…on the Kosovo-Iraq comparison.

E-mail:

“I would like to offer an alternative take on your following comment:

2) the Serbs were a much easier adversary than the Iraqis, so it was

possible to wage the war safely from the air

I believe this misses the central point, which is the failure of Clinton’s

actions to actually address the problem. The Serbs were engaged in light

infantry action – dispersed, small groups of men with small arms, backed up

by some heavy weapons, but capable of operating without them at need (their

victims were pretty much unarmed). This is not a problem readily solveable

from the air, especially when you restrict the attacking aircraft to

high-altitude operations to avoid lost aircraft and aircrew.

To actually protect the people we claimed to be protecting would have

required our own infantry, operating aggressively along with low-level air

power and armor. But that, of course, was not the point. Clinton merely

wished to be seen to be doing something, and didn’t really care about what

was accomplished.”