NEWSMAKER: ROBIN COOK

May 21, 1999
		British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook met with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington to discuss possible plans for expanding NATO ground forces in the Balkans. Margaret Warner talks with Cook about the latest developments in the Yugoslav conflict.

Strikes in Yugoslavia coverage May 20, 1999: Belgrade hospital bombed. May 19, 1999: The financial cost of war. May 19, 1999: Russian and American negotiators discuss a diplomatic efforts to end the war. May 18, 1999: Public opinion polls show a growing uneasiness with NATO's bombing campaign. May 13, 1999: Presidential hopefuls speak out on Kosovo. Complete NewsHour coverage of Europe   NATO Serbian Ministry of Information. Kosova Press -- KLA affiliated	MARGARET WARNER: Welcome Foreign Secretary, thanks for being with us. Tell us about the plans being talked about both in Brussels at NATO headquarters and also the Pentagon to beef up the current ground force operation in Macedonia.
	Capitalizing on the air strikes.
	ROBIN COOK, British Foreign Secretary: When we had the peace talks in Rambouillet, we gave a commitment that we would provide a NATO force to guarantee the cease-fire, to provide security in Kosovo, and make sure that we weren't just relying on Milosevic's word, but we were enforcing it. Now, at that time we had over 28,000 troops but a lot happened since then. And after the bloodshed and the destruction of the last eight weeks in which the Serbs have burned down most of the Kosovo towns, it's going to take a bigger force. Sometime in the next few days, hopefully next week we will get the report on how much more that enhanced Kosovo force should be. And then we've got to start getting into theater because our air campaign is succeeding, and we need to be ready to take advantage of that success. MARGARET WARNER: Now, is this the kind of preparation for a ground force that your prime minister, Tony Blair, has been talking about? ROBIN COOK: What it would be is a force that could enter Kosovo, secure the peace there, make sure that we were guaranteeing a real ceasefire. We've already put quite a lot of troops in Macedonia as the nucleus of that operation. There are over 12,000 there already, most of them -- a lot of them are British - we're the biggest single league nation, and last weekend we committed another two and a half thousand to go there. We need to build up - actually we need to build up now, because if you look at what's happened to the Yugoslav army this week, a whole battalion got up, deserted and walked home. This is an army that's disintegrating, and we need to be ready to take over whenever we can. MARGARET WARNER: But, I mean, would this force be appropriate to go in, either in a permissive environment or a semi-permissive environment, that is, with or without Milosevic's approval and agreement? ROBIN COOK: In my discussion with Madeleine Albright we've been clear that we need to make sure we update our plans for a variety of outcomes. In particular, we need to make sure we're ready to deploy in both a permissive and a non-permissive environment. When the forces go in, it will have to be a decision for the alliance as a whole, not just for any one nation whether it's Britain or anybody else. We've got to make this decision together and we've got to move together.
	Preparing for all options.
	MARGARET WARNER: Is the American administration on board for this notion that it would also be appropriate for a semi-permissive environment? ROBIN COOK: Well, as I said, Madeleine Albright has repeatedly said over the last 24 hours that we need to have the plans ready for both types of environment -- permissive and non-permissive. The President did say that we're intent in securing our objective and no options are taken off the table. MARGARET WARNER: General Wesley Clark, the commander of NATO forces, has been here in Washington at the Pentagon, and according to reports has suggested also beefing up this force to 50,000, and he has said explicitly that he would see it also as a signal to Milosevic to increase the pressure. Would you see it serving that purpose? ROBIN COOK: I think that it would certainly send a very powerful signal to Belgrade that we are serious; that we mean real business, and that he needn't imagine that he's going to go away with a settlement that does not involve the NATO troops, because they're coming to the theater knowing that they're going to go in - and one of the very important factors for the diplomatic track is that Milosevic knows that he's getting weaker. He's lost a third of the equipment and vehicles in Kosovo from the air campaign. He's lost actually half the ammunition, which we've blown up. And at the same time, he can see NATO getting stronger. And that's an equation that is bound to push further and further to him accepting our objectives. MARGARET WARNER: Now, the German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, as you know, this week, said he found - he considered the use of ground forces unthinkable and that Germany would try to block any such move in NATO. Do you think he'll agree to this plan? ROBIN COOK: I'm sure that Germany - the discussions that will be going on in Brussels -- will want to be part of the consensus because I know that Chancellor Schroeder is solidly behind our commitment that we're going to take the refugees back with NATO troops, and, indeed, Germany already has troops in Macedonia ready to do that. Indeed, it's the third largest troop contributor to the Macedonian force.
