But the result of refusing to act is not. Facing the advance of a genocidal regime, NATO and the United States have the clear choice of moving against it or sharing the responsibility for its actions. Children were gunned down on their way to school. Soccer fields were turned into cemeteries. This was genocide in the heart of Europe.
Parallels are never perfect.
But the threat to civilians in Kosovo closely resembles the threat in Bosnia, which is why Europeans have also accepted the need to act, to move against another genocide that could easily spread outside its immediate borders. A Serbian onslaught against Muslim ethnic Albanians could involve surrounding countries as far as Turkey, as well as leaving a stain even on Western Europe. That's why this time, Europeans, far too slow to stir in Bosnia, are joining the United States to act. We must stop an authoritarian regime from repressing its people in Europe at the end of the 20th century. The responsibility is on our shoulders and we will fulfill it.