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At the same time, the political arm of NATO, the

North Atlantic Council, raised the prospect of NATO inter-

vention noting, "NATO and the international community have

a legitimate interest in developments on Kosovo . . .

because of their impact on the stability of the whole

region."30   NATO representatives then held an emergency

meeting with the government of Albania and agreed to

increase military and civilian assistance, including new

communications equipment and vehicles to patrol the

border.31   But the violence in Kosovo continued.  Soon

afterward, NATO agreed to establish a small military mis-

sion in the Albanian capital of Tirana to oversee efforts

aimed at helping the Albanians bolster their armed

forces.32   By mid-June NATO warplanes were conducting

"show-of-force" air exercises over Albania and Macedonia,

and in August and September, NATO participated in ground

war games with Albania's army.

Today, U.S. ambassador Christopher Hill is trying to

broker an interim political agreement between Belgrade and

moderate ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.  Meanwhile, the UN

has issued Security Council Resolution 1199 demanding a

cease-fire to end the conflict, which has produced

200,000-300,000 refugees since February.  That notwith-

standing, some commentators suggest that Washington is try-

ing to "avoid military intervention [in Kosovo]. . . at

all costs."33   But the Clinton administration has diligent-

ly put everything in place for intervention.  In fact, by

mid-July U.S.-NATO military planners had completed contin-

gency plans for intervention, including air strikes and

the deployment of ground troops.  All that was missing was

a sufficiently brutal or tragic event to trigger the

process.  As a senior Defense Department official told

reporters on July 15, "If some levels of atrocities were

reached that would be intolerable, that would probably be

a trigger."34   Sure enough, in late September NATO seized

upon reports of a massacre of 10 women and children in the

village of Gornje Obrinje to commence its latest--and most

serious--threats against Belgrade.

NATO Intervention

The United States currently has 6,900 combat troops

in Bosnia and 350 in Macedonia.  As if that were not

enough involvement in the volatile Balkans to tempt fate,

the recent violence in Kosovo has prompted calls for more

American intervention in the region--60,000 NATO troops

would be necessary for a full-scale peacekeeping operation,

according to one Pentagon estimate.35   The idea of further