4/23/99- By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON -- NATO has expanded
its target list in Yugoslavia to electric power
transformers supplying command and control centers near
Belgrade, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said April 23.
Bacon said Allied Force pilots knocked out transformers
serving civilian users and command and control
facilities. They also struck Radio/Television-Serbia --
propaganda centerpiece of Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic. The network was off the air six hours. Asked
if NATO would strike again, Bacon answered, "Stay
tuned."
Bacon said pilot reports indicate hits on a number of
artillery pieces that were firing into Albania and on a
number of military vehicles and a mobile command post
along the Kosovo-Macedonia border. NATO pilots flew 434
sorties and hit 17 targets April 22.
The expanded target list sends Milosevic two messages,
Bacon said. First, NATO is united and will pursue the air
campaign. "There is no sanctuary for murderers
anywhere in Yugoslavia," he said. The second message
is that Milosevic can stop the allied attacks when he
decides to stop the killing and depopulation in Kosovo
and agree to a NATO-led peacekeeping force in the
province.
Bacon said the U.S. reserve call-up is tied to the 300
additional U.S. aircraft recently requested by NATO
commander U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark. Where the planes
will be based dictates the number of reservists needed.
"If they could all go to Aviano [Air Base, Italy],
where they have force protection in place, where they
have support facilities and other facilities, we would
know how many [reservists] are needed," Bacon said.
Call-up decisions are near, he remarked.
Bacon said the United States and its NATO allies remain
committed to the air campaign. NATO planners will,
however, look at a previous assessment of troops and
assets needed to enter Kosovo in both
"permissive" and "nonpermissive"
environments.
The reassessment is needed because of the changes in
Kosovo since the peace talks in Rambouillet, France,
broke down in mid- March, he said. The Serbs have
destroyed much of the provincial infrastructure,
including more than 32,000 buildings in 550 villages --
more than a third of that damage has occurred since the
peace talks dissolved, he said.
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