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| NEWSMAKER: SECRETARY COHEN | |
 June 3, 1999 
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Secretary of Defense William Cohen discusses the conditions of the international plan accepted by the Serbian parliament and outlines the steps that will lead to the plan's implementation.
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JIM LEHRER: We go to a Newsmaker interview with Secretary of Defense William Cohen who joins us now from the Pentagon. Mr. Secretary, welcome. JIM LEHRER: Is peace at hand, sir? WILLIAM COHEN: Oh, I think it's too early to tell. This has been a very positive step certainly by the Serb parliament, but until such time as we see more details and an agreement that is implemented on their part, then I don't think that we should draw any conclusions that peace is at hand. We intend to continue our air campaign until such time as the forces in fact are pulled out of Kosovo pursuant to this agreement. And so we'll have to wait and see what the details are and whether there is a commitment to carry through on the part of the Serb government. |
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| Will this plan lead to peace? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JIM LEHRER: What specifically are you looking for in the next few hours to test whether or not this is real?
JIM LEHRER: But are the efforts under way now to schedule such a meeting? Are you waiting for the phone call, or are they waiting for the phone call? WILLIAM COHEN: I believe that there are efforts under way right now to set up such a meeting. I can't say what the time and place and date will be, but I would expect it will be in the next several days, and in the meantime, we will make preparations to try to accelerate our own deployment of K forces, the Kosovo peace implementation force that we would want to have that in place in any event so that the enhanced KFOR force can be ready to move into Kosovo as quickly as possible to start moving the refugees back, should there be a commitment on the part of the Serbs to carry forward their agreement. If they don't, then we will continue the air campaign.
WILLIAM COHEN: Well, we could have both. I think it would have to be both. But from a military point of view, we would want to see that take place as soon as possible so that we could, again, arrive at some understanding in terms of what must take place in order to satisfy NATO that Milosevic and his forces are in fact prepared to pull themselves out of Kosovo and allow the refugees to return. So we will have to work out those mechanics, and that will take a conference between military representatives, there will be diplomatic initiatives and conferences taken place simultaneously. JIM LEHRER: Do you know something that makes you extremely skeptical about whether or not, first of all, these meetings are going to take place, whether or not the Serbs are really... really mean it this time or what?
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| Russia's involvement. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JIM LEHRER: Viktor Chernomyrdin told reporters in Moscow today that his understanding was that the bombing would stop within two or three days after Yugoslavia begins compliance. Does that make sense to you? WILLIAM COHEN: I think the bombing will stop after we're satisfied that there is going to be full compliance. Again, that could come in a relatively short period of time, but much depends upon the movement of the forces out. And we will just have to see how that unfolds.
WILLIAM COHEN: Right. We are not going to be satisfied with any sort of a small deployment of forces out of the region. We would have to see a significant commitment and movement of their forces out of Kosovo to satisfy ourselves that they in fact intend to do what they have pledged to do and that is comply with the agreement. And we will watch that very carefully. We will make a judgment, and if we satisfy ourselves that they are in the process of removing their forces, we will do nothing to impede their removal and compliance with the agreement. But that's a judgment we'll have to make when it unfolds, when the time unfolds. JIM LEHRER: The agreement itself, the piece of paper that the Serbian Parliament said, "Okay, we buy this, we accept this," is that agreement all right from a NATO and U.S. point of view? WILLIAM COHEN: The agreement on the part of the Serb parliament is to accept NATO's conditions, the five core demands that NATO has set forth from the very beginning, and to the extent that they have agreed to that and then they take steps to carry it out, to satisfy us that they intend to fully comply with that, then we would obviously welcome that.
WILLIAM COHEN: That's correct. JIM LEHRER: So there's nothing... there's no small print, no... nothing to be worked out from the U.S. Point of view, is that correct? WILLIAM COHEN: Mr. Ahtisaari indicated that he made it very clear to Mr. Milosevic what was contained in the presentation, what the understanding was, what Milosevic and his forces had to do. So he made it very clear there was no misunderstanding. There had to be all the Serb forces out, there had to be the refugees returned to their homes a safe, secure environment, a command-and-control structure that is under NATO and a restoration of autonomy to the Kosovar Albanians. All of that is contained in NATO's key demands, and that is what was presented to Mr. Milosevic. And according to Mr. Ahtisaari, there is no misunderstanding, there could be no misunderstanding. So to the extent that the Serb parliament has agreed to that and then takes steps to carry it out, there should not be a problem. JIM LEHRER: Well, Chernomyrdin again said that the new wrinkle in this-- I paraphrase. He didn't say new wrinkle, but the new dimension to this was that the United Nations would play a to stronger role than had been originally proposed by NATO. Is that correct? WILLIAM COHEN: I don't know what his reference is to as far as the United Nations is concerned. The United Nations will play a role as we envisioned before, that as far as civil implementation in dealing with the civilian aspects, certainly the United Nations has an important role to play. But when it comes to the military operation, that is purely under NATO's command and control, and that we would continue to insist upon. There can be no misunderstanding about that. As far as the U.N.'s role on the civil implementation, that would be welcomed, but it has to be... the military has to be under the command and control of NATO. JIM LEHRER: But won't there be some Russian troops involved?
