John, we've already tried that once, in a little country called Vietnam. Supposedly, our original intent was to simply arm and train them. Then we decided to provide air support to help them along. Before we knew it, we had 500,000 troops over there.
Putting aside DC's analysis of the situation in Kosovo for a moment, the problem with arming any indigenous force to wage its own war is that success can only be achieved if the natives have a desire to fight.
You can give them the best equipment in the world, give them the best training and support and they will still throw their guns away and run like rabbits if they lack that fighting spirit.
I suspect that most of the Kosovars that might have possessed that courage have already been killed or otherwise neutralized. The Serbs appeared to be pretty systematic in selecting their victims. They not only eliminated those with the greatest ability to resist them, but sufficiently terrorized everyone else into running away.
While it may seem like a harsh criticism, people who flee to refugee camps generally make poor soldiers.
Most people in this world would probably surrender everything they have in exchange for one more day of life, even in the most squalid conditions, if death appeared to be the alternative.
If you don't have the courage to face death, then you have no hope of winning a war.
I haven't seen anything that indicates to me that the Kosovars are capable of winning their war, regardless of how much help they get.
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"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once"
