NATO has set
itself the tough task of making Kosovo safe for one and all. But the past
keeps getting in the way.
NATO has set
itself the tough task of making Kosovo safe for one and all. But the past
keeps getting in the way.
”Right now what you really have is fear, confusion, panic,” said Lt. Col. Joe Anderson. ”All the years of turmoil they've experienced are probably evident right now.”
Reports say the KLA is behind the burning of Serb homes and an increasing number of beatings, killings, and abductions, reports CBS News Senior European Correspondent Tom Fenton.
In the town of Strpce, hundreds of Serbs have gathered, seeking protection. Not at all happy, they claim that one of their own has been kidnapped and they want somebody to do something about it.
That somebody would be the Americans of the 82nd Airborne - cops in camouflage.
Capt. Michael Taylor and his men are taking on tasks they were never trained for. They have become detectives on the trail of the missing Serb man.
Meanwhile, they are trying to calm Serbs, who no longer call the shots. ”Anyone with weapons or arms we disarm,” one soldier said.
It's a lot to ask from a few good men.
The captain gets word the KLA is holding the missing Serb, but the news isn't good. ”These people will probably never see him again,” he said.
”It's like being in the Wild West, and we're the sheriff and the deputies and all the law. We are the law for this area,” said Capt. Michael Anderson.
NATO forces have a heavy cross to bear. The risks and the stakes are on the rise as ethnic strife continues to take innocent lives. The war is over, but peace is not at hand.
Underscoring the dangers, U.S. Marines struggling to impose peace killed one person and wounded two others late Wednesday after coming under sniper fire.
CBS News Correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports that U.S. troops at checkpoints similar to the site of Wednesday’s shooting seemed very relaxed, some barely looking into the cars as they went past.
Nevertheless, on a victory lap in the rebel province, NATO commander
Gen. Wesley Clark on Thursday told a cheering crowd of ethnic Albanians
that the horrors being uncovered in Kosovo provided clear justification
for the alliance's punishing bombing campaign.
“What you see here is the magnitude of the horror that required NATO
action,” said Clark, who along with NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana
surveyed bombed-out buildings in Pristina.
Several hundred ethnic Albanians surrounded them, clapping and chanting
“NATO! NATO!”
In a clear sign of European opposition to Milosevic's government, Fischer
told reporters later in Pristina that “the work will be done when we have
not only a democratic Kosovo but also a democratic Yugoslavia.”
“Let us here in Kosovo break the cycle of violence and build a peaceful,
nonviolent future for the future of the children of all communities of
Kosovo,” Cook said.
The foreign ministers spoke to reporters after meeting Kosovo Liberation
Army leaders, including the political chief Hashim Thaci. Cook said he
was encouraged that Thaci and the others pledged to build a multiethnic,
democratic Kosovo.
