From day one, Milosevic thought the alliance would crumble; that Italy would not allow its bases to be used; that Greece would split away; that the Russians would run to his aid. But as the campaign moved on, NATO resolve strengthened. We succeeded because, with President Clinton’s strong leadership, we kept Europe and the United States together. Milosevic finally understood that we simply were not going to go away. And nor will we go away until the agreement on paper is translated into reality on the ground.
Russia–and in particular President Yeltsin and Viktor Chernomyrdin–has played a crucial part in helping to bring this conflict to an end. Russia will always be a major power, with a vital role to play on the world stage. I hope we can use the G-8 summit in two weeks’ time to give Russia the support it needs in modernizing its economy and building the full range of institutions for a successful democratic society. Failing to support Russia now would be something history would not forgive.
We are succeeding in Kosovo because this was a moral cause which was backed by the great majority of our citizens. When they saw horrors reminiscent of Nazi Germany being revisited on the continent of Europe at the end of the 20th century, our peoples understood that we had to use our forces and money to stop it. They understood we had to reverse the ethnic cleansing. Now we have a new moral cause. Once we have pinned down the details of this deal, we must rebuild the Balkans and remove the cancer of ethnic conflict from it forever. Peace will not be easy. But we have a duty, every bit as essential as our duty to defeat Milosevic, to help all the countries of Southeastern Europe rebuild and become an integral part of the European family of nations. We cannot afford to let the countries of the Balkans return to their bloody cycle of repression and war. This conflict must be a turning point away from the past of racial hatred and toward a future based on democracy.
That means that we have to help rebuild the homes of the Kosovar Albanian refugees so they can return. We have to provide the troops and the civil administration to make their homeland safe. We need to help the frontline states strengthen their economies and prepare for membership in the European Union. We need to build security structures between them so that they do not threaten one another, and in due course welcome them into NATO.
Reconstructing the Balkans is not an act of simple generosity. It is also in our own self-interest. Unless we remove the causes of conflict we will keep having to return to the region, and put the lives of our servicemen and -women at risk again and again. We should have the nobility of spirit and the extraordinary foresight that George Marshall demonstrated in rebuilding Western Europe after World War II. This time those of us who benefited from the generosity of America then owe it to the rest of the world to show the same generosity in rebuilding the Balkans.
But we will not be able to complete this great project successfully while Milosevic remains in power. We can return the Kosovar Albanians to their homes, but we cannot begin the process of reconciliation or make the region safe for the long term while a dictator remains at the heart of it. I worry about the horrors our troops will uncover when they go into Kosovo–the mass graves and the stories of terror. We cannot let these crimes go unpunished. It is not for us to remove Milosevic. That is for the people of Serbia. But I hope they recognize there can be no chance for Serbia to become part of a Europe, democratic and free, until Serbia itself is democratic and free of Milosevic.
The consequences of our success in Kosovo will not be felt in Europe alone. As I said in NEWSWEEK in April, we need to enter a new millennium where dictators know that they cannot get away with ethnic cleansing or repress their peoples with impunity. Imagine how Saddam will react to this victory; imagine the reactions of other dictators who are tempted to resolve their political problems by terrorizing their own people or attacking their neighbors. They will now know that when we say we will act, we are serious.
We now have a chance to build a new internationalism based on values and the rule of law. A new world where our television screens are not full of suffering night after night, but where we can work together to build prosperity and freedom. That is why it is so important that we persevere in this, the last stage of the conflict. Milosevic has often in the past failed to deliver on the deals he signed. We need to hold Milosevic to this one and get the refugees back. We can then embark on a new moral crusade to rebuild the Balkans without him.
