Around the Nation

Around the Nation

NATO help could be needed in Kosovo

In testimony at a Senate hearing, and in private briefings with lawmakers, President Clinton's national security team sought to prepare Congress for the possibility of a second U.S. ground commitment in the Balkans. U.S. troops have been in Bosnia for the past three years.

The administration also shared with lawmakers a draft of a U.S.-sponsored peace plan that would dramatically reduce Serbian control over Kosovo and give the province considerable self-government powers - while allowing some continued Serbian military presence.

The administration also pledged to provide a series of "benchmarks" to be used as a basis for extricating U.S. troops once they are introduced, congressional and administration sources said.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian rebels have agreed to participate in weekend peace talks demanded by the United States and NATO allies as pressure increased on Serbia's hard-line government to join the talks. NATO has threatened airstrikes if Serbia and the rebels aren't talking by Saturday and closing a peace deal by Feb. 19 under talks organized by the United States and five European powers.

Some U.S. ground presence could be crucial to any peace accord because Kosovo's Albanians "would not feel confident of having a NATO force that doesn't have some representation by the United States," Defense Secretary William Cohen told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"They feel that we, in fact, by participating in some measure on the ground, would give them the confidence they would not be attacked by Serb forces."

Cohen predicted a three-to-five-year stay, if troops are introduced, but said the U.S. ground presence would be "relatively small," and that Europeans should make up the bulk of the peacekeeping force. The United States would retain the lead responsibility for any airstrikes, he said.

And in the most detailed description yet of what such a force might look like, Gen. Henry Shelton, chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee he envisioned an overall NATO presence of from 20,000 to 30,000 troops.

"Our numbers could be very low, down maybe possibly as low as 2,000 to 4,000," Shelton said. "And I would see that being the maximum number that we would be asked to contribute, even if they decided to go in with 30,000."

Shelton stressed that his figures were hypothetical because "the numbers are still being worked. The numbers that we would be asked to give would depend on what the final numbers are."

The administration had its work cut out for it in lobbying a Congress weary of the long entanglement in Bosnia and concerned about a decline in military readiness.

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) chairperson of the Armed Services Committee, said that the administration had wide support in Congress for airstrikes, if necessary, to force both sides to the bargaining table. But, he said, a U.S. ground presence was another issue - one for which the administration would have to make a persuasive case if a peace plan is put in place.

"At this juncture, there is a fork in the road," said Warner, who has advocated a U.S. ground presence for some time.

Gore begins election campaign

California, once an oversized afterthought in presidential primaries, has emerged as a cornerstone of Gore's 2000 strategy, first to win the Democratic nomination by spring, then capture the White House in the fall.

In dozens of visits - an average of more than one a month in the past year - Gore has courted vital Democratic constituencies with connect-the-dots precision. Labor. Hollywood. Black voters. Environmentalists. Each trip, he sprinkles tens of millions of dollars around the state; last week it was a Sacramento stop to announce $43 million for California crime victims.

The strategy is hardly new. Vice presidents Walter Mondale and George Bush, to name two of Gore's recent predecessors, followed precisely the same pork-and-circumstance formula to woo supporters and fortify their position in key states. Each went on to claim their respective party nominations, with Bush winning the White House.

What is different this time is the emphasis on California, where Gore hopes he could offset any earlier setbacks, and the intensive ground-level campaigning, more typically done in pocket-size places such as Iowa and New Hampshire, that he has applied to this most mega- of mega-states.

"I don't think you could possibly do any more in terms of retail politicking," said Democratic strategist Bill Carrick, a Los Angeles-based veteran of presidential campaigns. "It'll be hard for anyone to catch up."

Former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Gore's sole announced rival for the Democratic nomination, is working to dispel that perception. Bradley recently paid his third and fourth visits to California since announcing his candidacy in December. Two fund-raisers, one each in the north and south, are coming up.

Coalition to lobby for high-speed cable

The announcement of the OpenNet coalition comes almost a week after the Federal Communications Commission decided not to open a proceeding that would force cable companies to share high-speed lines with their competitors.

Still, the FCC said it would keep an eye on the matter to ensure that consumers' options for Internet service are not restricted.

Access to the technology has pitted the cable industry against AOL and consumer and interest groups and has produced an intense lobbying battle over what the FCC and Congress should do.

The coalition's "scheme would surely slow broadband deployment," said National Cable Television Association President Decker Anstrom.

In addition to AOL, others involved in the coalition are: MindSpring Enterprises, Prodigy Communications Corp., Netscape, US West, MCI WorldCom, Cable & Wireless USA, Washington Association of Internet Service Providers, CyberRamp Internet Services, Bertelsmann Internet Services, ConnectNet and the Texas Internet Service Providers Association.

US West President Sol Trujillo, attending a conference here, told reporters that his company will press lawmakers for legislation giving companies access to cable's high-speed lines. He also said US West will seek legislation permitting it and the nation's four other Bell companies to move data across local calling boundaries, something they aren't allowed to do now.

OL and MindSpring also were among groups urging the FCC to force cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. to provide rivals access to its high-speed lines as a condition of merging with AT&T. Analysts are saying the FCC is not expected to impose that condition on the merger.

02-04-99