	Are the Serbs beginning to break?
	MARGARET WARNER: Is this a way, though, of being able to plan for a ground invasion, if necessary, without saying you're planning for a ground invasion? ROBIN COOK: No. The purpose of the air campaign is to make sure that the Yugoslav army cannot fight a ground war. We're making very good progress on that. I speak regularly to Hashim Thaci, the leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army who's in Kosovo. I spoke to him at the end of last week. And he said then now they repeatedly see cases of the Serb army trying to withdraw from the front line and being turned back by Serb police. They're demoralized. They're in decline. At the present time what we should not be doing is planning for a ground war; we should be making sure the Yugoslav army can't fight that ground war and be prepared and enter when that time comes. MARGARET WARNER: How long do you think you can maintain the public support you need for this war in all the allied countries if NATO continues to bomb these civilian targets? ROBIN COOK: Let's make sure we've got the right perspective. There have been 6,000 bombing missions over the last eight weeks and the number of bombs that have gone astray or hit the wrong target are in single figures. Now, it's right that we should focus on the mistakes, that we should apologize, that we should deeply regret the civilian innocent casualties, and we should also try to learn the lessons, so we minimize the chance of it happening again, but the overwhelming message of the air campaign, the big picture is it is having a real success in grinding down that war machine in Kosovo. Now, why I think we can keep public opinion down on this, because public opinion is outraged at what they see the Serb forces doing in Kosovo. I've spoken to many refugees who have come out of Kosovo over the last two months. All of them are unanimous with the terror they fled; all of them are solidly behind the air campaign. They want it to continue so they can go home. I don't think public opinion will let us stop and abandon those refugees.
	Wavering public support?
	MARGARET WARNER: The Italian prime minister said yesterday that attacks like these, hitting the hospital in Belgrade, were - the way he put it was increasing the unease among our voters -- and he suggested targets should be chosen more carefully and perhaps not use targets in places like downtown Belgrade. Is there any rethinking of the targeting? ROBIN COOK: I think it's very important that we do hit hard at the military assets and the military machine of Milosevic. It's equally important we try and avoid any damage to targets that are not relevant to that military machine. Now, unfortunately, you can't ring the fence in central Belgrade because the people who are doing the killing in Kosovo are coordinated, planned, directed from headquarters in central Belgrade. A couple of weeks ago we destroyed the war room of Arkan's paramilitaries, the White Tigers, people who have been looting, burning, raping their way across Kosovo. I don't think we should say let's leave the war room alone to coordinate their activities because it happens to be in downtown Belgrade. MARGARET WARNER: You said you felt you had public opinion with you, but certainly polls here, in France and in Italy are showing a softening of support, and, in fact, a desire in France certainly to even stop the bombing for a while and negotiate the terms, rather than trying to impose them. Are you concerned that any of the NATO governments are going to feel that kind of pressure? ROBIN COOK: If you look at what we agreed at the Washington summit, we agreed to not just that we've got to secure our objectives but there can be no compromise on them. I do not know a single government who's saying we should compromise on those objectives. We've got to be prepared to do what it takes to finish the job we started.
	Return the refugees to Kosovo.
