Beyond that, sources said, there is a logical conclusion to a bombing campaign unless alliance policymakers are prepared as they plainly are not to expand the war beyond targets of military value and instead aim to broadly terrorize the Yugoslav civilian population from the air. Some administration sources said the logical end of the campaign, under its current target limitations, is nearing within weeks. Finally, there is the most irreversible fact of all the changing seasons. Administration officials said within a month or so preparations will have to be made to make refugee camps in Albania and Macedonia suitable for winter. If the decision to do that is made, Clinton hopes to be ready to also demonstrate that the alliance is taking steps to ensure that the current crisis will not drag on indefinitely.
Some officials believe that the mission in Belgrade amounts to a last chance for diplomacy.
At a speech to the graduating class of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs yesterday, Clinton reiterated NATO's determination to prevail. Clinton announced that the United States will deploy an additional 48 combat aircraft to NATO operations in Yugoslavia and said the United States will contribute approximately 7,000 troops to a 50,000-member international peacekeeping force that would police Kosovo if Milosevic agrees to withdraw his troops from the Serbian province and allow the return of displaced refugees. Officials at the Central Intelligence Agency, sources said, are among those telling Clinton that ground forces may be needed. At the same time, we don't yet see signs that he's about to break or that he's ready to yield to NATO's core demands. The balance is roughly that.