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"" How good a prophet was Admiral Venturoni? ""
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Eye on the Empire
Alan Bock
April 20, 2000
NATO’S SHEER INCOMPETENCE:
A LARGER MEANING?
One of the pleasures of keeping fat files – sometimes outweighed, sometimes not
by the general air of messiness on the desk – is the opportunity to compare
what officials said they expected at various times in the past to what has
actually occurred. In the case of NATO officialdom’s
hopes/expectations/predictions about how things were likely to play out, the
record suggests a nodding acquaintance at best with reality on the ground.
I have before me, for example, a Reuters story from last October on the
likelihood of NATO peacekeeping forces being pulled out or reduced in number
and when. Guido Venturoni, the Italian admiral who had assumed the post as
chairman of NATO’s military command the previous May, was on a whirlwind tour
of NATO capitals to keep morale bucked up. That was important because he
brought essentially unwelcome news:
"Probably next Spring we can assess the possibility of a force restructuring
[in Kosovo]" he told a news conference in Copenhagen, "but for the moment I
think it is premature." Politicians in the NATO countries he was visiting would
have preferred to hear that some of the 43,000 NATO troops then in Kosovo
(about 5,300 from the U.S.) would start to come home fairly soon. Politicians
who have even a hint of concern about popular opinion are seldom fond of the
idea of open-ended military commitments with no discernible exit plan.
PROGRESS AND UNITY
Venturoni also made some interesting claims about the outcome and impact of the
NATO bombing campaign and occupation. Although the Kosovo war was "a very
challenging test," he said, NATO had passed it with flying colors. "NATO unity
was reinforced," said the good admiral.
He also claimed the NATO "peacekeepers" were starting to get a handle on things
in Kosovo, citing lower numbers of killings, kidnapping, looting, burning and
other unpleasantness per week than in the weeks when the occupation began. "We
cannot think, of course, of eliminating hatreds and killings and enmities that
are historically there," he admitted. "It takes time, but I think that the
trend is positive and so I am optimistic."
Admiral Venturoni did note that the war had highlighted some disparities
between the military capabilities of American and European forces. The
Americans did seem to do better at surveillance and reconnaissance, for
example. "Is it wise for the European nations to grow a little bit in this
respect?" he asked rhetorically. "I think, ‘Yes,’ and so this is probably
something that will be taken care of in initiatives that are already under way.
The aim should be to improve the military capabilities, especially on this side
of the Atlantic."
But all in the context of the remarkable unity the Kosovo adventure had evoked
among the member-nations of NATO, of course.
Of course.
NOT EXACTLY
How good a prophet was Admiral Venturoni? Well, if progress were to continue
along the lines he suggested last October, by February one might have expected
at least some preliminary thinking about just how the Kosovo forces were to be
restructured in anticipation of being drawn down at least a bit by Spring. But
that wasn’t exactly the situation by, say, February 24.
Since the previous October, of course, numerous European leaders had expressed
many of the concerns the Italian admiral had expressed about the need to bulk
up European military prowess. Preliminary plans had been discussed about
creating an independent (of NATO) European multinational military force. While
US officials had sometimes expressed diplomatically-couched concerns about
whether this was really necessary, discussions were and are ongoing.
MITROVICA’S AFTERMATH
By late February of this year, all discussions about a possible restructuring
and reduction of NATO forces in Kosovo was way, way off the table. Mitrovica
had exploded in Serbian-Albanian violence, triggered by a grenade attack
February 2 on a United Nations buss in the city with the largest concentration
of Serbs left in all of Kosovo, perhaps 9,000. The grenade attack left two
Serbs dead and was followed the next day by a Serb rampage through Albanian
neighborhoods.
Violence continued, so NATO troops eventually launched door-to-door searches on
both side of the ethnic border, and required 2,300 reinforcements within a
couple of weeks.