	MARGARET WARNER: Now, when you say "no compromise," -- let's take one of the objectives, say that all Serb forces have to be out of Kosovo. No compromise possible on that? ROBIN COOK: No, because remember what we're trying to do. We're trying to get the refugees back to enable them to rebuild their homes. Those refugees are not going to go back now if there are operational Serb forces inside Kosovo. If I was them, I wouldn't go back; I don't think you would; and they won't. That's why there can be no operational units of the Serb army left behind in Kosovo when this is over. Maybe here you can have some symbolic presence under a flag but not an operational force. And there is going to be no compromise on that. MARGARET WARNER: And how about the demand that the force that goes in to protect the refugees and to essentially, I gather, administer Kosovo, has to have NATO at its core? ROBIN COOK: We're clear that that is an essential condition with that international presence being credible. Remember, that if we're going to have a situation in which the refugees are confident that they can go back with security, they need to be confident on the competence, the ability of the international presence, and they're only going to feel that if the major NATO countries are there, and we have said we are very willing to take our part - Britain's already earmarked 8,000 troops, about a third of the original 28,000. We're willing to play our part, but I'm not going to send our troops in unless they're under a NATO command structure. If we're putting them into that position, we want a tried, tested structure to make sure that they're secure. MARGARET WARNER: Now, NATO is letting, has asked Russia to negotiate with Belgrade over this, yet you can't even get Russia to accept those two terms. Where does that leave -- ROBIN COOK: Russia has moved a long way in the last few weeks and we continue in very intense dialogue with Russia. And I think Russia is beginning to understand that there's no way in which we are going to agree to a military presence in Kosovo without NATO being there and without that NATO command structure. But I think you are right to flag out what is a very important point. Getting an agreement with Russia, which we're moving closer to, is not the same as getting agreement with Belgrade. MARGARET WARNER: But you don't even have an agreement with Russia. ROBIN COOK: We've made a very good progress and, indeed, over the last two days we've come close to a text for a Security Council resolution. It'll take further work. We'll continue next week. But given where we were three or four weeks ago, we've closed the gap enormously. MARGARET WARNER: You said that you think everyone in the alliance is committed to achieving all the objectives without compromise. Do you think members of the alliance will be willing to risk their soldiers' lives, if it comes to that, if that is the only way to get Milosevic to cave? ROBIN COOK: We're already risking the lives of pilots every day in Kosovo. MARGARET WARNER: I'm talking about a ground war. ROBIN COOK: I understand that. But let's recognize the commitment and the resolve the alliance is already showing and there have been some casualties. Tragically, in the case of America - the casualties in that Apache helicopter that crashed. The alliance is showing real commitment, real resolve. Now, we are very clear that we are going to provide the NATO forces to take the refugees back. We're not going to do that while the Yugoslav army can fight a ground war. That's why the air campaign continues and intensifies. But we're willing to make that commitment, both because of our common humanity, our decent concern of the fate of those refugees, but also because this could be a turning point for the whole of the Balkans region, but only if we show that aggression does not pay.
	A firm alliance?
	MARGARET WARNER: What is your assessment of President Clinton's commitment to see this through? ROBIN COOK: I think that Americans have shown immense resolve, an immense commitment to this conflict, and President Clinton has led that. Three-quarters of the planes and the pilots are American. America presided over the Washington summit three weeks ago when we delivered a very clear, firm statement of objectives and the commitment there'd be no compromise. And President Clinton helped broker that text. MARGARET WARNER: As you know, there have been reports here in the American media about a long telephone call between Prime Minister Blair and President Clinton earlier this week in which the President reportedly said to him, "You've got to be rein in the people in your government who are being critical of me for not stepping up to the plate on ground troops." Any truth to that? ROBIN COOK: President Clinton said no such thing. But there was a long telephone call, yes, and actually I think on both sides of the Atlantic we should be pleased that we both have heads of government who do talk to each other regularly, who do give each other the time to talk it through. And, yes, they did discuss the press reports, which caused some concern, because those reports claimed division and split, and there is none. And I very much hope that my visit here and the joint work I've done with Madeleine Albright underlines the reality of the common solidarity and unity of Britain and the United States, who are two of the closest allies in the alliance. MARGARET WARNER: All right. Well, Foreign Secretary, thank you very much. ROBIN COOK: Thank you.

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