-Caveat Lector-
"Queried about the possibility of a naval blockade, White House press
secretary Joe Lockhart said, ``We believe that this is an idea worth
pursuing."
"Yugoslavia's only seaports are in Montenegro.
"The NY Times reported today that when the United States raised the
issue of a naval blockade with NATO allies last week, France objected on
grounds that this would require endorsement by the United Nations."
U.S. Seeks To Block Oil to Serbs
By LAURA MYERS
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Clinton asked Congress today for $6 billion in
emergency spending to sustain the U.S. military engagement in Kosovo and
increase aid to ethnic Albanians fleeing the province.
``There are literally lives hanging in the balance,'' Clinton said. ``I hope
that the Congress, in the spirit of bipartisanship, will pass the package
right away.''
Clinton said the emergency spending would ``ensure that we have the resources
to sustain the air campaign to ensure that we achieve our goals while
maintaining our high level of general military readiness.''
Congressional leaders promised to give the measure prompt attention, but
Republicans suggested they would try to expand it to cover longer-range needs
of the Pentagon. ``This emergency funding measure cannot be shortsighted --
it cannot simply replace bullets for bullets and bombs for bombs spent in
Kosovo,'' said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
Meanwhile, the United States is seeking NATO support for cutting off seaborne
shipments of oil into Yugoslavia to limit President Slobodan Milosevic's
ability to fight ethnic Albanians. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright did
not rule out the possibility of a naval blockade of Yugoslav ports.
Albright, after noting that a relentless NATO bombing campaign has heavily
damaged Yugoslavia's oil refining capacity, said, ``We're taking all kinds of
steps to limit the ability of outside powers to ... deliver oil.
``The Croatians have turned off their oil pipeline. And we are talking with
our NATO allies about taking stricter action in order to limit the amount of
oil that goes in,'' she said Sunday on ABC's ``This Week.''
Would that include a blockade of ports? Albright was asked. ``Well, there is
a way to visit and search ships and we're looking at a variety of way to
tighten the screws on him (Milosevic) economically,'' she replied.
Clinton spoke with Russian President Boris Yeltsin today for 45 minutes.
Yeltsin has been critical of the NATO campaign, but a White House official
said the two emphasized the things they agreed upon, such as the need for
Serb forces to withdraw from Kosovo.
It was the first time that Clinton and Yeltsin had spoken since the start of
the airstrikes, and the conversation came after Yeltsin named a special envoy
for the crisis last week.
``They're looking for ways to be helpful. There's broad agreement that we
can't allow the relationship to be damaged by Kosovo,'' said the official,
who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Queried about the possibility of a naval blockade, White House press
secretary Joe Lockhart would say only that NATO was considering ``a variety
of things'' that could loosen Milosevic's grip on power.
``We believe that these are ideas that are worth pursuing, and that's what's
being discussed,'' he said.
Yugoslavia's only seaports are in Montenegro. Kosovo is a province of
Yugoslavia's other republic, Serbia.
There were weekend reports that oil was still being delivered through
Montenegrin ports and that the United States was reluctant to impose a
blockade.
The New York Times reported today that when the United States raised the
issue of a naval blockade with NATO allies last week, France objected on
grounds that would require endorsement by the United Nations Security
Council.
Albright said NATO will fight to the end to wear down Milosevic. Yugoslavia's
military is being weakened by NATO bombing, she said. ``Our allies are all
determined to prevail.''
She said Clinton still has no intention of sending ground troops into
Yugoslavia to follow the air attacks that begin March 24. A ground plan
shelved last fall could be updated quickly, she said, although military
experts have said it would take two to three months to prepare.
NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana agreed, saying, ``At this point, the
alliance has no plans to go into an invasion.'' However, he added, ``If the
moment comes when it is necessary, I'm sure the countries that belong to NATO
will be ready to do it.''
``We are going to maintain the air campaign to the end,'' he said on ``Fox
News Sunday.''
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
affirmed allied unity. ``I think the important thing is to see the strategy
we have through,'' Blair said on CBS' ``Face the Nation.'' Schroeder told
CNN's ``Late Edition'' he sees ``no reason whatsoever'' to change current
policy. ``Airstrikes have to be continued, and they have to be sharpened as
well,'' he said.
Adding a new lethal element to the air campaign, the first of 24 Apache
attack helicopters are to arrive early this week in Albania for possible
strikes against Serb forces, whose campaign against Kosovar Albanians hasn't
been interrupted by high-flying NATO jets. The Serbs have chased more than 1
million ethnic Albanians from their homes, half the Kosovo population.
The helicopter gunships, one of the most effective antitank weapons, have
been delayed by bad weather and a crowded airfield in the Albanian capital of
Tirana handling humanitarian missions for refugees. The Apaches are armed
with up to 16 Hellfire missiles designed to knock out tanks and other armor,
plus 70mm rockets and a 30mm cannon that can fire 625 rounds per minute.
To protect the helicopter runs, rocket launchers also are being placed in
Albania along with U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicles, British tanks and at least
3,000 American troops.
An additional 8,000 allied troops will provide humanitarian relief in
Albania. And 12,000 NATO troops, including 600 Americans, are in Macedonia as
the vanguard for any peacekeeping mission.
NATO's military commander, Army Gen. Wesley Clark, meanwhile, is awaiting
Pentagon approval for more than 300 additional U.S. aircraft to boost the
alliance total to about 1,000 warplanes.
The increased air power will require Clinton to call up as many as 33,000
military reserves, mostly for refueling and administration duties, with the
order expected this week.
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