By February 24, all the talk was about the possible need for more NATO troops
in Kosovo, possibly including the 22nd US Marine Expeditionary Unit, then
stationed on ships in the Mediterranean. Madeleine Albright said the US might
be prepared to bring in some of the 1,200 additional troops NATO commanders
thought were needed in Kosovo, but the Europeans should go first. Democratic
Senate leader Tom Daschle (S.D.) gently noted that while President Clinton had
all the authority he needed to increase the US commitment in Kosovo on his own,
"I think Congress needs to be involved in terms of oversight."
There may have been a mention of abiding by the War Powers Act or consulting
the US Constitution and insisting that Congress declare war before a larger,
indefinite commitment could be made, but if there was I missed it.
WE’LL TRAIN THEIR COPS
That same day President Clinton finessed the situation by signing a directive
providing for $10 million for a US program to train foreign police forces. "In
peacekeeping missions from the Balkans to East Timor," quoth Our Boy Bill,
"establishing basic law and order has been among the most important – and
formidable – challenges." Secretary of State Madeleine said the State
Department would be setting up an office to run the program, saying it would
improve US capacity to provide police overseas in coordination with the United
Nations.
Maybe the former commandos – er, commanders – at Waco could be called upon as
instructors. They don’t seem to be doing much except standing by to participate
as witnesses in a civil trial that might or might not go forward.
Again, I might just have missed the part about how this appropriation
originated in the House of Representatives, as the US Constitution requires all
appropriations to do. Surely the executive branch doesn’t have authority to
appropriate $10 million for a brand-new program that could have entangling long-
term consequences for US relations with a host of others countries without
first getting the go-ahead from Congress, does it?
It’s only in empires, not in constitutional republics, that the emperor’s whim
is law. Isn’t that right?
SPRING REINFORCEMENTS, NOT REDUCTIONS
By March 13 Spring was just around the corner, but Admiral Venturoni’s hope
that by Spring some troop reductions might be in order had hardly been
fulfilled. Instead, the murmurings about possible additional troops being
needed had become an official request from our pal, US General Wesley Clark,
the NATO supreme commander. He needed several thousand more troops – maybe
2,000, maybe more – in three battalions.
The French agreed to provide one battalion, but it wasn’t clear where the
others would come from. US Defense Secretary William Cohen noted that "we have
quite a contribution to date," with 5,500 of the 44,000 troops then in Kosovo
being American. But he noted that there were 2,200 Marine personnel, including
1,150 combat troops, on US ships in the Mediterranean.
WHAT HAPPENED TO UNITY?
So the good admiral missed in his forecast that it might be possible to start
thinking about troop reductions in the Spring. How accurate did his comment
that the Kosovo war had improved unity among the NATO powers turn out to be?
Well, not especially accurate. On March 13 Chris Patten, the last British
governor of Hong Kong and now the EU’s commissioner for external affairs, was
warning that strains over finding of Kosovo’s "reconstruction" could poison
relations between Europe and America and lead to a serious transatlantic rift.
Seems Madame Madeleine had made a comment in Sarajevo about the "need for
pledges to be fulfilled," which was taken by most as a complaint that the
Europeans weren’t kicking in enough money. Mr. Patten said the Europeans had
done their share, "but it’s important to convince the [US] Congress."
As Stephen Castle, writing from Brussels for the London Independent put it: "EU-
US ties are already tense, with several trade disputes pending and America
increasingly suspicious about Europe’s new defense initiative. Mr. Patten
warned against opening another front that could ‘contribute to a serious
problem for our relationship.’"
OFFICIAL OPTIMISM DASHED
In essence, then, Admiral Venturoni, the official NATO spokesman, was almost
180 degrees wrong in his anticipation last October of how things were going and
how they would progress. He was guarded in his optimism, of course, but he
expressed it. But by Spring NATO troops were being beefed up in Kosovo rather
than drawn down. And NATO unity was in tatters.
ENTER AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
March 13 was a genuinely busy day for NATO. That was also the day Amnesty
International accused NATO and the United Nations of failing to observe high
human rights standards in Kosovo. During the late unpleasantness in Mitrovica,
said the group, an Albanian had been killed by the NATO-led KFOR force. The
circumstances were such, said Amnesty International, that an independent
investigation into the incident was required.
