http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-03/27/065l-032799-idx.html U.S. Tack: Demonize Enemy, Tightly Control Information By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, March 27, 1999; Page A13 Across the airwaves yesterday, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright continued the rhetorical assault on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, telling ABC's "Good Morning America" that he "does not care about his own people" and is responsible for a "humanitarian catastrophe." "He does not care about the Serbian people" and is responsible for "these very dreadful massacres," Albright said on NBC's "Today." "He was killing ethnic Albanians, having people slit their throats, murder innocent civilians," she said on "CBS This Morning." Albright and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, who blitzed the networks Thursday, are doing more than pressing the administration's line in time of war. They are demonizing the opposition and carefully controlling the flow of information as part of the all-important battle for public opinion. And they are doing so in a relative news vacuum created by the Serbian expulsion of most Western journalists and the lack of television pictures from the Balkans war zone. "It's been effective in the short term," said Marlin Fitzwater, the Bush White House spokesman during the Persian Gulf War. "The problem is they didn't start the communications until the bombs started falling. That's not enough time to convince the nation of a course of action. But it's helpful because it convinces people to give the government the benefit of the doubt." War is "easier for people to understand if there's a face to the enemy," Fitzwater added, invoking such leaders as "Hitler, Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic." But retired Gen. Perry Smith, a military analyst for NBC News and CBS radio, said the administration's rhetoric "is frankly overdone a bit. 'If we don't stop them now we'll have war with Greece' -- that sounds like the Vietnam domino theory. . . . Whenever we go to war, we tend to turn it into a moral crusade." Jim Miklaszewski, NBC's Pentagon correspondent, put it bluntly: "Everyone has tried to get the message out: Milosevic is the bad guy, we're the good guys." As for the choice of spokesmen, Albright and Cohen "have a high degree of credibility" because most Americans don't believe they would "do this for political reasons," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. He said President Clinton, by contrast, is still "radioactive" because of Monica S. Lewinsky and the impeachment trial. During the 1991 Gulf War, the Bush administration conducted three briefings a day with such telegenic figures as Gen. Colin L. Powell and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Powell issued a famous threat against the Iraqi army -- "first we're going to cut it off, and then we're going to kill it" -- that he later admitted had been carefully rehearsed. The campaign worked. Days before the war began, Fitzwater recalled, ABC interviewed a group of Kansans around a kitchen table and "every answer at that table reflected one of the reasons we had given for going in." For a nation accustomed to live battlefield reports from Vietnam and Kuwait, the lack of real-time footage from Yugoslavia and Kosovo has rendered this a more abstract war. Pictures have largely been limited to long-range shots of fires in areas hit by NATO warplanes and a mob storming the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia. (There were tentative signs yesterday that Western reporters might be allowed back into Belgrade.) Yugoslav officials have made occasional attempts to press their case on television. Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic told CNN yesterday that the NATO attacks are responsible for "a real humanitarian catastrophe in Yugoslavia. . . . They destroy schools, hospitals, roads. . . . What kind of military targets are hospitals?" Several Pentagon reporters expressed frustration at the paucity of information, noting that briefings by NATO and British officials have been more specific. At a briefing yesterday, Defense Department spokesman Kenneth Bacon was asked about the use of attack aircraft. "I'm not going to get into details," he said. What was the target? "It was a target of opportunity." Could he elaborate on NATO's progress? "I don't think I'll get into the grading business at this stage." Cohen, asked Thursday about the impact of the bombings, told "Today": "We are satisfied that we are progressing as we had planned." David Martin, CBS's Pentagon correspondent, said that "the rationale for not telling you what's going to happen is hard to quarrel with. But they are getting more and more uptight about telling you what has happened." Initially, said NBC's Miklaszewski, "I don't fault them one bit for withholding specific target lists or bomb damage assessments." But if that stance continues for many days, he said, "there's a real credibility problem." Bacon said in an interview that "we are taking a very conservative approach. The reason for that is pure and simple: pilot safety. The less information we provide