Let Europe Do It, Please.(United States' diplomacy in Balkans only symbolic)(Brief Article)

Everyone agrees. If it weren't for the Americans, NATO wouldn't be sending yet another mission to the Balkans. The peace plan crafted between Macedonians and Albanians is the result of intense U.S. diplomatic pressure, coming after months of failed European efforts. And Albanian guerrillas promised to surrender their weapons only if the United States was on the ground to help guarantee the deal. Yet as NATO deployed last week, Americans were conspicuous by their absence. The bulk of the force was British, commanded by a Danish general. Their numbers were bolstered by Greeks, French and Czechs, relative newcomers to NATO. Germans may be there, too, after a tough vote in the Bundestag, prompting one NATO expert to puckishly compare Berlin's reluctance to that of the Americans: "The Germans don't want to do anything because they don't want to kill. The Americans don't want do anything because they don't want to be killed."

What's going on? The United States provided the main body of NATO forces in Bosnia. It called the shots in Kosovo. Now comes Macedonia, and where are the Americans? "That's a hard one to answer," says Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, the Pentagon spokesman. "It's not really about numbers." Translation: when it comes to the mission in Macedonia, America is there--but not really. Some 500 U.S. soldiers are already on the ground, mostly providing logistical support for the forces in Kosovo. But no more than 200 will be assigned to Operation Essential Harvest, and most of them will keep doing pretty much what they are doing now. America's role in Macedonia, in other words, is more symbolic than real.

That's just the way the administration wants it. Initially, the White House sought no involvement at all. But Secretary of State Colin Powell argued strongly that the mission's credibility required at least a token U.S. presence--and token it will be, even apart from numbers. According to the Pentagon, the United States has agreed to lend some heavy-duty Chinook helicopters to transport arms collected from the rebels. ...