-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! ARTICLE 4 NATO's Failure and Macedonia Ed.: A report on the developing quagmire from our forward observer in Europe. By: J. David Galland, 22 March 2001 The truths of the Kosovo war are emerging faster than you can say, "Slobodan Milosevic." Macedonia is the proverbial unwrapping gift under the Christmas tree. The next phase of this great Balkan war may have well begun in that territory last week. These hostilities are being launched by many of the same ethnic-Albanian guerrillas, which NATO embraced and fought alongside with in Kosovo. NATO is correctly blaming the guerrillas as "extremists" whose violent separatism must not be allowed to succeed. At the same time NATO remains doubtful whether the Balkan alliance will be willing to support that position with swift and decisive military action to prevent the next great regional tragedy. It was not long ago that during the Kosovo war, American political leaders were comparing the KLA to the Founding Fathers of America, and insisting that the pivotal issue to future Balkan stability was the removal of Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic, and with him the dream of a "Greater Serbia," is history. However, the military conflict and strife clearly are not. The KLA, and their dream of a "Greater Albania," are still very much alive and well as, evidenced by their actions of the past week. What is even more troubling to this analyst is that the latest crisis festered and incubated right in front of NATO's eyes, in Kosovo, and the alliance failed to avert this latest mess. The reality of this is that NATO inadvertently facilitated this unfolding new wave of conflict by its failure to properly rein in the KLA after driving the Serbs out of Kosovo. Did NATO even have the mandate to issue a, "change of mission," order to the KLA? I assert that sinister and strange bedfellows are being uncovered by the insightful. This has CIA written all over it. Historically speaking, Macedonia was the first republic to have bifurcated itself from the old Yugoslavia. To this point, Macedonia is also the only republic to have managed the feat without bloodshed. Now the mayhem and the bloodletting have begun, just in time for spring. So who are the combatants of the day? On one side we have the Albanian nationalist guerrillas and the other we have the Macedonian security forces, and some NATO troops. Macedonia's Albanian minority has long felt a sense of injustice and unfairness. However this segment of society, has, until now, expressed it through the country's political system. That was before elements of the KLA began infiltrating from Kosovo and initiating hit-and-run attacks against the Macedonian security forces. At the same time, promising Albanians that, like in Kosovo, the path of violence would achieve their goals. Their objective is to partition Macedonia, breaking off a chunk of territory on its western border as an Albanian enclave that would join with Kosovo and Albania. The early signs are that the fighting is fast eclipsing those on both sides of the ethnic divide who advise dialogue and moderation. Those of us who have covered all of the Balkan tragedies until now see last week's events as the opening punches of the next phase of war, in a country that I can honestly classify as, "hell on earth." NATO is justifiably alarmed, as well it should be. The dissolution of Macedonia will create the embarrassing debacle of another preventable human tragedy unfolding right under the noses of thousands of alliance troops. The growing conflict could also jump-start a wave of new wars throughout the region. NATO's plaguing weakness in the Balkans is rooted in flawed military principal. It wants to enforce the peace without exposing its own personnel to any risk. This policy, coupled with unwarranted wishful thinking about the region's political future and heading, weakens NATO considerably. At the end of the Kosovo war, Washington had tried to reinvent the KLA. Only a few months earlier they were considered terrorists. Suddenly, they are the good guys and both NATO and America should trust them. This in view of the fact that elements of the guerrilla force were engaged in systematic ethnic cleansing of Kosovo's remaining Serbs, the NATO alliance, however, declined confrontation. NATO found itself in a no-win situation in Kosovo. The reluctance of NATO to commit a sizeable infantry force to conduct a broad sweeping operation of the region, justified relying on the guerrillas. The KLA had fought for the liberation of Kosovo, but the fight for independence and, "Greater Albania," never ended for many former guerrilla commanders. When KLA elements started a new insurgency in the Presevo Valley area, along the Serbia-Kosovo border, NATO tried to tighten border controls unsuccessfully. The primary reason NATO has failed to stamp out the new insurgencies is the fear of exposing its troops, in Kosovo, to KLA aggression. The recent blowing up of a busload of Serb civilians directly under NATO escort, two weeks ago, with a sophisticated radio-controlled device, served as a reminder to the NATO alliance that the KLA could make life very uncomfortable for the peacekeeping troops, should they choose to. Throughout the Kosovo conflict, the guiding principle for NATO forces has been to avoid taking casualties, admirable, but impossible in war. President George W. Bush is already beginning to scale back the U.S. presence in the Balkans by pulling troops out of Bosnia. This observer contends that U. S. troops pullout would be hastened if coffins containing America's youth were coming home to, "small town America," as they were in Vietnam. Let's hope for executive guidance and the realization that Yugoslavia cannot be, "won". ARTICLE 5 Out of Kosovo in Two Years? Not Damn Likely! Ed.: In response to our question – a realistic assessment, especially