WASHINGTON -- Declaring his diplomatic options effectively exhausted, President Clinton began preparing the nation yesterday for a NATO military strike against Yugoslavia, describing the decision as "the best of a lot of bad alternatives."
"If you don't stand up to brutality and the killing of innocent people, you invite the people who do it to do more of it," said Clinton, explaining in painstaking detail why it was in the U.S. interest to lead NATO's intervention in Kosovo. "Firmness can save lives and stop armies."
"If President Milosevic is not willing to make peace," he added, "we are willing to limit his ability to make war."
With airstrikes imminent, Congress fell somewhat reluctantly into line.
The Senate voted 58-41 last night to authorize airstrikes in and around Kosovo. Sixteen Republicans and 42 Democrats voted to support the president, but 38 Republicans -- more than a majority -- joined three Democrats to vote against military action.
Many Republican senators remained steadfast in their opposition to military action, despite a personal plea for support from Clinton.
"This is a mistake," warned Republican presidential hopeful and New Hampshire Sen. Robert C. Smith, who had been trying for weeks to cut off funds for the military attack. "This is a civil war, we're attacking a sovereign nation without a declaration of war."
But several others declared their support for the president after an extended morning meeting at the White House. Republican Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon called it not so much "a change of heart" as "a call to patriotism."
"I think there's a tyrant in Belgrade that ought to tremble right now," Smith said, after about 40 lawmakers were extensively briefed by Clinton and his national security team.
The fast-moving events unfolded dramatically, as Washington prepared for battle over a tiny province in Central Europe that most Americans could not locate on a map.
Congressional leaders urged Clinton again to take the case for action to the public, and he responded, transforming a scheduled domestic-policy speech before the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees into an impassioned tutorial on the Balkan crisis.
'In cold blood'
Clinton fired verbal volleys at Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, describing how his forces were "rolling from village to village," shelling civilians, burning homes and slaughtering fathers and sons "in cold blood." He sought to put the conflict into historical terms the American people could understand.
"What if someone had listened to Winston Churchill and stood up to Adolf Hitler earlier? How many people's lives might have been saved?" he asked.
"If we don't do it now, we'll have to do it later," Clinton said. "More people will die, and it will cost more money."
The president is expected to address the country from the Oval Office if and when military strikes begin.
On Capitol Hill, which this week seemed deeply divided over the White House's Kosovo policy, most lawmakers rallied around the commander in chief.
Sen. John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee, proclaimed that "the president was really at his best" when he made the case to congressional leaders for action.
Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declared the president to be "on the right track here."
Hutchison softens stand
Even Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas Republican who was helping lead the charge against military action, dramatically softened her stand, although she ultimately voted against airstrikes.
"While many people may disagree with the president's policies, I would not want Mr. Milosevic to get the impression that the troops would not have the full support and that the president wouldn't have the support he needs if we have troops in harm's way," she said.
Republicans who for days have been demanding more information on military strategy were suddenly ready to give Clinton more room to operate.
White House aides have not said what would happen if airstrikes fail to force Milosevic to the negotiating table. But GOP leaders yesterday said they could not insist on a detailed endgame until they see how Milosevic reacts to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombings.
"Who knows" what will happen, shrugged House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a former high school wrestling coach. "I mean, I coached for too many years. I had the best game strategy in the world. I didn't always win."
'Goulish atrocities'
Democrats were nearly unanimous in their support of the president.
"When one looks at how Milosevic has disbanded the parliamentary body in Kosovo, performed ghoulish atrocities, suppressed a nonviolent movement, violates every U.N. resolution and stiff-arms any attempt at a peace agreement," the only conclusion is that it is "time to take action," said Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland.
Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland, the second-ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, observed: "This is not an easy call. No one can know for sure how this is going to turn out. But there are also consequences of doing nothing to stop a very aggressive and brutal regime."
That is not to say all lawmakers were falling in line. A group of conservatives spoke passionately last night against what they saw as an unprecedented multinational attack on a sovereign nation engaged in an interminable civil war.
They bitterly complain that Clinton had not consulted Congress on his plans, and they predicted that airstrikes would be ineffectual.
Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the Senate's second-ranking Republican, led a band of GOP insurgents who prevented Majority Leader Trent Lott from getting a vote on a proposal so bland it would likely have drawn virtually unanimous support.
Instead, Nickles insisted on a straightforward vote on authorizing the airstrikes, which he proceeded to vehemently work against.
"I am vigorously opposed," Nickles told his colleagues. "I just don't think you can bomb people into submission and bring them into peace negotiations. Instead of increasing stability, it might increase violence. It may well be that Serbian forces are going to move even more aggressively."
New Mexico Republican Pete V. Domenici charged that Clinton had refused to seek approval from Congress for airstrikes until it was too late for Congress to say no.
"He did what he always does: waited so long he has us right in the spot," Domenici said. "He's going to do what he wants to do, anyway. But I'm not going to vote for [airstrikes] because I don't think that's the end of it. You can't rationalize the president's reasons unless you conclude they don't want to tell you where it's going to end."
Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens raised the specter of starting World War III.
But with military action looming, most lawmakers pleaded with their colleagues to send Milosevic a clear signal of unity.
"As long as we bomb Milosevic, that's the only signal I care about," said Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, putting aside his earlier opposition to airstrikes.
Pub Date: 3/24/99