Face on the Risks of War

The capture of three American soldiers, one from Los Angeles, puts a face on the risks of the war in Yugoslavia. It’s outrageous that the Belgrade government said the men will be brought before a military court, a clear violation of the Geneva Convention. These men, now prisoners, were doing their duty as soldiers. President Clinton demanded their immediate release and rightly warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that he personally would be held responsible for any mistreatment.

“We’ve all seen their pictures. We don’t like it,” said U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, the NATO commander. “. . . We have a long memory about these kinds of things.” The men apparently were being held in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo province.

Now into the second week of the bombing campaign, the conflict continues to present a mix of brutal violence and cozy propaganda. Yugoslav TV, for instance, broadcast some bizarre, apparently current, footage Thursday of Milosevic in Belgrade chatting warmly with Ibrahim Rugova, twice chosen independence leader of the Kosovo Albanians. Rugova’s situation was unclear.

Hourly broadcasts started with photos of the three captured Americans, their faces marked by what appeared to be bruises or dirt. The Angeleno is Staff Sgt. Andrew A. Ramirez, 24, whose brother is an LAPD detective. We look for the safe return of Ramirez and his comrades.

Along the border with Macedonia, where the three GIs were captured, refugees continue to pour in, taxing international relief services and straining relations between newcomers and hosts. In Kosovo, the violence continues.

Beyond the borders of the conflict, all eight of America’s Roman Catholic cardinals called for peace--a powerful gesture, but one unlikely to move the Eastern Orthodox Serbs. Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin demanded that Moscow’s partners in the G-8 group of industrialized nations urge NATO to stop the bombing. That will fall on deaf ears in the West and shows again that Russia finds itself largely on the outside in this conflict. Moscow has done little except bluster and order some surveillance ships into the Mediterranean. The Kremlin could help resolve the crisis, and absent such an effort, its relations with Washington will and should suffer.