<nettime> [kcc-news] The Sunday Times: Nato chief tried to block Russians, Jackson refused to risk Armageddon (fwd)

[Mentor Cana <mentor@alb-net.com>]

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http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/08/02/timkoskos01002.html?1996766

Nato chief tried to block Russians, Jackson refused to risk Armageddon

Generals at war over Kosovo raid

             FROM IAN BRODIE
              IN WASHINGTON

 LIEUTENANT-GENERAL Sir Michael Jackson's
 refusal to risk Armageddon was at the heart of his
 tensions with General Wesley Clark, Nato supreme
 commander, as the occupation of Kosovo began.

 "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you," the
 British general was reported to have told General Clark
 after refusing his orders to send assault troops and
 helicopters into Pristina airport to block the Russian
 forces.

 The clash, in which the British Government backed
 General Jackson, and the American Government did not
 support General Clark, surfaced just days after the Nato
 commander had been abruptly told in a midnight call that
 he would be replaced next April.

 Trouble between the generals started immediately after the
 air war had ended and General Jackson had been made
 commander on the ground in Kosovo. Talks on Russia's
 role had broken down in Moscow and 200 Russian
 troops entered Pristina at 1.30am on June 12.

 According to Newsweek, General Clark was so anxious
 to stop the Russians from stealing a march to Pristina
 airport that he ordered an airborne assault by British and
 French troops to take the field. But General Jackson
 would not carry out General Clark's orders, not believing
 that an assault was necessary.

 General Clark was not mollified. He asked Admiral James
 Ellis, the American in charge of Nato's Southern
 Command, to order helicopters to land on the runways at
 Pristina so that Russian Ilyushin transports could not land.
 This time Admiral Ellis balked, saying General Jackson
 would not like it. The Ilyushins were in fact blocked by the
 intervention of American officials who persuaded Hungary
 to deny overflight rights to the Russians.

 Both General Jackson and General Clark appealed to
 their political leadership back home for support. General
 Jackson got all the help he needed. General Clark did not,
 meaning effectively that his orders had been overruled.

 General Clark eventually arrived in Kosovo on June 24,
 saying he had come to consult General Jackson as the
 commander of Kfor on the progress of Nato's
 deployment.It was at this meeting that General Clark
 complained that his orders were not being followed and
 General Jackson made his remark about the Third World
 War. General Clark apparently also complained about
 General Jackson having gone through political channels.

 The two generals could not be more different, according
 to David Hackworth, America's most decorated soldier
 and now a commentator and frequent critic of General
 Clark and the Pentagon. Last night he said: "Clark is one
 of those 'Perfumed Princes' at the top of the American
 military leadership. These are the guys who are totally out
 of touch with the guys at the bottom.

 "Mike Jackson has spent his career not worrying about
 getting his ticket punched but in leading troops. He is the
 ultimate warrior. Clark has only got eight years of leading
 troops. Jackson had that before he was a major."

 The irony for General Clark is that he won the air war in
 78 days without a single casualty.


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