Kosovo: ‘Is It . . . in Europe Someplace?’
Even as U.S. warplanes dropped bombs on Yugoslavia, many Americans admitted Wednesday that they didn’t know much at all about the conflict in Kosovo.
“I really haven’t been following it,” said 76-year-old Rollie Braun, a World War II veteran from Madison, Wis. “I wish I could give you a smart answer.”
When President Clinton tried to rally support for U.S. intervention, he acknowledged the difficult educational task ahead and urged Americans to “get down an atlas.”
Kate Randolph, a 20-year-old student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., admitted she needed one.
“I’m definitely not as aware of political events as I’d like to be, but I usually know what’s going on,” Randolph said Wednesday. “With this, I’m totally clueless.”
Matt Propeck, 17, a Portland, Ore., high school student who was shopping during his spring break, didn’t even know where Kosovo is.
“Is it . . . in Europe someplace?” he said. “It’s a civil war? Are we trying to prevent it, is that what we’re trying to do?”
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