War War

WASHINGTON -- As the United States and its NATO allies edge closer to sending ground troops into Kosovo, current and retired military officials envision a campaign that could include tens of thousands of U.S. Army regular and reserve troops.Some of them would not come home alive; many others could remain for years of tense peacekeeping duty.Because the monthlong NATO air campaign has failed to halt the Serbian assaults in Kosovo or to curb the expulsion of Kosovar Albanians, NATO officials increasingly foresee the need for a combat ground expedition.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton has approved sending 24 attack helicopters to hit hard at Yugoslav ground forces in Kosovo, the Pentagon announced yesterday, opening a risky new dimension in a war where the United States and its allies have produced no sign of capitulation by their opponent.But a number of Washington voices described this increase in force as too small to make sure the United States and its NATO allies will prevail, signaling that support may be increasing in Congress for deploying a large ground force.

The T-shirt arrives in the mail, and what makes it so weird -- so, as we used to say, far out -- is that it comes via the sales division of the Nixon library, which nobody wanted to build in the first place because, well, it was the Nixon library. Anyway, the shirt has this picture of Tricky Dick himself, posing with his thumb up, and says, "Nixon in '96. Tan, Rested & Ready!"Swear to God.Yes, barely dead, Nixon's already back. There's a hit off-Broadway Nixon play. There was the made-for-TV Nixon-Kissinger feature.

WASHINGTON -- Serbia's plans to push 16,000 Serbian refugees into the province of Kosovo offers a harsh reminder that the tragedy of Balkans may not have entered its final act.The number of refugees headed there is much smaller than originally feared by U.S. intelligence officials, but there is still a danger of the refugees' pushing out many of the ethnic Albanians living there and thereby triggering a region-wide war.It was in Kosovo, in 1389, that Serbs...

On the first day of the new year, Aaron Kearson, a 37-year-old Desert Storm veteran, found himself fighting an old war on the streets of Baltimore -- hunger among the homeless.Wearing his desert camouflage pants, Kearson and members of his family gave homeless people bologna sandwiches, hot bean soup and hot chocolate Wednesday afternoon at a small park at Guilford Avenue and Baltimore Street."We shouldn't have to do this," said Kearson, who recently was discharged from the Army. He served nine months in the Persian Gulf.

The television reporter clearly was dismayed. The giant outdoor rally for the veterans of the gulf war had just ended in Albuquerque, N.M. But not that many people had shown up.And the reporter did not know what to make of it."The baseball game across the street drew just about as many people," she said, a note of amazement in her voice.The baseball game across the street had featured the Albuquerque Dukes, a minor-league team."And only about a third of the chairs set up for the veterans were filled," the reporter said.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, seeking yesterday to dismiss suggestions that the United States ended the war with Iraq too soon, disputed a claim by Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf that the senior military commander had urged greater destruction of the Iraqi army.The rare public disagreement, sparked by the general's comments in a television interview taped for broadcast last night, occurred as the Bush administration defended on several fronts its policy not to interfere with the Iraqi military's violent suppression of rebel forces.

WASHINGTON -- Angry at allies who have paid less than half of what they pledged toward the cost of the Persian Gulf war, the Senate voted yesterday to ban military sales to any nation that doesn't pay up.The provision was part of a bill setting aside $42.6 billion to pay for the war, including $15 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The bill passed, 98-1, with anti-war Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, R-Ore., voting "no." The House has passed similar legislation, and differences are expected to be resolved quickly.

WASHINGTON -- A top Japanese diplomat, angered by American criticism of Japan's refusal to play a larger role in the multinational coalition in the Persian Gulf, lashed back yesterday, blaming the United States for spawning the crisis by refusing to learn how to conserve energy."

PARIS -- The European Community's efforts to coordinate a response to the Persian Gulf war is curbing the ambitions of West European officials for rapid steps toward a common European defense, according to defense and policy analysts here.The war highlighted the different approaches of the 12 members toward security matters and again inserted the primacy of national interests into the debate on European political union."This failure belongs to a Europe that was an illusion," said Yves Boyer, a French defense analyst.