Policy recommendations on the Kosovo crisis

Addressed to President William J. Clinton, the letter described worsening displacement among Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population and argued that Western governments should respond before winter intensified the humanitarian emergency.

The authors placed the crisis within the wider conflicts that had affected the Balkans since 1991. They maintained that ending immediate attacks was necessary but insufficient, and that durable regional stability also required a political settlement for Kosovo.

The letter's central argument

The signatories attributed continued instability to the government of Slobodan Milošević. Although they acknowledged that American diplomacy had at times depended on his cooperation with implementation of the Dayton settlement, they argued that the United States should stop treating that cooperation as a basis for a lasting strategy.

Instead, the letter urged American support for a democratic government in Serbia committed to ending ethnically targeted violence. It also recognized that political transition would be uncertain and that a successor would not automatically produce peace.

Recommended policy measures

1. Address the humanitarian emergency. The letter called for an immediate halt to operations harming civilians, urgent relief for displaced residents and sustained international pressure in pursuit of a new political arrangement for Kosovo.
2. Support democratic opposition. It recommended that the administration seek, and Congress approve, substantially greater assistance for democratic political groups within Serbia.
3. Increase economic pressure. The authors proposed tighter coordinated sanctions intended to reduce the Serbian government's ability to preserve its hold on power.
4. Change the diplomatic approach. They urged the administration to stop pursuing further political bargains with Milošević and to make democratic transition a clearer policy objective.
5. Support international accountability. The letter encouraged firm American backing for the international tribunal's investigation of alleged crimes connected with the Balkan conflicts.

Conclusion and historical significance

The authors did not present these measures as easy or certain to succeed. Their conclusion was that political change in Belgrade offered the strongest prospect for a durable peace after years of conflict, displacement and severe abuses across the region.

This record captures one strand of the American policy debate in the months before the Kosovo conflict escalated in 1999. It should be read as an advocacy document produced at a particular historical moment, not as a complete account of the conflict or its aftermath.