-Caveat Lector- Tuesday 30 March 1999 Washington: US prepares to mobilise troops By Hugo Gurdon in Washington (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000271261842766&rtmo=0XrrG0eq&atmo=9999999 9&pg=/et/99/3/30/wwar230.html) Nato set to intensify attacks WASHINGTON inched closer yesterday toward sending ground troops to intervene in Kosovo, a possibility deemed "unthinkable" only a week ago and opposed by most Americans. President Clinton and his security staff say they do not plan to send infantry to the Balkans, except as peacekeepers. But a Defence Department official said: "We are great 'what if?' people here," and the Pentagon is preparing for a change of tack. The official, however, dismissed one report that "ground troops already have begun receiving orders to ship out to Kosovo". Three-fifths of Americans support the bombing campaign, but with deep misgivings - 62 per cent say air strikes will not be enough, 59 per cent expect bombing to lead to long-term US military commitment, 47 per cent support using infantry and 74 per cent say Kosovo is not worth the sacrifice of American lives. The smell of nervousness seeped out of the White House as officials acknowledged that events were moving quickly in Kosovo. Aides claimed, to the astonishment of many in the capital, that they had not anticipated that the Serbs would step up ethnic cleansing so quickly after the bombing began, and that it had presented the allies with an instant humanitarian disaster to which a response was needed. Administration officials are unintentionally fuelling fears that America has plunged so deeply into Kosovo affairs that it must go even deeper before it can withdraw. They say carefully that there is no plan to send infantry, but they do not say this cannot change. The White House is not drawing a firm line at air strikes. Mr Clinton flew back to the capital from Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, and met his national security advisers. Joe Lockhart, presidential spokesman, said: "We feel that we can meet our military objectives through the Nato air campaign and we have no intention of introducing ground forces unless and until there is a peaceful political settlement." Congress is increasing pressure for new fronts to be opened against the Serbs, including sending �15 million of arms to the Kosovar guerrillas. Jesse Helms, the hawkish chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, has asked the President to make the removal of Slobodan Milosevic official American policy. With capitulation or escalation the only apparent alternatives if, as the majority expect, bombing fails to end Serb ethnic cleansing, pressure is building on Mr Clinton to intervene rather than withdraw. The general public is mainly quiescent and willing, for now, to accept White House and Nato assurances that the air campaign is proceeding methodically and according to plan. Anti-war demonstrations are small. The biggest have been mainly by Serb-Americans rallying to support their ethnic brethren. Some 1,000 protesters marched in Los Angeles at the weekend, shouting about American aggression and denouncing Nato as the "New American Terrorist Organisation". In Chicago, which has the highest concentration of ethnic Serbs in America, a rowdy but non-violent rally of some 1,500 people likened Mr Clinton to Adolf Hitler. There have been other marches of between several hundred and two thousand people in Milwaukee, Boston and New York. But there is no mass disquiet. No one is yet chaining themselves to the White House railings. Most of the anger is as yet directed against the Serbs rather than the President. Some 68 per cent in surveys say Mr Clinton has made a good case for striking at the Serbs and there is broad agreement that it was difficult for America to ignore Milosevic's outrages against the ethnic Albanians. Nevertheless, the President knows he is on thinner ice than he has been in any other foreign military venture. His personal approval ratings have slipped six points to 57 per cent since before the bombing began, alarming news for an administration driven by polls, and if American soldiers start being killed, current unease can be expected to deepen and darken into full-blown opposition. 29 March 1999: Stealth crash worries US chiefs 27 March 1999: Clinton tries to win over a sceptical America <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> "From the rage of today's downtrodden comes the revenge of tomorrow's revolutionary force." Edward Britton ><> http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5285/connector1.html Talk to the planet: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Reality_Pump2 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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