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Balkan Bill's sour legacy
No, it will not be necessary for these distinguished folk to again step forward to defend their hero, Bill, from charges of perjury, infidelity, theft and lying. All that is required of them this March 2004 is to avoid bringing up Serbia, Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. Better still, they can pretend that Bill Clinton's legacy and policies for the region never existed.
That legacy was of arson, looting and murder.
Last weekend, the United States, Britain, Finland and Germany rushed a couple of thousand additional troops to Kosovo's disoriented 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers. It's the end of winter in Kosovo and the more than 2 million Albanian majority pitted itself for several days against the handful of local Serbs. More than 30 Serbian churches and monasteries went up in flames as some 40 Serbs were brutally killed, their homes looted and the toll added to that of "Operation Matchstick."
But, why is the United States involved in the political cesspit of Europe, the Balkins?
Diversions
It can't be because the Albanians once gave Hillary Clinton their highest award for all she had done for them in turning over Kosovo to their thugs. It can't be because Mad Halfwit founded the Kosovo Liberation Army to provide the drug and people smugglers with a haven for war criminals. And it can't all be blamed on Strobe Talbott because he was opening bottles of vodka for Boris Yeltsin instead of settling the Croatian and Bosnian wars.
No, it was merely part of Bill Clinton's legacy building as a diversion from his dalliances with Monica, Jennifer, Paula, Kathy, Juanita, Jilly, Tillie and their aunties. He also rather fancied the title "Bill of the Balkans," or even "Balkan Bill."
Balkan Bill's policies are now justified by him -- with Serbia treating Albanians in the same way as Nazi Germany treated non-Aryans: "a vicious premeditated, systematic oppression fueled by religious and ethnic hatred." This has resulted in some 640,000 Serbians becoming refugees and living in fear of pogroms for five years, which continue to take place.
From the start, Balkan Bill got it wrong. He acted as if each and every Serb were evil and any Albanian was good. He kept complaining that Serbia was an "aggressor," which implies the invasion or attack of another country -- but remember its Kosovo -- or just a province in Serbia. Maybe it was the Arkansian language barrier.
Playing dominos
Next, Mad Halfwit and Bill of the Balkans developed the domino theory: events in Kosovo might involve Albania, Albania would bring in Bulgaria, then Greece and then, and then. The very same domino theory that Bill, Halfwit, Strobe and their buddies ridiculed when it was uttered by Richard Nixon and Lyndon Baines Johnson in relation to Southeast Asia. And we can still remember the screams of disbelief when Ronald Reagan used it regarding communist insurgencies in Nicaragua, El Salvador and the Caribbean.
No matter. Balkin Bill planned for Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia to become American protectorates, with money initially coming through USAID and then from 40 percent of the royalties on the shipment of oil from the Caspian Sea by way of the AMBO Pipeline which has yet to be built. In the second stage, Kosovo would merge with Albania creating a "Greater Albania," capable of also swallowing up Macedonia.
AMBO stands for the Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia Operating pipeline, which would be some 600 miles long, running through mountains, earthquake zones and serious natural risks like Albanian war lords, and would eventually disgorge light crude shipped from the Black Sea into tankers off the Albanian coast.
AMBO has two advantages for Washington. It makes Bulgaria feel wanted as a very good friend and, potentially, if it could get its act together, a full member of NATO. The second feel-really-good factor is that it would get oil out of the Caspian, totally bypassing Iran.
During President George W. Bush's campaign for the White House, responding to questions, he said that American involvement in the Balkans was bad. Too bad that he never had the chance to follow up and withdraw troops before having to send military reinforcements to Iraq. The very short shelf life of the Clinton political legacy will not get much ink in the mass media. The contrast between Democrat non-achievements and George Bush's major achievement are truly remarkable. The Bush team has shown that if this country takes a blow it is willing to risk casualties and fight back if necessary. No one can doubt that the United States will fight back and ultimately prevail.
Dateline D.C. is written by a Washington D.C.-based British journalist and political observer.