to our adversaries, the better. Information reverberates much more quickly around the world than it used to." Even with damage assessments, Bacon said, "we don't want to give away a sense of what we consider to be adequate or inadequate. That gives people clues as to whether we're likely to attack the same targets again." Tensions between the media and the military have flared periodically since the Gulf War. Smith, the retired general, said military officials feel "a mistrust and a distrust" toward journalists, some of whom they regard as "clueless." Even some high-ranking officials have not been privy to key information. "We'd love to tell our story," one Pentagon officer complained to the Wall Street Journal. The first cockpit footage of exploding bombs in Yugoslavia was released yesterday -- not at the Pentagon but by NATO officials in Brussels. "It's a simple political decision: We wanted to emphasize the extent to which this is a NATO operation," a senior State Department official said. The press was first "seduced" by a cockpit video of the 1986 airstrikes against Libya, Martin said, but later criticized such footage as overstating American success. He said Pentagon officials have grown concerned "about us coming back and saying: 'You exaggerated.' What they now try to do is minimize bomb damage assessment. They're sitting on it." � Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company ================================ http://news.stocksmartpro.com/ss-news/CX1605526.html Sunday March 28, 11:25 AM (EST) NATO on Brink of Civilian Disaster, Spokesman BRUSSELS (March 28) XINHUA - A spokesman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said here Sunday that the allied forces was on the brink of a major humanitarian disaster in Kosovo. "On the political front, we are very concerned about the security and stability of the neighboring countries to Yugoslavia, particularly partner countries of this alliance," Jamie Shea, the spokesman, told a news briefing at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. He said NATO chief Javier Solana had long discussions with prime minister of former Yugoslav republic Macedonia, and he also talked yesterday evening with the Albanian prime minister. "With both prime ministers, he discussed deteriorating humanitarian situation in and around Kosovo," he said. Shea said this was the most significant development of the past few days. "Whether we like it or not, we have to recognize that we are on the brink of a major humanitarian disaster in Kosovo, which had not been seen in Europe since the closing stages of World War Two." He also said the estimated number of people who are now displaced from their homes in Kosovo has outnumbered half million mark, which is well in access of 25 percent of total population of Kosovo. "That number is increasing at a rapid pace." The spokesman also noted that just over the last few days, 50,000 people were trying to seek shelters wherever they can while about 20,000 people fleeing form fighting in the northern and central areas of Kosovo trying to get into Albania. The Albanian government had informed the NATO that in last few hours alone, it had accepted between eight to ten thousand of these refugees, many of them were still on the border, the spokesman told reporters, adding that this is a new situation created on the ground. Enditem 28/03/99 16:25 GMT ===================================== http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/wl/story.html?s=v/nm/19990328/wl/iraq_rus sia_report_1.html Sunday March 28 3:36 PM ET New Yorker Magazine Says Iraq Paid Off Primakov NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New Yorker magazine reported Sunday that British and U.S. intelligence officials believe Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov was paid off by Iraq to obtain strategic materials from Moscow to build up its nuclear weapons stockpile. Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh quoted high-level American intelligence sources as saying Primakov received $800,000 in a wire transfer in November 1997. The New Yorker said a spokesman at the Russian embassy in Washington denied all charges of corruption against Primakov. U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, asked about the report during an appearance on ABC's ``This Week,'' said that while he had not read the whole article and had just seen it, ''I have no evidence to support that, no. I don't know whether Mr. Hersh has.'' In the report, Hersh quoted one unidentified source as saying, ``A payment was made.'' ``This is rock solid -- like (now-jailed Mafia boss) John Gotti ordering a whack on the telephone. Ironclad.'' The weekly magazine, which goes on sale Monday, said a British signals-intelligence unit intercept produced evidence of the transfer. It quoted a second unidentified U.S. official as saying, ``There was a wire transfer to an account of $800,000.'' The report said that while it was not clear how Primakov was identified, the intelligence officials say it was traceable to the Russian Prime Minister, who is considered a possible successor to President Boris Yeltsin. Primakov became friendly with Saddam Hussein when he was