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Around the Nation
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Around the Nation
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Some were brought to the region for humanitarian work and others for potential deployment as peacekeepers. But they could serve as the nucleus of an invasion force if the leaders of NATO reverse themselves and decide that only an invasion will achieve their aims against Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic.
The possible deployment of combat troops was discussed on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said anew that the Clinton administration is confident air power will achieve NATO's purposes and NATO Secretary General Javier Solana said the allies have no plans to authorize an invasion.
But, in a significant addition to the ongoing ground troop dialogue, he added that ''if the moment comes when it is necessary'' to invade Yugoslavia, ''I'm sure the countries that belong to NATO will be ready to do it.''
Britain's Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook stressed it would take two to three months to prepare an invasion, if one were ordered. Military experts agree.
Allied ground forces arriving in the Balkans include some of the keys to ground combat, including U.S. Army Bradley infantry carriers and Apache attack helicopters, and British battle tanks.
About 12,000 NATO troops are in Macedonia, including some 600 Americans. In neighboring Albania about 2,000 of a planned force of 8,000 allied troops are preparing for a humanitarian relief effort. There also are several thousand U.S. troops in Bosnia as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force.
The Albania group includes the vanguard of a U.S. Army contingent, eventually to total 3,000 or more soldiers, that will operate two battalions of Apache attack helicopters and land-based missiles.
The Apache force is expected to begin operating soon against Serb armored forces in Kosovo.
''To a degree, it's academic,'' whether President Clinton will change his mind about ground troops, said retired Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Bernard Trainor. ''If you're going to put a force in there, it's going to take some time to get yourself organized.''
By the time ground forces can be assembled in large enough numbers to take on an invasion, the Serbs are likely to have completed their campaign of ''ethnic cleansing'' - the very acts of violence NATO is striving to stop.
A NATO assessment last summer concluded that it would take about 200,000 allied group troops to conquer Kosovo.
The allies hope relentless bombing ultimately will force Milosevic to accept a Kosovo peace deal that includes stationing international peacekeepers in Kosovo.
To that end, allied ground troops were sent to Macedonia even before the bombing started March 24. Once ethnic Albanian refugees began streaming out of Kosovo by the tens of thousands, the NATO troops took up humanitarian chores. Allied troops in Albania and Macedonia are erecting tent camps for refugees and providing food and medicine.
The Apache force is expected to begin operating soon against Serb armored forces in Kosovo.
In her comments Sunday, Albright was undeviating in opposition to introducing ground troops, a step that would make American casualties far more likely.
''The president has said he has no intention (of ordering ground troops) and that the air campaign is inflicting a great deal of damage,'' Albright said on ABC's ''This Week.''
Both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany endorsed the U.S. position.
''I think the important thing is to see the strategy we have through,'' Blair said on CBS' ''Face the Nation.'' He stressed ''the dangers of a land force invasion.''
Schroeder, interviewed on CNN's ''Late Edition,'' said he sees ''no reason whatsoever'' to consider ground troops. ''Airstrikes have to be continued, and they have to be sharpened as well,'' Schroeder said.
The coalition said even the word "rescue" is a misnomer because the FAA does not require airport firefighters to be prepared to enter downed planes to fight interior fires or to rescue passengers.
"The FAA is the only standard-setting body in the United States that does not recognize victim rescue and interior fire fighting as an integral part of the firefighter's job description," said the report by the Coalition for Airport and Airplane Passenger Safety.
The group includes the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Fire Protection Association and most major airline unions.
"In reality, (FAA rules) instruct firefighters to provide only enough protection to ensure a single path through burning jet fuel for those fortunate passengers who can escape on their own," the report stated.
David Bennett, director of the FAA office of airport safety and standards, said the agency has strict aircraft certification standards regarding passenger escape, and crews are trained to get passengers out. The airport fire department then handles the important job of knocking out the fire outside the plane and providing an escape route.
"We're creating an environment to maximize the ability of people to get off," Bennett said.
FAA requirements can leave some airports unprotected because the rules include only operations involving planes with 30 or more seats. At Quincy, Ill., 12 people on a 19-seat United Express flight survived a runway collision in 1996, but all died in a post-crash fire because the airport had no fire protection, the report said.
Bennett said the FAA is now preparing a rule to include planes with 10 to 30 seats. Until 1996, Congress had not given the FAA the authority for that size aircraft.
Schmoozing and talking business with leaders from 43 foreign countries and the United States are part of the payoff for American corporate sponsors helping finance the receptions, logistics and hoopla surrounding NATO's 50th anniversary. The summit begins Friday in Washington.
General Motors, Ameritech and Boeing are among 13 companies so far that have donated at least a quarter-million dollars in cash or goods and services. That buys one of their executives a spot on the summit host committee's board of directors, which is dominated by communications and defense companies.
The committee has raised $6.5 million towards its goal of $8 million.
"It's a natural for us, because Ameritech is the largest foreign investor in European telecommunications," company spokesperson George Steinitzer said. "Our purpose here is to support our existing relationships in Europe."
Ameritech is awaiting Federal Communications Commission permission to merge with another company with a seat on the host committee board, SBC Communications.
At last week's reception, Turkish Ambassador Baki Ilkin greeted guests alongside the committee chairman, former U.S. ambassador to Belgium Alan John Blinken. He is a senior adviser to a heavyweight lobbying firm with overseas clients, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.
Other board members also are well known in Washington political circles. As a group, the 13 companies spent $52 million on lobbying last year.
Giving at least $25,000 to join the committee are 28 other company including defense contractors Northrop Grumman and Raytheon; The Washington Post Foundation; and the lobbying firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand, which also represents foreign clients.
"It's a great opportunity for these businesses," host committee spokesperson Dana Vickers Shelley said. "The heads of government and the heads of state will be there, but included in their delegations will be foreign trade ministers and other officials."
Some donations let companies show off their products: DaimlerChrysler is donating Mercedes to help ferry the delegates around town; Motorola is providing cellular telephones to be carried over Nextel Communications' network, another donation; Microsoft is providing software.
The companies also will put their names before the estimated 2,500 journalists covering the event, which is drawing extra attention because of the NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia.
Similar corporate-funded committees helped serve as hosts for the G-7 economic summit in Denver in 1997 and the Summit of the Americas in Miami in 1994. The cities holding the Democratic and Republican national conventions create their own corporate-supported committees every four years.
''It leads me to think, 'What's not for sale anymore?''' said Bill Hogan, director of investigative projects for the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington watchdog group. ''One would be hard-pressed to think of any other board of directors where the only qualification is paying your way on to it.''
Standing near a buffet table at the ambassador's residence, Boeing Senior Vice President Christopher Hansen said his company simply was supporting NATO.
''We think it's important to reinforce the alliance,'' Hansen said. ''I wouldn't want to make the justification on a business level.''
04-19-99
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