Dartmouth students on spring break paid little attention to the events in Yugoslavia as the United States and NATO launched massive air assaults against Serbian military units last week.
Although most students contacted yesterday by The Dartmouth admitted ignorance of the conflict, students who said they had enough knowledge to comment all agreed the United States and NATO had a responsibility to act -- though they had mixed feelings as to whether bombing was the right decision.
"I think that there's always a better solution to world problems," Melissa Wise '00 said. "I don't think we need to be killing all of the innocent people."
"If anything it'll just consolidate support behind [Yugoslavian leader Slobodan] Milosevic," said Jarrod Tisdell '99, who said he watched CNN and C-SPAN over the break to monitor the situation. "I think we'll be in there for a while."
Several students expressed concern about the difficulty of leaving the conflict now that it has begun.
"I do wish we could come up with an exit strategy soon," John-Paul Yu '01 said. "It's looking like a big dark black hole ... like Vietnam."
"I think it will be a prolonged incursion," Doug Heitner '02 said. "I think it will draw an outcry when people realize it will not be another Desert Storm."
Others were confident that the measures could succeed.
"After a while Milosevic will probably give up power or will make a peace agreement," Ty Hansen '00 said.
"I think we'll win," Christian Felix '99 said. "I think the ideas behind the bombing are good in the sense of Kosovo's independence, but I'm never a proponent of violent measures."
Yu said he felt military action should only be taken when a conflict affects the United States.
"I don't see how this affects us," Yu said.
Regardless of feelings on the bombings, the students appreciated the importance of aiding Kosovo.
"I think we needed to do something," Hansen said. "We definitely have a responsibility to help other people when they ask us."
Heitner said NATO's job is to "help protect people who couldn't protect themselves."
"I think they should take some measures to keep peace in this world," Felix said.
Tisdell said he felt NATO had acted for the wrong reasons, trying to save face for the effort put into peace talks with Milosevic.
"NATO had to do that if it wanted to maintain credibility because it put so much into the peace talks," Tisdell said.
Ben Moor '00 said he thought it strange for the United States to focus only on Kosovo.
"I think there are a lot of troubled spots in the world," Moor said. "To call yourself a global policeman, you have to do a lot more."
