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Clinton calls NATO strikes a 'moral imperative'

Clinton announced the strikes at the White House Wednesday afternoon  ALSO: Clinton calls Yeltsin, criticizes Milosevic Explosions thunder across Yugoslavia in NATO attack Yugoslavs ban CNN, two other networks from transmitting from Belgrade B-2 stealth bombers make combat debut RELATED VIDEO RELATED VIDEO President Clinton addresses the United States on Wednesday evening Windows Media 28K 80K President Clinton announces Wednesday afternoon that NATO air attacks against Serbian military targets were under way Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Defense Secretary William Cohen and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K  BACKGROUND: Serbia is one of two republics within what's left of the splintered Yugoslavia. The other is Montenegro. 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 threatened airstrikes unless the Serbs agreed 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.

March 24, 1999
Web posted at: 8:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT)

In this story: Yugoslav MiGs go after NATO planes Clinton: 3 objectives of attacks B-2 bombers make combat debut RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton took his case for U.S.-led NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia to the American public Wednesday night, saying the strikes were necessary to "defuse a powder keg" that has engulfed Europe in war before.

"Ending this tragedy is a moral imperative," Clinton said, citing what he described as Serb atrocities against Kosovar Albanians.

At a Pentagon briefing earlier Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said there was some air-to-air combat, but said "our aircraft have safely returned" after the first wave of airstrikes against Serb targets in Yugoslavia.

Cohen also said NATO operation "Allied Force" was not targeting civilians.

"We are attacking the military infrastructure that President (Slobodan) Milosevic and his forces are using to repress and kill innocent people," Cohen said.

"NATO forces are not attacking the people of Yugoslavia. They are attacking the military forces that are responsible for the killing and the carnage in Kosovo," Cohen said.

The secretary said it was up to the Yugoslav leader to determine when the NATO military operation would end. Cohen said all Milosevic had to do was to "choose the course of peace."

"In the event that he fails to exercise that option, then we would continue in our effort to deter him from aggressively attacking the Kosovar people," Cohen said. "And if that deterrence is not successful, then we will continue to damage his capability of waging that in the future."

The NATO attack came a day after senior U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke failed in a last-minute attempt to persuade Milosevic to agree to the Kosovo plan, which would grant local autonomy to ethnic Albanians but not independence.

Serb leaders have continued to reject a key element of that plan: allowing 28,000 NATO-led peacekeepers into the province to police the peace.

Yugoslav MiGs go after NATO planes

Cohen said Yugoslav planes are challenging the NATO attack, and there were sketchy reports about what's been hit.

U.S. Air Force Maj. D.C. Conley and Capt. Rich Sposato told CNN they encountered no anti-aircraft fire on their B-52 bombing mission

He refused to specify what planes were involved in the first sorties, nor would he confirm any reports of targets that might have been hit.

"We are striking a range of military targets, including Yugoslavia's extensive air defense system, its command and control system and the military forces that Yugoslavia is using to suppress the Albanians in the province of Kosovo," said Cohen.

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Hugh Shelton, said one of the chief objectives of the first day of the operation was to make the skies safer for NATO pilots.

"The air defense system in Yugoslavia is very capable. And it poses a considerable threat to NATO aircraft involved in the operation.

"Although at this point we have no indication of casualties to us or NATO forces, we are taking and continue to take measures to reduce the risk to our pilots and air crews," the general said. "But there's no such thing as a risk-free military operation."

Shelton said there was no indication of any casualties suffered by U.S. or NATO forces. And Cohen said that to his knowledge, all NATO aircraft had returned safely; but he added that the operation was ongoing.

Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, also denied the radio report from Belgrade that a NATO fighter had been shot down.

Pentagon officials told CNN that reports from the combat zone over Yugoslavia give them "high confidence" that at least two Yugoslavian MiG fighter jets were shot down by NATO aircraft.

Russian-made MiG-29s have a maximum speed of Mach 2.3 and a range of 1,305 miles (2,100 kilometers). They are armed with one 30 mm cannon and can dispense both bombs and rockets.

This is the first time Yugoslavia has come under air attack since World War II, when Allied warplanes bombed Nazi occupation installations around Belgrade, killing thousands.

Clinton: 3 objectives of attacks

Minutes after the attack began Wednesday, U.S. President Bill Clinton told reporters at the White House, "We and our NATO allies have taken this action after extensive and repeated efforts to obtain a peaceful solution to the crisis in Kosovo."

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

Clinton said the military strikes have three objectives: to demonstrate NATO's resolve, to deter Belgrade from launching more offensives against Kosovo Albanians and to degrade Yugoslavia's military capabilities to carry out future attacks.

B-2 bombers make combat debut

U.S. military officials said two B-2 bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri dropped satellite-guided 2,000-pound bombs on Yugoslavia.

It was the first combat use of the $2.1 billion jets, which look like black boomerangs and were developed during the Cold War to deliver nuclear bombs to the heart of the Soviet Union.

The so-called stealth bomber became operational in 1997.

The United States has 21 B-2s, built by Northrop Grumman Corp. with special materials to virtually avoid detection by radar.

The planes have been criticized in the past for their high cost and problems with maintenance of their special radar-absorbing "skin." There have also been problems with the crew ejection seats.

But the Air Force and members of Congress have had high praise for the B-2, which has been converted to carry conventional weapons for attack against a wide range of targets.

Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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