Courting disaster in Kosovo

The United States is now embarking upon a totally bankrupt adventure in the strife-torn Balkans. For mysterious, unfathomable reasons, the Clinton administration is bent upon committing American blood and treasure for a cause completely beyond the scope of any vital U.S. national interests.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a Republican, has been warning against it, saying American involvement makes him “extremely uneasy.” Other prominent Republicans, including presidential contender Steve Forbes, have also expressed grave reservations.

Meanwhile, the White House remains completely undeterred, and the Democrats are all for it, proving once again that the real war hawks come from the left, not the right. (Republicans only want peace.)

Indeed, prior to the White House’s hasty commitment of men and material, America was at peace. We were not threatened by the Serbs, or by Mr. Milosovic–nor was a Serbian military strike against the United States imminently forthcoming. Before Mr. Clinton endangered our troops in the field, half-way around the world, as it were, America was safe.

Now the Clinton White House has plunged American troops into a potential quagmire, which could turn out to be another Vietnam. Except this time we are not fighting the global spread of Red Communism. In fact, it is hard to say exactly what we are fighting for, since there is neither a clear mission nor a clearly defined exit strategy.

The war hawks, of course, will invoke NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization created after World War II. But NATO was established to combat the Soviet menace, to halt further Red incursions into Western Europe. NATO was a Cold War entity intended to stand as a might bulwark against the Warsaw Pact of Soviet-dominated Eastern European states.

NATO responsibility is no justification for American involvement in the Balkans. The Clinton excursion totally exceeds the original NATO mandate: to protect our Western European allies against Soviet Communist Aggression.

The ethnic and religious conflicts in the Balkans does not threaten Western Europe. It does not threaten France or Germany or Belgium. It threatens nobody but itself. And it certainly does not threaten the United States, either militarily or economically.

Once again, there are no vital US national interests in Kosovo. There is no oil or important markets to protect. There is nothing to gain, but much to lose.

At this very moment, billions of American taxpayer dollars are being squandered in Kosovo. Where is the return on investment?

More importantly, is Kosovo worth dying for? Is it worth American blood?

For all of its vast wealth and prosperity, America simply cannot afford to be the world’s policeman.