereuter said,
forcing ethnic Albanians bent on free
dom and Serbian forces aligned
against them to sign a peace agree
ment will probably fail.
“It’s a peace-enforcement mission
and therefore likely to not be success
ful,” he said.
Fellow Republican Reps. Lee
Terry and Bill Barrett both said they
have not supported sending troops,
but they backed the forces that are
now committed.
“Whether or not I or anyone else
agrees with the politics or the reason
ing behind the attack is no longer the
issue,” Barrett said. “Now that the
bombing has begun, I support our
forces over there 110 percent.”
He said he hopes Milosevic comes
to his senses soon and agrees to a
peaceful solution.
Both Sens. Chuck Hagel and Bob
Kerrey voted Tuesday for a Senate
resolution supporting NATO
airstrikes.
“Actions have consequences.
Non-actions have consequences,”
Hagel said in remarks on the Senate
floor Tuesday. “History will judge us
harshly if we do not take action to stop
this rolling genocide.”
Kerrey told The Associated Press
the United States had to join its allies
in the airstrikes, but he does not sup
port sending U.S. troops.
“It’s important for us to know
when the answer is ‘no,’” he said.
David Forsythe, UNL professor of
political science, shared concetns that
ground troops could be committed.
He said he had read of accounts of
Serbs setting fire to a city in Kosovo.
Such tactics could require ground
forces, he said.
He said he and students in his
United Nations class have focused on
international legal issues.
“If we get bogged down, this
whole thing is going to come back to
haunt the Clinton administration,” he
said. “On the other hand, there’s noth
ing that succeeds like success.”
If the operation is successful, he
said, it could set a new precedent for
humanitarian intervention. If not, the
United States could be open to politi
cal and psychological sanctions.
“There’s not a clear rule about when
outside parties can go in and stop
atrocities.”
NATO forces are proceeding
without authorization from the United
Nations Security Council, he said.
One of his students, sophomore
political science major Alyssa Archer,
said the bombing is scary.
“It’s such a gray area, whether we
are even justified in going over there,”
she said. “We really don’t have any
legal standing to go over there, espe
cially with Russia’s veto in the
Security Council.”
If the United States is going to
apply moral stances, it should do so in
a more even-handed manner, she said.
For example, the United States is not
involved in civil wars in the western
African nation of Sierra Leone.
But Tomas Balco, a student from
the Czech Republic who is studying
international relations and interna
tional economics during his one-year
Robitschek Scholar program, sees no
gray area.
“There is no right on their side,”
he said. “There is nothing that actual
ly authorizes NATO to perform the
strikes.”
Only the Security Council could
give NATO the right to attack, he said.
Contrary to the arguments made
by the Clinton administration, he said,
the attack will only bring more insta
bility to the region. He cited strong
objections from Russia and China as
examples.
His own country, which just
joined NATO, is sending a hospital to
the fighting area instead of an armed
force, he said.
“I don’t think that a bomb is a
message of peace,” he said.
He said the problems in Kosovo
should have been dealt with earlier.
“The international community
starts to solve problems when it’s too
late - when the conflict has gone too
far and people start dying,” he said.
The solution he would offer now
would be a cease-fire followed by a
Security Council Resolution autho
rizing a peacekeeping force.
But UNL Political Science
Professor Bill Avery said the United
States should stabilize the area, stop
the killing and make sure the killing
• __ k
won’t start again.
“I think what Clinton is trying to
do here is stop the killing, and then get
Milosevic back to the negotiation
table,” he said. “Some people negoti
ate better when they have a gun to
their head.”
Although there are questions
about attacking a nation that did not
attack another, die United States has a
responsibility to contain regional con
flicts to prevent them from becoming
global, he said.
Nick Medlock, a junior political
science major, said he thinks the
bombing was the right policy to pur
sue, but he disagrees with Clinton’s
arguments that the conflict could
escalate to a global level.
“We can’t allow Milosevic to just
slaughter people in Kosovo,” he said.
“I generally agree with his view on the
necessity of the airstrikes. I differ with
him a little bit on the strength of the’
threat.”
The Kosovo conflict particularly
interests him because he will join the
military after graduation, he said.
Medlock is in Air Force ROTC at
«
Its a peace
enforcement mission
and therefore likely
to not be successful
9
Rep. Doug Bereuter
UNL.
The current conflict no doubt hits
close to home for 59 Nebraskans and
18 Kansans who make up the 24th
Medical Company. Lt. Col. Bob
Vrana, deputy public affairs officer
for the Nebraska National Guard, said
the group was mobilized Feb. 10.
Right now, he said, they are operating
in Bosnia, about 150 miles from
Wednesday’s action.
So far, he said, the group’s mission
has not changed. It is scheduled for a
tour that would have to end by
November barring Congressional
action, he said.
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