Now That We're In, We Have to Win

The cost of failure is much greater than the price of victory

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    So what should we do now? Win. By all means necessary. Failure would encourage tyrants and rogue regimes around the world to challenge our interests more aggressively, and it would deal a potentially fatal blow to NATO's authority in the post-cold war world. We must bring the full weight of American air power to bear on Serbian forces in Kosovo and Serbia proper by striking all important targets, including commercial enterprises, government buildings and power grids. Civilian casualties are inevitable, but that is why you try to avoid war. This Administration has been trying to avoid war while waging one.

    We must begin too the mobilization of our infantry and armored divisions for possible ground war in Kosovo. It will take weeks to get an adequate force in place and ready to fight. We should start deploying them to Albania and Macedonia now. With a great deal of luck, we won't need to launch an invasion. But we must be prepared to, or Milosevic will never be convinced that the danger to his regime is greater if he keeps fighting than if he backs down. We should inform the Russians that if they are discovered aiding the Serbian war effort by any means, the U.S. will oppose granting all international loans to rescue their collapsed economy. Finally, a unified NATO should tell Milosevic in clear language that there will be no new negotiations with us until all his forces are removed from Kosovo, the Kosovars are allowed to return unharmed and NATO peacekeepers are in place.

    The costs of failure are infinitely greater than the price of victory. Can anyone contemplate the prospect of taking our leave of this century with the greatest defensive alliance in history in tatters after losing a war in Europe?

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