with Macedonia getting hotter. By a US Army Field Grade I served on the first iteration of TF Falcon right after the transition from TF Hawk. I can tell you that this is a mission that is going to take a long time because there are just as many bad guys on each side of the conflict down there. Yes, Kosovo is mostly Albanian, but that's because they've killed or driven out most of the Serbs. We're going to see the same mission creep we saw in Bosnia. Remember a particular rising-star colonel whose career got sidetracked when he said we'd be there longer than a year. And a few years ago GEN Shalikashvilli said we'd be there fifteen more years at least? Well the same thing's already happened with our new State Department "leadership". The president promised we'd bring the troops home and the first thing our new Secretary of State does is go and promise the Europeans that we'll be there as long as they will. >From personal experience I can tell that that plenty of people on both sides in Kosovo hate each other and will hate each other for a long time. And if we're going to be there until there's 'peace' then at least my grandkids and I will have similar war stories to tell about our time in the military. Peacekeeping a Long-term Ticket By an Army Sergeant I am an Army Sergeant who has served in SFOR operations and I can say with confidence that the coalition forces will be entrenched there for several years. They will never be able to extricate themselves in two years as was proposed by Clinton. Furthermore, if that were done it would leave our buddies at Camp Bondsteel out there without a safety net and that is something I would not be comfortable with at this time. >From an inside perspective, let all the young troops know they have at least a 6-month tour to look forward to in one of the former Yugoslavian nations. ARTICLE 6 Basic Training Feedback Ed.: The question remains: Is the army of One’s Basic Training preparing our young troops for the realities of combat? By a concerned Parent My son just completed his Basis Training and AIT. Here in summation is what he related to me: * Fully 50% of those in his BCT company were unprepared physically. Just prior to his final PT test, 1/3 had yet to pass it (he wasn't in that group). * Less than 10% fired expert or Sharpshooter. Several actually graduated as Bolos. Pitiful! * Time in the field was cut short due to cold weather. * Female trainees habitually would not carry their gear and got the males to do it for them. * Minorities were favored by the Drill Sergeants, who appeared afraid of them (they also were afraid of complaints from the females who were also favored.) The result in this was that non-minorities felt put-upon. The Cadre appeared eager to train, but not as competent as I would have demanded. (Case in point: had I had a company with such low marksmanship and/or PT scores, there would be a LOT of extra training led by me!) The Company Commander, as one example, had a very difficult time speaking at the graduation ceremony--it was actually embarrassing. The BN CO did well and seemed much more professional. The Company XO was virtually non-existent but she had been reassigned mid-cycle to the company so that was tough on her. Just some thoughts from this side of the field. Whether it is universal or isolated, I do not know. I did write the BN CO addressing the observations and he agreed that there was work to do and that he was working on it. I believe him. ARTICLE 7 USMC: No Incentive to Stay In Ed.: Retaining the good troops is becoming a challenge for all services. By a Young Marine I am a first term Marine Corporal. I have a little less than a year remaining on my contract and have recently been pondering whether to stay in this beloved Corps or to move on. I thought at the beginning that this would be a very easy decision to make but I don't think I could have been any more wrong. I recently spoke with my career planner about my options if I stay in. I quickly realized I don't really have any real options. I am interested in Security Forces and so I asked my career planner about this duty and he told me I would certainly qualify for it. I then asked him if I would have any choice as to duty stations. The answer was no. I asked him if the Corps had any bonus for my MOS. He once again replied no. The bottom line was that there were no actual incentives for me to stay in. My only incentive was that I would be allowed the opportunity to go to Security Forces and put my life on the line for the same pay and the same thanks (or better yet, no thanks). I love the Corps and am very proud to claim the title of Marine. I have met some of the finest people here in the Marine Corps and have had many memorable experiences that will serve me well regardless if I stay or go. However, these aren't enough for me to sign my name to another four years. I have no guarantees in changing MOS and my medical and dental coverage is substandard. Instead of treating medical problems Motrin and light duty chits are given out. If I was married or had children I would not feel comfortable with leaving them in the care of the medical personnel available to me. The majority of the housing and barracks used to house Americas 911 is unfit even for criminals, and I don't need to mention my pay. It's a rare week if I only put in forty hours. To add to all of this some of the Corps top brass has made some mistakes recently that has embarrassed the entire service. The military services need to rethink their agendas. They need to stop their mad race to get in as many bodies in as they can, and start looking for quality people. They need to say, "if you want to be a part of us, you'll have to measure up to our standards". They need to give the men and women in uniform a reason to stay. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? 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