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WEU security institutions and improve the quality, consis-

tency, impact, and profile of their operations.  To a

great extent, it was precisely the lack of such a robust,

European-level security architecture in 1992-1995 that

inhibited the Continent's ability to handle the crisis in

its own backyard in Bosnia.

Over the past few years, NATO has taken the initial

steps to enable the WEU to undertake such a project.

Indeed, by beginning to develop procedures for releasing

certain NATO assets to the WEU, designating NATO's deputy

supreme allied commander as Europe's prospective strategic

commander, and identifying NATO officers who could be

loaned to European operations, NATO has recognized that

circumstances exist in which Europe might act militarily

without employing the full apparatus of the transatlantic

alliance, i.e., the United States.  Kosovo presents Europe

with an opportunity to commence building that security

architecture.  As former U.S. ambassador to NATO Robert E.

Hunter explains, "The Balkans is the place to test the

possibilities that now exist for a true European security

and defense identity."79   More American military involvement

in the Balkans will set back that goal and perpetuate

Europe's security dependence on the United States.

Conclusion

Given the contradictions and counterproductive poten-

tial of Washington's current Kosovo policy, there is a

compelling case to stay out of the dispute altogether.

Specifically, the interventionist path the Clinton adminis-

tration is now on could further encourage the KLA, widen

the conflict, set back the prospect of democratic reform

in Yugoslavia, perpetuate European security dependence on

the United States, and mire Americans in another

internecine conflict in the Balkans.

Notes

1.  See John Wilkes, The Illyrians (Oxford: Blackwell,

1992).

2.  Noel Malcolm, "The Violent History of Kosovo Doesn't

Justify 'Ethnic Cleansing,'" Washington Times, April 14,

1998, p. A16.

3.  Noel Malcolm, Kosovo: A Short History (New York: New

York University Press, 1998), p. 282.