http://www.usdefense.com/june2000/B/9/story7.htm US was close to ground invasion of Yugoslavia Friday, 9 June 2000 EUROPE | After 71 days of U.S.-led NATO bombing against Yugoslavia last year without producing results, U.S. National Security Advisor Sandy Berger had written a memo urging President Clinton to send in 175,000 ground troops, two-thirds of which would have been Americans. According to a Los Angeles Times report on Friday, Berger worked late into the evening of June 2, 1999, preparing a short memo urging Clinton to take the action. Berger, who described that night as one of his longest thus far, said he was disillusioned because he had been an advocate of an air-only campaign against Belgrade. With the memo freshly typed and ready to be delivered to the Oval Office, news came that Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic would agree to NATO's peace terms, thereby ending the action against and -- thankfully -- Berger's suggested use of ground troops for an invasion that experts say would have been costly. According to Berger's account -- the first since the war by a high-ranking U.S. official who has publicly said how close America came to invading Kosovo -- the attack might not have happened anyway. NATO allies had said they would require three months to assemble an invasion force and the Clinton administration had already planned a final peace mission to Belgrade. But all along, U.S. officials -- including Berger -- maintained that the war against Yugoslavia wasn't supposed to be that difficult. "We believed that the air campaign would work," Berger said. "In the air, we had a thousand-to-one advantage. Once we got on the ground, we still would have had an advantage, but what was it, three to one? . . . Milosevic would have been happy to see a force come in on the ground, because it would have allowed him to wage a war of attrition," he added. A year earlier, Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO's supreme commander, had drawn up contingency plans for invading Yugoslavia. Prodded by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, NATO's leading hawk, and frustrated by the alliance's inability to break Milosevic in the air, NATO authorized Clark to update the plans. U.S. officials informed Russian diplomats about Clinton's serious consideration in April, 1999 of using ground troops to end the conflict. Officials knew that the warning would be carried back to Milosevic. One Russian diplomat, former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, was described as "apocalyptic" after hearing the news, and warned that NATO-Russian relations would plummet. Also, he said the Serbs may prove to be tough fighters when acting in defense of their homes. But Berger said there would have been no consensus within NATO to fight a ground war. He told the LA Times he was sure Britain, France and Germany would contribute forces, but Greece would not and Italy was "a question mark." � 2000 USDefense.com. All rights reserved. -- ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ________________________________________________________ 1stUp.com - Free the Web Get your free Internet access at http://www.1stUp.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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 credence 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 <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== 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
