quarterly-report.com Political Commentary by James R. Audet

The 3rd Day
March 26, 1999

One hundred years ago, America forced itself into war.  A weak Administration needed to prove its manhood and bent to the polls to wage a dirty little war against Spain.

We are now in the third day of the Clinton Administration's dirty little war.  It confronts an adversary as ill-prepared for conflict as Spain was in 1898.

Look how far government "of the people" has come.  It was the Hearst and Pulitzer newspapers that demanded war against Spain.  Today, the press scrambles to determine why America has become an aggressor against a sovereign nation.  Its task is difficult.  The press has been shutout by the Clinton Administration as effectively as its expulsion from Serbia stopped on-site reporting.

With the press in the dark, we must endure Administration's "sell," and accept, for the time being, a paucity of information as to what our military is doing.  Clinton, the Instant Liar, claims that any information beyond a restatement of the mission objective -- to "degrade" the capabilities of the Serbs -- gives comfort to the enemy.

Who is the enemy?  The public that cried for war in 1898 to stop the actions of the Butcher of Cuba, wonders why the actions of the Butcher of Yugoslavia now demand our intervention.

It is for humanitarian reasons, the Instant Liar claims, that we had to act.  Such was Randolph Hearst's call in 1898; humanitarianism demands that the United States act to stop the atrocities of the Cuban Butcher.  At the time, there was no national interest for us to intervene in Cuba.

Likewise, America has no national interest in Kosovo.  However, NATO's attack sparks the outrage of the Russian government.  Their reaction deserves our careful consideration.  It is our national interest to stabilize nations with nuclear weapons.  A concern for accidental nuclear war should command our attention instead of the indifference displayed by the Administration.

The Instant Liar claims that we seek to deter Milosevic from continuing his atrocities against Kosovo by destroying the capabilities of the Serbian military.  This is a half-truth.  An air assault can not stop the Serbs since the attacks can not destroy the murderers.  It is the Serb foot soldier that is doing the killing, not inanimate anti-aircraft, command and control facilities, or tanks.  Renowned guerrilla fighters, the presence of NATO planes will not deter them from carrying out Milosevic's orders.  The Serbian army will become invisible to the air.  Indeed, the air strikes give the Serbs every incentive to escalate the killing before a ground assault comes.

Credibility is strained beyond elastic limits.  Air strikes cannot achieve the objective of stopping Milosevic.  The obscure and arbitrary concept to degrade the Serbian capability to make war is less a lie and more a cover-up.

Unlike the Gulf War, when the invasion of Kuwait was clearly an act of war by Iraq, there was a long period of public debate before the coalition forces acted.  Why was there was no debate this time?  Why has the Administration attempted to squelch criticism by raising the American flag to the peak of staff and crying for us to support our troops?  Is it because they have something more in mind, something that does not conform with the present state of the polls?

We are forced to accept on faith -- which is in short supply -- the Administration's claim that there is no plan to commit ground troops.  If this is true, NATO's mission is destined to fail.  If the mission was properly designed to achieve its objective -- to stop the killing -- logic demands that the air attack be followed by the paratroopers.

The Administration insists that this is a limited war and there is no plan to commit troops.  Why do they naively ask us to accept failure?  Does the Instant Liar intend to lose?  Or, does he seek to enjoin the people's discord while he waits for a justification to widen the war and permit it to be won?  Does he wait for a human disaster equal to the Bosnian tragedy to claim that troops are necessary?

While the media blackout by the Serb government and NATO continues, the Serbian Army will intensify the killing.  Unless NATO invades, there is nothing to keep the Serbs from achieving their goal.  In the absence of an invasion, they win by default.  They have possession of the land.

The Instant Liar once again demonstrates his lacks the integrity to tell the truth.  Like a doting parent, he tells us tales and guides us like children into war.  He clearly did not learn the lesson of Vietnam. Lacking an understanding of the nature of civil wars and the inability of outside forces to inflict peace, he catapults us into another quagmire.

If we are aggressors for the sake of humanity, is there any reason to hold back?  If the pretext is to stop the Serbian army from murdering the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo should not NATO threaten an invasion?

The Presidency appears to be out of control.  What happened to Congress's sole authority to make war? Perhaps if the press digs deep enough, they can find the truth.

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