NATO readies warplanes as Holbrooke, Milosevic resume talks

Allied ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Monday are likely to authorize airstrikes against Yugoslavia, but the decision would not automatically trigger immediate bombing.

The NATO officials are to decide on a so-called "activation order" if Holbrooke's diplomatic efforts fail. Most members of the 16-nation alliance have given the political green light for military intervention.

A decision in favor of military action would set a timer running for the launch of phased airstrikes. It's unclear how long this clock would run before war planes could take to the sky.

But Holbrooke has said he could keep negotiating during this ultimate phase, and NATO officials could rescind the strike order if assured that Milosevic would adhere to U.N. terms.

Italy approved an activation order for NATO and said military bases on Italian soil could be used in case of an airstrike. Germany also approved the activation order in a special Cabinet meeting.

Russia, which opposes any airstrikes, recalled its NATO representatives from Belgium Sunday for emergency consultations on the possible military action.

Belgrade has warned it will defend itself vigorously against any NATO attack. And NATO military planners say they have a grudging respect for Yugoslavia's Soviet-designed air-defense missile system.

U.S. Embassy in Belgrade

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told "Fox News Sunday" that the first airstrikes likely would be all-American.

McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp after being shot down over Hanoi, said it's likely the United States will lose some pilots and planes in any action against Yugoslavia.

The State Department warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Serbia and Montenegro -- the two republics comprising Yugoslavia -- and urged citizens already there to leave.

"While the government of Serbia-Montenegro has given assurances no retaliatory actions would be taken against U.S. citizens, given recent history in the region, the possibility exists for spontaneous reactions against U.S. citizens," the department warned.

NATO allies have plenty of military hardware in place. The campaign is expected to begin with limited strikes, but could escalate into phased bombardments. The United States is contributing 260 aircraft to the 430-plane NATO force.

Six A-10 Thunderbolt anti-tank planes, also known as warthogs, arrived Sunday at Aviano air base in Italy from the U.S. Air Force base in Spangdahlem, Germany, home of the 52nd Fighter Wing. The single-pilot planes carry 52 mm Gatling guns that fire bullets the size of soda cans and can penetrate tank armor.

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Also Sunday, six B-52 bombers arrived in Britain from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

Bulgaria, Albania and Romania have pledged to open their airspace to the fleet of warplanes, if NATO decides to use military force.

But the initial strike is expected to come from missile cruisers conducting exercises in international waters, or from long-range bombers deployed from bases in Britain.

Second-wave strikes could originate from carriers like the USS Eisenhower. It's part of a massive NATO naval force taking part in Operation Dynamic Mix, an exercise organized before the Kosovo crisis.

In anticipation of NATO's activation order, Western embassies in Belgrade were either scaling down or closing altogether on Monday. Overall, a third of all embassy staff from NATO countries were said to be involved in the evacuations.

The United States Embassy was planning to leave only a skeleton staff of 12.

German, Dutch, British and Belgian embassies were also implementing evacuation plans. A taped message at the German embassy, for instance, said the mission had been temporarily closed.

Ironically, a NATO strike could strengthen Milosevic's control of his country. Belgrade authorities already are cracking down on independent media. Radio B-92, the most influential nongovernment station, is now banned from re-broadcasting news compiled from outside the country.

And some Yugoslav citizens have no illusions about whom the NATO strikes will hurt most.

"If they are that stupid, let them bomb us. Only ordinary people will be killed. They won't kill the ones responsible," said one resident of the Kosovo capital city of Pristina.

Twenty miles west of the city, reporters heard sporadic gunfire Sunday and saw white and gray smoke rising from six houses in the ethnic Albanian village of Makrmalj.

Rebels claimed it was part of a Serb police operation. Police kept reporters at least a half-mile away from the village.