There was also the matter of 49 people detained by French forces in the
aftermath of the violence in inhumane, cold and unsanitary conditions – an
unheated small gymnasium when the temperature was around zero – and denied them
basic rights like being told any reason for their detainment.
"We are concerned that the violations we observed that day in Mitrovica are
illustrative of a wider pattern of disregard for human rights by KFOR and UNMIK
[U.N. Mission in Kosovo] while operating in the capacity of a law enforcement
agency in Kosovo," said Liz Griffin, an Amnesty field worker in Kosovo who co-
wrote the report. "We note at present that there is absolutely no
accountability for the actions of KFOR and UNMIK in Kosovo," she noted a bit
later.
A ROGUE REGIME?
It really should be considered, in light of the Amnesty International report,
that NATO and UNMIK have become the kind of rogue regimes – systematically
cutting corners to the point of abuse in carrying out what they conceive to be
the mission – the administration is always warning us about when it requests
new funds and new powers to do surveillance on the Internet to fight against
terrorists.
That raises a larger question yet. In light of the oft-demonstrated
incompetence and malfeasance of NATO, a coalition of nation-states, has the
time of that human institution started to run out?
PERHAPS THE GOD IS DYING
As Lew Rockwell put it recently, "The main political project of the century has
been to exalt the state to a god-like status." Even as the kept intellectuals
struggle to revive respect for the state as an essential institution under new
labels or with new goals, like bolstering national greatness, however, the
statist project is in tatters. Everybody but the kept intellectuals knows the
state – at least the 20th century mega-state, whether expressed as a communist,
Nazi, fascist or welfarist institution – is incompetent and increasingly
desperate.
The idea that sheer chaos would ensue if the state and its minions didn’t
manage almost all aspects of human existence is being replaced by the dawning
notion that state management produces more chaos than it ameliorates – even
when the intentions are good, the cause is just (like peace in Kosovo) and the
mission seems clear. The state is proving to be a bungler in almost all it
undertakes.
The modern nation-state assumed approximately the shape it still has in the
1600s. But all human institutions and empires eventually become bloated and
fail, giving way to some new mode of organizing human activity. It might not be
the twilight of the nation-state as such just yet. But the bloated monster that
most nations have allowed to be built during the 20th century is overdue for a
reassessment.
Text-only printable version of this article
Alan Bock is Senior Essayist at the Orange County Register and a weekly
columnist for WorldNetDaily. He is the author of Ambush at Ruby Ridge (Putnam-
Berkley, 1995). His exclusive column now appears every Thursday on Antiwar.com.
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>>> My thoughts on this military adventurism: The lesson of the 20th Century
and modern warfare is that the Euros have repeatedley demonstrated that they
are ineffectual, at best, at conducting warfare. This is one occupation of
their time that they should avoid -- forever, never again -- unless of course,
they want to pursue their little jousts WITHOUT assistance from the North
Americans (including Canada). The Americans, on the other hand, should avoid
being drawn into these little tribal warfare exercises, which, in many cases,
caused the Euros to emigrate to the U.S. in the first place. For the Americans
to become nostalgic about the "Old World" and revert to atavistic tribal
behaviours in concert with the failed empires of the Britlanders and the
Spanish (Javier Solana, e.g.) is contrary to our raison d'etre: separation from
the old, tired, tedious, overworked, underperforming thought processes and
actions which at least twice this Century have resulted in international
(European, i.e.) conflicts. The Americans, once again, have demonstrated their
military capabilities as being far superior tothose of the Euros, despite a
half century of tutelage and partnership through NEATO. Yet, the Euros have,
once again, demostrated their predeliction for 'blood-letting diplomacy' AND
their dependence on American bene-violence even as late as the Kosovariac
'conflict'. I say it's time to draw the line: either learn to get along
peacefully or settle your atavisms amongst yourselves. A<>E<>R <<<
A<>E<>R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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