-Caveat Lector- Marines May Be Part of Kosovo Plan By ANNE GEARAN .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- If diplomacy brings a swift end to the 11-week bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, U.S. Marines probably would be among the vanguard of an international peacekeeping force there, a Pentagon spokesman said. Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit already are stationed nearby in the Adriatic Sea, and could be in the disputed Kosovo province inside a day, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. The Marines would be part of an ``enabling force'' to seize control before a much larger, more permanent contingent of U.S. and European troops moved in, Bacon said Wednesday. Army troops from the Southern European Task Force in Italy probably would go in early as well, Bacon said. NATO is planning for a force of about 50,000 soldiers, engineers, military police and others to establish order in Kosovo once the bombing stops and safeguard the return of ethnic Albanian refugees. The alliance is deciding how to divvy up responsibility for the peacekeeping mission, and could begin to position more troops near Yugoslavia soon. If the bombing drags on for several more weeks, those forces could be in place and ready to go into Kosovo without help from the first wave of Marines, Pentagon officials said. In Belgrade on Wednesday, Russian and European Union envoys hand-delivered a peace plan to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Moscow's envoy said he believed it was the first step toward ending the Kosovo standoff. U.S. military service chiefs planned to meet with President Clinton today to discuss the conflict, including the possibility of an eventual ground invasion to oust Serb forces should diplomacy fail. Defense Secretary William Cohen said while ground forces would come up during the meeting, the Clinton administration remained committed to the NATO strategy of airstrikes. ``There is no other planning,'' for ground troops apart from those involved in peacekeeping, Cohen said. Originally, the United States had offered to send 4,000 peacekeepers for a 28,000-member international force, but the U.S. commitment was upped as the anticipated peacekeeping needs grew. Clinton on Wednesday said he was increasing the U.S. pledge for a Kosovo peacekeeping force to 7,000 troops, while saying America must not grow weary and ``abandon a just cause'' in the conflict with Yugoslavia. The bulk of about 7,000 U.S. troops would come from Army units already stationed in Europe, including three tank battalions, Bacon said. About half the U.S. commitment in a postwar Kosovo would be combat soldiers and the other half noncombat troops. ``This is what right now we see as the type of force that will be self-contained and be able to provide the engineering capability, the patrolling capability, the internal force protection security capability that's necessary,'' Bacon told reporters. The U.S. contribution probably would include three armored battalions from the 1st Infantry Division, nicknamed the ``Big Red One,'' in Germany, which would translate to roughly 3,000 soldiers with tanks and other heavy armor; several battalions of Army engineers; an aviation group with transport and attack helicopters; a military police battalion; and an artillery battalion. Bacon stressed that the makeup could change somewhat before peacekeepers deploy. Kosovo is a province of Serbia, which in turn is the dominant republic in Yugoslavia. NATO bombing was intended to stop ethnic crimes in Kosovo, where Serb troops have allegedly killed and terrorized ethnic Albanians. 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. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
