By William SAFIRE
The right thing was to place humanity's resistance to barbarism above national
sovereignty. When a nation commits a mass atrocity against a segment of
its own people, other nations have just cause to assert their right to
intervene with force.
Although the Serbian agreement to withdraw seems to have come unglued,
this is historic. International moral standards of conduct, long derided
by geopoliticians, now have muscle.
We will not always be able to do the right thing everywhere. But we
have set a precedent of doing the right thing somewhere, and once the right
thing becomes possible, it tends to become probable.
What are the lessons the West is learning in trying to stop national
criminality?
1. Never tell the criminals what you will not do. This is a sign of
lack of confidence in your own people and your allies, and it diminishes
your ability to lead. "I do not intend to send ground troops" encourages
the criminals and prolongs the war. Only when NATO ground forces became
a live option, and when KLA guerrilla forces made a foray that flushed
out Serbian tanks and made them targets for air destruction, did the criminals
begin to talk. Our troop buildup must now begin apace.
2. When you decide to strike, strike decisively. As Napoleon told his
hesitant generals, "If you are going to take Vienna, take Vienna." We should
have turned out the lights in Belgrade and destroyed telecommunications
the first day. Slow, steady escalation invites propaganda exploitation
of "collateral damage," highlights mistakes like the Chinese Embassy destruction
and in the long run costs lives.
3. Do not place a higher value on the lives of warriors than on the
lives of civilians.
Members of armed forces are trained and paid to risk their lives; civilians
are not. By bombing from 15,000 feet, we avoid NATO casualties, but have
failed for over two months to stop the murder, rape, pillage, and mass
deportation that was a mission of our military intervention.
4. Do not overestimate the courage of an army and paramilitary that
kills the unarmed. Just as the vaunted Iraqi Army, adept at gassing civilians,
cracked and ran at the first sight of firepower, many Serbs who destroyed
villages in Kosovo are apparently unwilling to die for Milosevic. Those
who commit atrocities are rarely brave professional soldiers and should
not intimidate well-armed rescuers.
5. Remember that in any alliance, some allies will be more allied than
others. Britain emerged as NATO's leader and France was stalwart. The United
States is providing the air punch but temporized on a ground threat and
unwisely insisted on a Russian intermediary. Germany, Italy, and Greece
are the weak sisters. Consensus should be sought, but no member of NATO
should be able to veto the great majority's decision.
6. Do not let mistrust of the leadership's competence becloud faith
in the rightness of a cause. Principled isolationists and pacifists of
right and left are having their say, but most opposition to our Kosovo
intervention comes from Republicans who feel Clinton blew too uncertain
a trumpet and would settle for a weak compromise. McCain, Bush, and Dole
put backbone in Clinton policy while others fail to help.
7. Do not let the loser win. Until sensible Serbs decide to hand the
Milosevic gang over to the Hague tribunal, no bridge should be rebuilt
or embargo lifted. Allow no subversion of Montenegro and lock in autonomy
for Hungarian Vojvodina. When withdrawal finally commences, the Kosovo
Occupying Force must be commanded and controlled by NATO, not India or
Sweden, and the European nation with the largest army - Turkey - should
have a big presence.
8. Don't try to mix oil and water in patrolling the peace. The returning
KLA will be "demilitarized" (no tanks) but not disarmed; it will be seeking
vengeance. The burden on peacekeepers will be to protect minority Serbs
and to uphold a pretense of their sovereignty. Better to offer individual
Serbs in Kosovo a relocation bonus to safety and to let Kosovo's victims
have their independence.
The NATO-Serbian war is not yet over, but civilization is more civilized
for having intervened to do the right thing. Next time we are more likely
to do it the right way.
The New York Times, June 7, 1999







