Clinton: Milosevic responsible for safety of 3 U.S. soldiers

ALSO Pentagon: U.S. soldiers' capture not stopping NATO bombing missions Kosovo exodus reminiscent of WWII Milosevic meeting with ethnic Albanian leader draws rebel outrage

Pentagon considers soldiers POWs

In this story: Former POW says U.S. should not back down Geneva Conventions require humane treatment RELATED STORIES, SITES

April 1, 1999
Web posted at: 10:24 p.m. EST (0324 GMT)

NORFOLK, Virginia (CNN) -- President Clinton said Thursday that Serb forces had "no basis" for capturing three U.S. soldiers and warned that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosovic and his government will be held responsible for their safety.

Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said the United States considers the soldiers captured by Yugoslavia to be prisoners of war and covered by the Geneva Conventions.

"We all know that three Army infantrymen were seized as they were carrying out a peacekeeping mission in Macedonia," Clinton told a gathering of military families at Norfolk Naval Air Station in Virginia.

"There was absolutely no basis for them to be taken. There was no basis for them to be held. There is certainly no basis for them to be tried," Clinton said, in reference to a Yugoslav report that the three men would appear in a military court.

"President Milosevic should make no mistake, the United States takes care of its own," Clinton said to rousing applause.

"And President Milosevic should make no mistake, we will hold him and his government responsible for their safety and for their well-being," Clinton vowed.

He said NATO airstrikes on Yugoslavia should continue until the objectives of the campaign are met -- "to restore Kosovars to their homes with security and self-government."

The president said the Balkans are a crucial area and history justifies U.S. involvement.

"Remember that we fought two World Wars in Europe," Clinton said. "Remember that the prosperity and peace of the people in Europe is important to the future of the children in this room."

Former POW says U.S. should not back down

U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen, in a news conference earlier Thursday, said the United States would not withdraw from the NATO campaign despite the capture of the U.S. soldiers.

"We will stay the course," Cohen said. "We will do everything in our power to ensure their safe return," he said of Staff Sgts. Andrew Ramirez and Christopher Stone and Spc. Steven M. Gonzales.

All three are from the 4th Cavalry of the 1st Infantry Division, stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), who spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said the capture should not deter the United States from completing its mission in Kosovo, even if it requires more than air power.

"This plan did not go according to as the administration expected," McCain said. "That's not a reason, even if Americans are killed or captured, to change the ends. It's a reason to change the means to reach that end, which is victory."

Geneva Conventions require humane treatment

The Tanjug news agency in Yugoslavia said the captives will be investigated by a military court in Pristina, the provincial capital of Kosovo, beginning as early as Friday.

The Geneva Conventions are a series of international treaties signed in Switzerland between 1864 and 1949.

A senior Yugoslav source told CNN Correspondent Alessio Vinci in Belgrade that the men would be treated according to the 1949 Geneva Convention governing prisoners of war.

But Belgrade officials later said they do not consider the men prisoners of war, because Yugoslavia did not start the conflict and NATO has not declared war on the nation.

The convention, however, covers prisoners of any armed conflict, according to international law professor Jim Feinerman. And if the men were seized unjustly inside Macedonia, they should be accorded even greater protection, he said.

A senior White House official told CNN that the United States has relayed through Sweden its demands that Yugoslavia treat the captured soldiers humanely and allow the International Committee of the Red Cross or other medical personnel to visit the men immediately.

The Geneva Conventions require that prisoners of an armed conflict be treated humanely and that they be visited by the ICRC to confirm their health and safety, said ICRC President Louise Doswald Beck. The convention does not, however, specify when an ICRC visit should take place, Beck said.

"What we do when we visit is ensure that their treatment is in accordance with the convention," she said.

Beck said the bruises on the faces of two of the captured men did not necessarily indicate a violation of the Geneva Convention.

"It depends, of course, on how they got such bruises," she said, explaining that if they were injured during their capture and not afterward it might not be a violation.

The Serbian television broadcast of the three men, which showed them in their camouflage uniforms after their capture, was not a clear violation of the convention, Beck said.

Correspondents Jeanne Meserve, Bill Hemmer, John King and Alessio Vinci contributed to this report.

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