COLUMN: When at war, bring everything you've got

From Mark Fiore's, "The Right Stuff," Fall '99 From Mark Fiore's, "The Right Stuff," Fall '99Hence it is to be remarked that, in seizing a state, the usurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries which it is necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all at one stroke so as not to have to repeat them daily," Niccolo Machiavelli wrote more than 400 years ago in The Prince. "For injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that, being tasted less, they offend less." Such a strategy -- far from forcing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to his knees -- has played right into the hands of the Serbs. While destroying government buildings and bridges may harm Serbia in the long run, the half-effort will not stop, and has not stopped, the hemorrhaging now. NATO's bombing is aimed at halting the Serbs' ethnic cleansing of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians. But the opposite has occurred -- during the bombing's first week, more than 130,000 ethnic Albanians fled or were forced out of Kosovo. The humanitarian crisis has resulted from two key errors in NATO's misguided strategy. First, NATO is bombing government buildings, bridges and military centers, but buildings are not killing ethnic Albanians; small bands of roving soldiers are. Yet NATO has thus far refused to commit ground troops to confront the Serbian soldiers. What's more, the prolonged attack has given Milosevic time to capitalize on an immense surge of nationalism. If NATO attacks were "done all at one time" or at least much more frequently and severely, as Machiavelli urges, the campaign would have a better shot at achieving its goals. Instead, while NATO takes its sweet time, Serbian military and police forces have stepped up their assaults on ethnic Albanians. The Serbs have torched and plundered Kosovars' homes and villages, have forced them to flee under threat of death, and then -- in the ultimate slap in the face of Kosovo and NATO -- have taken Kosovars' money and identification papers so they can never return to their homeland. Those who don't flee have been routinely murdered. And Kosovo's second largest city, Pec, with a former population of 100,000, now sits in ruin. To put a halt to these atrocities, NATO must employ both air and ground forces in a determined assault on Serbian military and political power. Only then, when Serbia is left in such ruin that it can not respond, will the plight of ethnic Albanians end. Constant attacks -- and the constant threat of attacks -- will demoralize the Serbs and strip them of the patriotism they have enveloped themselves in during this conflict. The Serbian will and ability to fight will disappear. A necessary part of this solution is the deployment of NATO ground forces. After all, the best way to fight ground troops is with ground troops. Granted, the risk to American lives increases substantially if NATO troops take to the ground and NATO planes make more bombing raids over Yugoslavia. But right now, NATO is putting soldiers at risk for a strategy that has little hope of success. The world has already seen Serbia shoot down an American airplane and capture three American soldiers. If NATO is really committed to bringing Serbia to heel, does it not make sense to take the added risk necessary to achieve that goal. Now -- especially after the massive escalation in the crisis -- is certainly not the time to back away. Besides, the potential results of holding to the present course could be much more severe. Continued slow NATO efforts, for instance, give Russia time to intervene on Serbia's behalf, possibly prompting a conflict on a greater scale. Russia has strongly opposed the NATO action and has already sent a reconnaissance ship to the Mediterranean Sea. Delaying the inevitable also means more fleeing, more starving, more devastation. The United Nations reported last week that remaining ethnic Albanians in Kosovo could face starvation by mid-April. Even worse, if the exodus continues at its present rate, not a single ethnic Albanian will remain in Kosovo by the end of the month. Then what would NATO be fighting for?