JIM LEHRER: But if Russia sends troops, they will serve under NATO or they will not serve? WILLIAM COHEN: There has to be a single force under NATO command and control. There is an arrangement in Bosnia where they have a separate reporting structure, and that has worked out satisfactorily, but it's still under the overall control of NATO. And that will be the case here, as well. We cannot have separate command-and-control structures. And so to the extent that Russia participates, I would expect that it will be very much along the lines as they do in Bosnia. JIM LEHRER: You don't anticipate any problems with this? -- about this? WILLIAM COHEN: Well, I don't no. They may decide that they don't wish to participate and again I would point out that the forces that will make up NATO will be NATO countries and non-NATO countries. We've had indications from middle eastern countries. They wish to participate in the peacekeeping mission. We have a number of non-NATO countries who are eager to participate on a peacekeeping mission. So if Russia decides to do so, that would be welcomed. If they don't, that would be acceptable, as well. |
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| Should we say we won? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JIM LEHRER: Mr. Secretary, an old-fashioned war term, should this be considered a surrender? Should we be saying tonight, "we won?" WILLIAM COHEN: I don't think we have to engage in any chest pounding on this particular issue. What we have indicated is that these demands had to be met. A terrible thing has been done to the people of Kosovo. We've had almost a million refugees, if not more. We have three to four hundred thousand people who may still be internally displaced. There's been an horrific amount of damage done by Milosevic's forces, and I think the world will continue to be horrified as they learn more and more about the details. So what we have said is: this cannot stand, that this expulsion of refugees must be reversed. They have to go back. They have to go to a safe environment and NATO must be in a position to ensure that. And we will do so. And the president indicated during our meeting with the Joint Chiefs today that we have to succeed, NATO will succeed, and by all means necessary. And so we intend to continue this campaign in the event that we don't see a fulfillment on the part of the Serb forces of this agreement.
WILLIAM COHEN: I have no way of verifying that. It could be much more. It could be less. The Serbs maintain that it's far less than that. I think, based upon the amount of damage that I have seen done in the last several weeks, that there is significant damage being inflicted and not only upon machinery, equipment, tanks artillery pieces, but on forces in the field. And so I think that the damage has been significant, but I can't tell you what the numbers are. JIM LEHRER: If this agreement today turns out to be real and it is implemented after 72 days of bombing, that's a little bit longer or somewhat longer than you and others expected it to take, is it not? WILLIAM COHEN: Well, we really didn't have any way of measuring how long it would take. What we said was we had to be prepared to carry out this air campaign for as long as it takes. The weather has been a big factor. If you look at the charts, you will find that, out of the 70-plus days that this air campaign has been under way, roughly 15 or 16 days have been entirely clear weather where we didn't have to call back some of the forces that were being deployed. And so I think that the weather has been an impediment, and certainly there has been a robust air-defense system which we had to degrade. But now we are in a position that we have clear air superiority over all of Serbia, and that has taken a toll on his forces. So we planned to carry this on as long as necessary, we went to the hill to say we needed additional funding to make sure we could carry the air campaign clearly through the end of September and then begin a new fiscal year. And we were prepared to carry it all the way through to next year if necessary |
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| Has it been worth it? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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JIM LEHRER: And it's all been worth it?
JIM LEHRER: Do you plan personally, Mr. Secretary, to involve yourself in any discussions with Yugoslav defense figures over getting this thing moving quickly in the next few days? WILLIAM COHEN: I think that will be left at the military level to the extent that my services or my position will be required, I'd be happy to do that. But I think right now the details have to be worked out by our military experts and uniformed military. So I expect that that's what will take place in the next several days. JIM LEHRER: All right. Secretary Cohen, thank you very much. WILLIAM COHEN: My pleasure. |
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WILLIAM
COHEN, U.S. Secretary of Defense: Good evening. 
WILLIAM
COHEN: Well, there has to be a meeting on a military-to-military basis
so that our military representatives can meet with theirs to work out
the time frame, the sequencing, the logistics of removing their forces.
And satisfy ourselves that we have the means to verify that removal
of forces before there can be a cessation of the air campaign. And so
all of that would have to be worked out. We would assume that that will
be under way within the next day or two. And serious efforts made to
resolve those remaining issues. 
JIM
LEHRER: But the next step from the United States' point of view and
the NATO point of view, is that there has to be a meeting scheduled
between NATO military commanders and Yugoslav military commanders, not
diplomats? 
WILLIAM
COHEN: Well, I wouldn't use the word skeptical. I think the watch word
of the day is "cautious." We must remain cautious to satisfy
ourselves that there is substance behind the agreement at least that
the Serb parliament has reached, that they have agreed to the terms
set forth by NATO. So we remain cautious, we think it's a positive development,
but we are not taking anything for granted. We're going to continue
doing what we have been doing and that is inflicting serious and substantial
damage upon Milosevic's forces. And that will continue until such time
as we are satisfied and we make a judgment that there there has been
a manifestation of an intent and coupled with movement of forces out
of Kosovo so that we can satisfy ourselves that we can proceed with
an understanding that they are all going out. 
JIM
LEHRER: But to make sure I understand . . . I don't mean to nitpick
here, but just to make sure I understand, they don't have to have completely
implemented the compliance, in other words, all the Serb troops don't
have to be out of Serbia before the bombing would end? You all would
just have to have some feeling that they were beginning a serious attempt,
is that correct? 
WILLIAM
COHEN: Well, there could be. And hopefully there will be some Russian
troops involved, but that is not a precondition to this agreement. We
would hope that Russia would consider sending some troops, as they have
done in Bosnia. They served side by side with American forces as part
of the NATO force. We think that would be important that they do so,
as well. Should they choose not to do so, that really has no bearing
upon this particular agreement or upon NATO's demands. 
JIM
LEHRER: Speaking of details, Mr. Secretary, there was a report today
that NATO finally has given a figure as to how many Serbian military
troops have been killed in the 72 days of bombing, and the figure was
5,000. Is that... does that ring true to you, sir? 
WILLIAM
COHEN: To the extent that we get the refugees back to their homes and
we see the establishment of a situation where the people of Kosovo can
have autonomy, substantial autonomy and peace and hopefully one day
prosperity can be brought to that region, it certainly will be worth
our effort.