From
The Guardian, circa 2001:
The US is pressing ahead with plans to reduce its military presence in Bosnia, Pentagon officials said yesterday, despite signs that the Nato-enforced peace in the Balkans is beginning to unravel.
The US is reducing by 900 to 3,500 its troop contribution to Nato´s stabilisation force (S-for) in Bosnia. It is also removing its 16 Apache gunship helicopters and some tanks and armoured cars, a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday. Their withdrawal had already begun.
Rear Admiral Craig Quigley did not deny a report that the Bush administration intended to reduce the US force in Bosnia by 80% over two years. But he did say no final decision had been taken. Future reductions would depend on conditions on the ground and consultations with allies.
Adm Quigley said the troop reduction was a product of the success of the peacekeeping mission. But Nato officials were stunned by the plan, which comes as instability in the Balkans is worsening. There is tension along Kosovo's borders with Macedonia and Serbia, and in Bosnia, where the five-year-old Dayton peace agreement is fraying. Bosnian Croat forces have refused to continue participating in a joint army with Muslims and yesterday signalled that they were preparing to set up a separatist administration in the south.
Campaigning last year, Mr Bush said he would reduce US military obligations abroad, and pointed particularly to the Balkans. But when the Nato secretary-general, Lord Robertson, visited Washington recently, the president assured him the US would stick to its Nato obligations and was not planning drastic cuts.
From
Reuters, circa yesterday:
The White House said on Thursday it was sending a company of U.S. soldiers to Kosovo as part of a NATO effort to quell unrest in the mainly ethnic Albanian Serbian province, where violence has killed 22 people in the past 24 hours.
"We are continuing to monitor the situation closely. We are working with NATO to deploy additional forces as a precaution. One U.S. company is en route as part of a 350 NATO force today," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters traveling to Kentucky with President Bush.
Say it with me: Bush doesn't follow through on his promises. Bush doesn't follow through on his obligations. Bush hasn't made this world safer. Bush is weak on defense.
