EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Thursday, April 22, 1999-09:43CDT

CRISIS NEWS BRIEFS

SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - NATO's destruction of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's house in Belgrade overnight was a strike at a "presidential command post." Yugoslavia's Tanjug news agency said neither Milosevic nor his family were at home when the house in the exclusive Dedinje residential area was hit at 0400 hours local time.

UNITED KINGDOM (EmergencyNet News) - A British paper said on Thursday that NATO is worried that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic could try to disrupt the alliance's 50th anniversary celebrations in Washington this weekend with a show of force in the Balkans. The Independent quoted a senior NATO diplomat as saying the group was bracing itself for renewed military activity in an effort "to try to pose some tests for the alliance by ratcheting up the pressure on the ground."

WASHINGTON (EmergencyNet News) - U.S. officials said on Wednesday that NATO Secretary General Javier Solana has authorized the alliance's military command to review plans for the possible use of ground troops in Kosovo. A senior White House official said: "There is a consensus for the alliance to do this."

From the ERRI Watch Center

SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - As speculation swirls about the Western alliance edging closer to considering the use of ground troops, NATO destroyed the Belgrade residence of President Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday. Milosevic and his family were not in the house in the exclusive Dedinje residential area of the Yugoslav capital at the time of the 0400 hour attack. The Tanjung news agency reported that the house was destroyed.

NATO appears to be taking its air war to the top echelons of Yugoslavia's leadership structure. On Wednesday, NATO planes blasted Milosevic's ruling party headquarters. Early Thursday, residents reported hearing explosions in the capital and cruise missiles flying over the city. Russia's special Yugoslavia envoy, ex-Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, arrived in Belgrade for talks with Milosevic about the Kosovo crisis.

In Washington, U.S. officials said NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana had authorized the alliance's military command to review plans for the possible use of ground troops in Kosovo. A senior White House official said: "There is a consensus for the alliance to do this. All 19 members agreed that this was a prudent and useful exercise." He stressed that the U.S. position on ground troops had not changed.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said a study last year concluded that as many as 75,000 ground troops would be needed in Kosovo alone and that fighting through to Belgrade and the rest of Serbia could require 200,000 soldiers or more.

The Serbian news agency Beta said three powerful explosions shook Belgrade at 0315 hours during the 29th night of NATO attacks. A factory in central Serbia was also hit. Beta said some 20 missiles rained down on the Batajnica military airfield in the suburbs of the capital at 0045 hours local time.

By Steve Macko, ERRI Risk Analyst

WASHINGTON (EmergencyNet News) - The Pentagon is said to be bringing in aircraft carriers and planes from around the globe to provide firepower for NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia, taxing a military already stretched thin by post-Cold War cutbacks.

As a result of the latest conflict and continuing tensions with Iraq, no aircraft carrier will be on patrol in the Pacific until the fall unless an emergency requires a quick call-up. Air Force planes have gone on alert to handle any trouble in the Pacific area.

The USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) had been assigned to the Pacific on 3 April but was ordered to the Persian Gulf to free up the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) to join NATO's Balkan campaign. The Roosevelt arrived 5 April in the Adriatic Sea.

Now, the Pentagon is considering a second carrier for the allied forces to help meet a NATO request for 300 more American warplanes.

The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and its 75 aircraft, which reached the Mediterranean on Tuesday after a six-month Gulf deployment, could be sent to the Aegean Sea instead of home. More warplanes also could come from forces around Iraq and Korea. The Pentagon also is considering basing planes in Turkey and Hungary, both NATO members, which could eliminate the need for a second carrier. Bulgaria and Romania gave NATO permission Tuesday to use their air space for bombing runs, which could facilitate using planes from the Aegean and from Hungary.

A senior defense official, describing the search for resources, said the U.S. military's flexibility is reduced since the Cold War, when the Navy had 600 ships, for example, compared with 324 today.  The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

In 1991, the U.S. Navy had 15 carriers, with one in reserve, which is just enough to keep one each in the three places the Pentagon would like to cover 365 days a year: the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and the Pacific. The Navy has had just 12 carriers since 1994, however, which means gaps of weeks and sometimes months will occur when the Pacific, the Mediterranean or the Gulf goes without.

During the U.S. military standoff with Iraq, which flared with four days of airstrikes in December, the Navy kept one or two aircraft carriers in the Gulf for 555 days in a row. That meant a gap in the Mediterranean and higher alert status for Air Force planes at Italy's Aviano air base, a major takeoff point for airstrikes now.

Leaving the Pacific unguarded by a carrier for long could send the wrong signal to North Korea, China or Indonesia, now experiencing violence ahead of elections, because a visible U.S. military presence helps maintain stability. If a crisis erupted in the Pacific, the Navy could deploy the USS Constellation (CV-64) within two to three weeks.

The carrier's normal rotation would place it in the Pacific in the fall. But, officials say that considering the number of actual or potential conflicts in the world, that very few things are normal these days...

©  Copyright, EmergencyNet NEWS Service, 1999. All Rights Reserved. Redistribution without permission is prohibited by law.