| James N. Markels | ||||
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by
James N. Markels During NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia on behalf of the Kosovar
Albanians, former President Bill Clinton argued that the aerial campaign
“is the right thing for our security interests over the long run.”
Almost two years later, we can see that he was horribly wrong. U.S.
troops now find themselves trying to restrain the same militant
Albanians they once fought for. These Albanians are now trying to
forcibly take portions of Macedonia along the border of Kosovo, where
skirmishes led last Wednesday to our troops opening fire on Albanian
guerrillas, wounding two. It’s just a matter of time until the
Albanians, who are starting to see our soldiers as a threat to their
goal of a Greater Albania, return fire. Add to the mix NATO’s decision to allow Serbian
troops back into the buffer zone along the Macedonian border in order to
provide protection against forays by the guerrillas, and you have all
the ingredients for another all-out war, this time on the ground where
our technological advancement provides only nominal protection. The notion that “security interests” have been
served on any level by NATO’s intervention in Kosovo is undeniably
false. Conflict is now spreading to neighbor nations with large ethnic
Albanian populations, thereby undermining regional security. The bombing
campaign also served to extend former Yugoslavian President Slobodon
Milosevic’s reign, according to the victorious opposition candidate
Vojislav Kostunica. And now the security of our own soldiers is under
risk. And now the “long run” looks very long indeed, as
Secretary of State Colin Powell has indicated that America will “stay
the course” in Kosovo and keep troops in the area until peacekeeping
is no longer necessary. What started as Clinton’s war has become
President Bush’s problem, and the odds look good that it will become a
problem for the president after him. And so on. The ultimate problem is that NATO has given itself no
way out of Kosovo. The province is now occupied almost exclusively by
Albanians, much unlike the multi-ethnic population before the bombing
began. Naturally, the Albanians want autonomy, but the agreement
brokered with Milosevic for the ceasefire expressly assured that Kosovo
would remain part of Yugoslavia, with the specifics of its governance to
be determined later. But if NATO can’t let the Albanians take over and
the Albanians will violently refuse Yugoslav rule, there’s no one left
to claim authority except for NATO peacekeepers. In other words, if the avoidance of armed conflict is
the pre-eminent goal, then rest assured that U.S. troops will patrol
Kosovo for decades on end. But this is precisely the kind of tar-baby born from
the unilateral military actions of a president acting without a
congressional mandate. Perhaps now Bush can appreciate in some small
sense how Nixon felt to inherit Vietnam. And to this day we’re still
in Korea, and we’re still bombing Iraq from time to time. The
Constitution specifically states that “the President shall be
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the
Militia of the several States, when called into the actual service of
the United States (emphasis mine).” Actual service means a
declaration of war by Congress, not merely the establishment of armed
forces. The reason for this was simple: The direction of war is best
served by a single hand, while the act of war itself requires the
confidence and will of the people. Presidents acting to levy war without
Congress’ blessing have found their efforts to be painfully limited in
success, with political concerns overwhelming strategic goals. In most cases, these political concerns leave future
presidents with few options for resolving the situation. Even if the
original goal that was desired is unachievable, the loss of face from
admitting failure is often too high. Our overwhelming military dominance
makes it even harder for a president like Bush to voluntarily stand down
from a challenge. |
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