The New York Times

Wednesday, May 19, 1999

The White House

CLINTON RESISTS RENEWED CALLS FOR GROUND TROOPS IN KOSOVO

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

WASHINGTON -- Under increasing public pressure to resolve the conflict in Kosovo, President Clinton said on Tuesday that he would not rule out the use of ground troops but that he was hopeful that diplomatic efforts under way with the Russians would be successful.

"I and everyone else has always said that we intend to see our objectives achieved and that we have not and will not take any option off the table," Clinton told reporters at the White House when asked if he was reconsidering using ground troops to expel Serbian forces from Kosovo.

While Administration officials insisted that the President's comments did not signal a change of policy, Clinton has come under increasing pressure, particularly from Britain, to consider ground troops as the air war went into its 56th day. Britain is worried that troops need to be deployed by June in order to prevent a catastrophe this winter for the Kosovar refugees who have been forced from their homes and are living in tent encampments.

In the past, Clinton had indicated only that he approved the Pentagon and NATO decision to update a military assessment of a need for ground troops and other military options like the size of a peacekeeping force. His aides and military officials have insisted that ground troops are not a viable option.

The British Foreign Minister, Robin Cook, appeared to soften his stance on the need for ground troops today, after he failed to sway his NATO allies in Brussels on Monday. He still planned to come to Washington on Thursday to press the case.

NATO and the Pentagon continued air strikes Tuesday night, although restricted by poor weather.

The renewed discussion of ground troops, combined with a measurable slip in American public support for the NATO air campaign, is prompting the Clinton Administration to scramble to find a diplomatic solution before the use of ground troops becomes inevitable and raises the possibility of American casualties.

Adding to the pressure for a diplomatic solution is a sense that the NATO alliance is increasingly divided. Several countries, including Italy and Greece, have expressed concern about the bombing campaign.

Clinton said Tuesday: "I am very hopeful, obviously, that the diplomatic efforts that are being made in the State Department and with the Russians will bear some fruit."

Talks between Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott; the special Russian envoy to the Balkans, Viktor S. Chernomyrdin, and President Martii Ahtisaari of Finland were to continue on Wednesday morning. The talks have centered on ways to approach Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav President, about proposals that would end the bombing and lead to a withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo. Finland is not part of NATO but is a member of the European Union and begins its turn leading the organization starting this summer, giving it extra clout in any peace talks.

Russia and NATO have been discussing the possible composition of an international security force that would return the refugees to Kosovo, and have disagreed recently over when to stop the bombing.

While the President has avoided committing ground troops, he has pledged that the United States would send soldiers as part of a peacekeeping force when the war is over. A Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that that peacekeeping force would probably involve 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers, instead of the 28,000 contemplated before the air war in Yugoslavia began, and that the United States would provide between 10 percent and 15 percent of those troops -- or 4,500 to 7,500.

Joe Lockhart, the White House spokesman, asserted Tuesday that the President was not shifting his position. "While it's prudent to always consider all of your options and stay updated, which we are, given the assessments that are going on, there's no change in our policy," he said.

He also said that the air campaign was effective because it was driving Milosevic toward negotiations. "You've seen reports today out of Belgrade that senior government officials are talking about wanting a diplomatic solution, trying to find a way out," Lockhart said. "It's because the campaign is working."

But the Administration is concerned, as President Clinton said last week, that "refugee fatigue" may be settling in among the public, and a new poll from the Pew Research Center suggested that while a majority of Americans still support the war, that support may have ebbed during the last month. The Pew survey reflects similar findings in other polls conducted recently.

Approval of American participation in the conflict has fallen to 53 percent from 62 percent in mid-April, according to the nationwide Pew survey, based on telephone interviews with 1,179 adults from May 12 to 16. Fewer Americans -- 32 percent -- are paying very close attention to the war now than were just three weeks ago, and among them, support has dropped 21 percent so that a majority now oppose air strikes altogether.

"The public is really wavering," said Andrew Kohut, director of the center. "That wavering is a combination of concern about the unintended casualties and that the public doesn't think we're winning." The public is almost evenly divided over whether to send ground troops, he said.

Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who has been a strong critic of the Administration's reluctance to use ground force, said he believed that Clinton would seek some sort of settlement before sending in ground troops.

"They're under great pressure," McCain, who is seeking the Republican nomination for President, said in an interview Tuesday. "I think they'll frantically seek a deal -- a dirty compromise -- and spin it and hope the Dow continues to go up. The whole thing is very dispiriting."

Some liberals too are adding their voice to the call for ground troops. Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said ground troops would be needed to force Milosevic to bend to NATO demands. "I am not convinced that air power alone will get his forces out of Kosovo," Mr. Harkin said today after a three-day trip to the Balkans.

But Mark Mellman, a Democratic opinion analyst, said the polls "are making a mountain out of a molehill of changes in public opinion." He added: "You have some high-profile things like the Chinese Embassy thing and it causes a blip. Nobody's enthusiastic about war. But there is certainly not anything like majority opposition."