posted to the Middle East by the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The two men reportedly grew closer after Saddam became president of Iraq in 1979. In February, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper of London reported that Russia had signed an arms deal worth $160 million with Saddam Hussein to reinforce Iraq's air defenses, potentially posing a threat to U.S. and British planes enforcing no-fly zones over Iraq. That report said the decision to provide Iraq with military assistance was approved by Primakov in retaliation for Operation Desert Fox, the air strikes against Baghdad's military infrastructure by Britain and the United States last December. Russia opposed the military attacks, which were designed to punish Baghdad for not cooperating with United Nations teams appointed to inspect its weapons facilities following the end of the 1991 Gulf War. Any deal Moscow made with Iraq would violate the U.N. arms embargo. ``Russia is hopeless now,'' Rolf Ekeus, the first head of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in charge of dismantling Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, was quoted in the New Yorker as saying. ``It is clear that Russia is making a serious effort to control events. Saddam will get a bomb, because these materials are floating in. Every day, they are more advanced.'' The New Yorker article also said that the December bombings of Iraq included a specific attempt to assassinate Saddam. It said U.S. Central Intelligence Agency pressure on UNSCOM to allow the U.S. to use UNSCOM information and presence in Baghdad for spying helped dismantle the commission, thereby allowing Iraq to receive weapons and technology from Russia toward building its nuclear weapons stockpile. =================================== http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=72323 Russian Duma slams NATO airstrikes Saturday, 27 March 1999 22:37 (GMT) (NOTE: adding u.s. reaction; minor editing throughout) (UPI Focus) Russian Duma slams NATO airstrikes MOSCOW, March 27 (UPI) - Russian lawmakers passed a resolution that slams NATO attacks against Yugoslavia, calls for heightening Russia's combat readiness and proposes delaying debate on the ratification of the START II arms reduction treaty. The resolution was passed almost unanimously today by a vote of 366 to 4 in an emergency session of Russia's lower chamber of parliament attended by Russia premier Yevgeny Primakov, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. The four-page resolution declared that NATO military action was "an act of aggression that is a gross violation of the UN charter and of principles and norms of international law." "The aggression against Russia's ally Yugoslavia is seen as a serious threat to Russian security," the resolution continues. It calls for an immediate end to NATO air strikes and demands that "measures be taken to raise Russia's combat readiness and define mobilization plans." Ivanov hailed today's Duma session as "proving once again (in Russia) the entire people, lawmakers, the government and the president are united in their condemnation of the aggression against Yugoslavia." But despite the harsh rhetoric denouncing the NATO military action, Russia is continuing to balk at suggestions it may be drawn into a direct clash with the alliance. Russia's presidential spokesperson Dmitry Yakushkin said today that President Boris Yeltsin will "not allow Russia to be dragged into war in Yugoslavia." But Russia's lawmakers defied calls from Ivanov to approve START II as soon as possible by including in today's resolution a proposal to postpone debate on the controversial treaty in protest of the NATO attacks. "The non-proliferation regime should be strengthened otherwise nuclear weapons will fall into terrorists hands," he told the chamber. Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev echoed these comments, telling reporters that parliament must ratify START II if it is to avoid "unleashing nuclear war." The Duma had been scheduled to debate the treaty, which was signed six years ago on Friday. In Washington, a White House spokesman declined to comment on the Russian action beyond saying of the Start II treaty: "We think it's in the interest of both countries." The spokesman, David Leavy, said he was unaware of any discussions between U.S. and Russian officials over the Duma's proposed further delay in its ratification. Meanwhile, Russia has frozen all relations with NATO to protest the attacks. Today, Moscow canceled a scheduled visit by Pentagon experts to discuss dismantling Russia's nuclear systems. Russian deputy chief of staff, Gen. Yuri Balyeyvsky, said Moscow has retaken direct control of its military contingent in the Bosnia Stabilization Force (SFOR) because of the strikes. -- Copyright 1999 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ============================ http://www.iht.com/IHT/TODAY/SAT/IN/russia.2.