Chapter 19: Foreign and Military Policy

When Reverend Jesse Jackson went to Yugoslavia to obtain the release of the three American hostages, he went under no official authority. When Jackson was in Yugoslavia, he was given no special protection or any resources to accomplish his goal. This is because the President has been determined to be the 'sole organ of the national government in international affairs'. Thus, either the President or someone specifically designated by the President are the only persons who have official authority to perform duties for the federal government in other nations.

When Jackson was able to secure the release of the hostages, one wonders whether the Clinton administration was overjoyed with the release or chagrined by Jackson's success and its failure to obtain the release. Also, the Clinton administration may feel a little upset with Jackson because of his involvement with the negotiations to end the conflict. He stated the United States should reciprocate the good action of releasing the hostages by temporarily stopping the bombing. However, the Clinton administration has been quite consistent in its statements that the only way the bombings will cease is a stopping of the brutalities against those in Kosovo.

4/5/99

In March, the United States not only decided to participate but took the lead in the NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia. The airstrikes are designed to convince Yugoslav President Slobadan Milosevic to stop his military attacks on the ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo. Basically, Milosevic wants to strengthen the Serbian Republic's control over Kosovo and thwart any independence movement on the part of the ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo. Many believe that Milosevic has pursued a policy of 'ethnic cleansing' to achieve these objectives. Milosevic is felt to have given the ethnic Albanians three choices: adopt the Serbian way of life, move, or die.

This conflict is extremely significant because we may have seen the beginnings of World War III. World War I started from an incident in this same region involving these two ethnic groups. World War II started in Europe by certain people playing on the ethnic divides in this region. If Milosevic is unchecked, he may decide next to invade Macedonia or Bosnia, or remove the democratically elected head of the province of Montenegro. Even with the airstrikes, there is a feeling that is will take a commitment of a large land force to either achieve peace or keep the peace in this region. If the United States' commitment to this land force is sufficiently large over a protracted period of time, then this may necessitate reviving the draft in this nation.

In a variety of ways, this incident is extremely important. For a somewhat different perspective on the history of the region and the nature of the conflicts go to http://www.kosovo.com.

1/14/99

As the House of Representatives was about to begin hearings before the full House on the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, the President announced the start of a joint military operation with England against Iraq. The expressed purpose of the operation was to contain Saddam Hussein and to 'degrade' his mass destruction capacity by destroying materials and plants used to construct biological and nuclear weapons. The President's announcement marked the start of four days of air strikes against Iraq using missiles and bombs.

Some skeptics argued that "Operation Desert Fox', which was the official name of the military venture, was basically a 'Wag the Dog' scenario. According to the skeptics, the military operation was designed to postpone the impeachment proceedings, and divert the nation's attention from the Clinton scandal. Supporters of the operation contended that the timing of the operation was dictated by a variety of factors, none of which had to do with the pending impeachment hearings. Whatever the case, the situation did dramatically display the interconnection between domestic and military policy-making.

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