Peace Plan Highlights | Photo Gallery | Strike Assessment | News Video Archive | Strike at a Glance | Who's Who | Roots of the Conflict | Story Archive | Links | Discussion

Senate passes resolution supporting NATO operations in Kosovo

The president called a bipartisan meeting of senators in hopes of showing Milosevic that U.S. lawmakers will back the White House and NATO  ALSO: NATO orders military strikes against Yugoslavia High-tech weapons put U.S. at front of any NATO action Kosovo: Why are they fighting?  BACKGROUND: Serbia is a republic within what's left of the splintered Yugoslavia. Kosovo is a province in southern Serbia where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs nine to one. Most Kosovo residents favor autonomy or secession from Serbia, but Serbs consider the area vital to their national identity. More than 2,000 people have died in fighting that began last year when the government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic began a crackdown on independence-minded ethnic Albanians. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been left homeless. The United States and its NATO allies have threatened airstrikes unless the Serbs agree to a Kosovo peace plan that restores some self-rule for the province's ethnic Albanian majority and includes a NATO peacekeeping force. The ethnic Albanians signed such an agreement earlier this month. The proposed 20,000-member NATO peacekeeping force would include up to 4,000 U.S. troops. RELATED VIDEO CNN's Jamie McIntyre looks at possible NATO targets and strategy Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Jonathan Karl looks at how the Senate is reacting to the Yugoslav situation Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

March 23, 1999
Web posted at: 8:32 p.m. EST (0132 GMT)

In this story: Clinton invited to explain Kosovo policy Serbian-American senator Russian also compares it to Vietnam RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday evening 58-41 in favor of a resolution supporting NATO military operations in Kosovo, just hours after Secretary-General Javier Solana gave the go-ahead for alliance air raids in Yugoslavia.

The resolution says the Senate "authorizes the president of the United States to conduct military air operations and missile strikes in cooperation with NATO forces against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia -- Serbia and Montenegro."

Even though Majority Whip Don Nickles (R-Oklahoma) was part of a bipartisan group of eight senators who wrote the resolution, he stated his intention to vote against it.

"I'm concerned we're making a mistake. I just don't believe you can bomb a country into submission and force them into a peace agreement that they determine is against their interests," said Nickles.

"Or I don't believe you can bomb a country and say, 'We're going to bomb you until you agree to have stationed 28,000 troops in your homeland,'" said Nickles, noting that the fighting in Serbia has been going on for centuries.

President Clinton had written a letter to Senate leaders asking for "legislative support" for NATO airstrikes. It convinced one lawmaker who read the letter on the Senate floor.

"I believe it would be a disastrous situation in the region if we don't act. This is a 19-nation operation," Sen. John Warner (R-Virginia) said.

News Highlights: Gallery: The conflict in review News story archive Yugoslavia's Future: What's next for Yugoslavia Map: Who controls what The Peace Settlement: A guide to the peace plan Map: Serb troop withdrawal The Military Campaign: Strike damage assessment Atlas: NATO and the Balkans Background: Timeline: Trouble in the Balkans A who's who of key players Map: Kosovo and its neighbors A history of the KLA

Another Republican lawmaker objected to the resolution, saying it read more like an authorization, and he urged other senators to reject the resolution.

"This is not a matter for the use of the armed forces of the United States. This is not a matter demanded by our national security. This is not a way that we would even settle the civil war taking place in Kosovo today," Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Washington) said during debate.

Other senators wanted more facts about the mission before they voted to back it.

"This is a very, very unintelligible plan. You can't rationally accept the president's reasoning unless you conclude that they don't want to tell you where it's going to end up," said Sen. Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico).

"It doesn't take a lot of sense to say airstrike No. 1 may not work. Airstrike No. 2 may not work. We've been told by military experts years ago that airstrikes would not work in this area of the world," Domenici insisted.

Other senators disagreed.

"Clearly we know what the goal is here. The goal is to contain Milosevic. The goal is to stop the extraordinary violation of human rights. The goal is to undermine his military capability," Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) said. "We can achieve those goals."

Clinton invited to explain Kosovo policy

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) has invited Clinton to explain his Kosovo policy to a joint session of Congress.

Clinton is said to be considering it.

"I would hope that the president would come forward on a timely basis and do two things: Lay this out to the Congress and the American people, and also come forward with a plan for how we're going to pay for it," Hastert said during a photo opportunity.

Serbian-American senator

U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke is calling the situation "bleak"

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), who is of Serb descent, said earlier Tuesday that bombing Yugoslavia would be mistake.

"You're getting into something that could turn into another Vietnam," the freshman Republican said. "Who knows how this thing could escalate?

"This is a mistake," Voinovich insisted.

Voinovich emphasized his view does not reflect support for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, whom the senator described as a war criminal, "a bad person."

The opinion of many Serbs around the world, Voinovich said, is that Milosevic should be out of power, but "they believe this action is going to solidify his support so that it will be 10 times harder to get him out."

Russian also compares it to Vietnam

Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev also warned NATO on Tuesday that military strikes against Yugoslavia could lead to a conflict like the military action the United States waged in the 1960 and '70s in southeast Asia, Interfax news agency said.

"NATO strikes against Yugoslavia may turn out to be another Vietnam, now inside Europe," Interfax quoted Sergeyev as saying.

Capitol Hill Producers Ann Curley and Mike Roselli, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.