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paris, Sunday, March 28, 1999 Moscow Sends Home Two NATO Officials Anti-Western Sentiments Grow Across Russia ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By David Hoffman Washington Post Service ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MOSCOW - Russia expelled two representatives of the North Atlantic alliance on Friday in fresh criticism of the attack on Yugoslavia. It also rejected an American proposal for a joint early-warning command center and announced plans to send humanitarian aid to Belgrade. In a surge of anti-American sentiment, Russia's foreign minister denounced the strike on Yugoslavia as ''genocide,'' and he called for criminal prosecution of those who ordered it. In addition, the START-2 treaty was pronounced dead; a publisher said he was canceling plans for a Monica Lewinsky book tour, and a regional governor scrubbed a visit by a British prince, Michael of Kent. The Russian Navy ordered the huge Northern Fleet guided missile destroyer, the Pyotr Veliky, and an aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, to the Barents Sea next Monday in what was described as a naval exercise. Also, Interfax reported that military experts in Russia and Belarus were making feasibility studies on the redeployment of tactical and strategic bombers into Belarus. However, Russian officials have said they do not plan a military response to the crisis. The developments came as Russian politicians and diplomats said the attack on Yugoslavia had aroused anti-Western resentment here much deeper than previous crises. Alexei Arbatov, a leading member of Parliament from the centrist Yabloko bloc, declared that Russian relations with the United States ''have passed some threshold'' and ''we will never return to where we were.'' ''We are going to have an extremely difficult period in Russian-U.S. relations,'' he said. ''Anti-American and anti-Western sentiments have swept the whole country.'' In Russia's coming parliamentary and presidential elections, he said, foreign policy will have a strong, new dimension in the aftermath of the Yugoslav conflict. ''It will obviously be anti-American, anti-Western, opposed to any cooperation, and there will be a great disappointment in the model that was being drummed into people's heads and which was being implemented against all the odds since the early 1990s, namely, domestic reform with Western support,'' he said. Mr. Arbatov's assessment was shared by other analysts who noted that the NATO attacks had triggered noisy demonstrations by nationalists outside U.S. embassies and consulates. Russian policemen arrested 138 people Thursday night after rowdy protests outside the main building of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, where protesters threw bottles, eggs, ink and paint at the building. About 1,000 demonstrators remained outside the embassy Friday night. Russian officials turned up the volume of their criticism. Igor Ivanov, the foreign minister - known for careful, measured tones - turned blustery, accusing the West of carrying out ''undisguised genocide'' against Yugoslavia. He said the leaders who ordered the attack ''should be held responsible, including criminally responsible'' for their actions. NATO is ''slaughtering the peoples of Yugoslavia,'' Mr. Ivanov said, adding that ''a sovereign state and its people are being finished off in cold blood in the heart of Europe because someone does not like the president of that country. Russia is not going to tolerate that.'' Russia announced that it was expelling NATO's diplomatic representative here, the French diplomat Alexis Chahtahtinsky, and his military counterpart, Colonel Manfred Diehl of Germany, in retaliation for the attack. Mr. Ivanov said Russia's relations with the alliance were now ''totally frozen.'' The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had decided not to cooperate with the United States in dealing with the year 2000 computer problem, Interfax reported. The refusal also applies to a U.S. proposal to create a joint Russian-American missile launching early warning center in Colorado this December, which was to keep lines of communication open in case of an accidental launching at the turn of the century, when some computers are expected to malfunction. The temporary early warning center was the outcome of a recent visit by a U.S. delegation to Russia. Also Friday, the chief of Russia's General Staff, General Anatoli Kvashnin, refused to speak by telephone to the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry Shelton, who had asked for the call. Interfax quoted Defense Ministry officials as saying that Russia would announce plans to freeze military contacts with some countries for several months. Details were not provided. A Russian publisher, Vagrius, announced that it was canceling a planned Lewinsky book tour scheduled for June or July. ''The smashed glass outside the American Embassy in Moscow and the numerous protest demonstrations in all regions of Russia and outside it make it clear that the visit would come at the wrong time,'' said Tatyana Makarova, a spokeswoman. On Saturday, the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, is expected to take up a resolution on the Yugoslav crisis calling on the government to beef up military readiness. A draft of the resolution also asks Yeltsin to temporarily recall his recently submitted START-2 legislation.
