CAMPAIGN FOR KOSOVO

	April 26, 1999
	Correspondent Tom Bearden provides a summary of today's bombing-related events along with an update on the three captured American servicemen in Kosovo.

TOM BEARDEN: The Pentagon is sending 30 air refueling tankers to Italy to beef up the NATO air fleet. The aircraft will depart from bases in California, Michigan, Arizona and another unspecified state this weekend. Pentagon Spokesman Ken Bacon said reservists will be called out soon to operate the aircraft. KENNETH BACON: The reserve call-up will be calling soon. We have actually now, of course, probably about a thousand reservists operating with the Air Force on a volunteer basis. This will require some reservists to be called up and the planes won't be leaving until probably around the weekend. So a reserve call-up will come very quickly. And it will cover this and other things as well. TOM BEARDEN: Bacon called the tankers a down payment on a much larger deployment of as many as 300 aircraft coming soon. The President is expected to authorize the call-up of some 33,000 reservists, mostly from the Air National Guard. Yugoslavian state television showed pictures of the last bridge over the Danube River at Novi Sad, the country's second largest city, being destroyed last night. This morning, NATO Spokesman Colonel Freytag showed the view from the cockpit. COL. KONRAD FREYTAG, NATO Military Spokesman: These bridges are critical links for maintaining Milosevic's war machine. Now a cockpit video, it is of an attack against a line of communication, highway bridge in southern Serbia. Turning to the Serbian field forces in Kosovo, poor weather impacted some of our operations. We did have success targeting a military compound and military vehicles including tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks. TOM BEARDEN: In Belgrade, there were new developments in the case of the three American servicemen being held prisoner. The head of the international committee of the Red Cross met with President Slobodan Milosevic this morning. Cornelio Sommaruga also had a brief meeting with the three American soldiers. CORNELIO SOMMARUGA, International Red Cross: I had the occasion this morning to see them and to shake their hands, and had a short talk with all three. It was not possible to have a full-fledged ICRC visit in conformity with the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention. But I expect, according to the results of a negotiation we had this morning in the minister of defense, I expect that tomorrow, Tuesday, our ICRC delegate and the ICRC doctor will visit them at lends and also have the private talks as they are foreseen by the Third Geneva Convention. TOM BEARDEN: White House Spokesman Joe Lockhart was asked how he interpreted the meeting. JOE LOCKHART: I interpret that 25 days late they've had a chance to review the Geneva Convention and have found a way to, in however bare and minimum form, start the process of what the Geneva Convention demands, which are regular visits, which are private visits, which this wasn't private, medical attention, which this -- did not provide. But the head of the ICRC did get 15 minutes today. He says that the three servicemen appear to be in good condition, which is obviously good news. He was able to deliver messages, as I understand, it from their families, which is also good news for the three servicemen. TOM BEARDEN: There were also signs of a potential rift in the Yugoslavian government. Yugoslav Deputy Premier Vuk Draskovic appeared on local TV and criticized his government's hard-line policies. Draskovic called on state leaders to stop lying to the people of Serbia. He said people should be told that NATO isn't breaking down and that world opinion is against them. Draskovic also said Yugoslavia should accept a UN force in Kosovo and allow the return of ethnic Albanian refugees. NATO Spokesman Jamie Shea. JAMIE SHEA: The statements that he made last night show that there are senior members of the Yugoslav government that are beginning to recognize the reality of the situation that Yugoslavia is in. Vuk Draskovic called on the Serb government to tell the people the truth, that NATO is strengthening, not weakening, and that the results of the Washington summit is that NATO has emerged stronger. TOM BEARDEN: Meanwhile, allied cargo aircraft have delivered more than 5,000 tons of food, medical supplies and tents to refugee areas in Albania and Macedonia so far. The US has agreed to temporarily relocate 20,000 Kosovar refugees, and the White House says the first contingent might be sent to the Fort Dix Army Base in New Jersey before being resettled with relatives around the country. The last contingent of US Army Apache attack helicopters arrived in Albania and are now ready for combat operations. The Pentagon said they would go into action whenever the NATO commander needed them. The completion of the Apache deployment brings the total number of US servicemen in Albania to 5300.