Kosovo is related because it shows the fecklessness of US policy

Submitted by Sully (United States), Feb 29, 2008 at 01:23

Christian Serbs were our allies in the two world wars of the 20th century while Muslims were almost uniformly our enemies. When we (the US) took military action against the Serbs on behalf of the Kosovars even though we had no strategic interest in the situation we sent a terrible message to the world about our lack of gratitude and lack of loyalty. This, I believe, is at least one factor in encouraging the violent faction among the Muslims that we can be attacked with impunity.

I'm not saying that we had to approve of what the Serbs were doing to the Kosovars, I'm saying that it was internal European business (and definitely not our business) so we should not have gone out of our way to intervene.

President Bush is compounding the error by recognizing Kosovo's independence, thereby needlessly irritating the Russians, and again slapping the Serbs in the face, on behalf of a people to whom we owe nothing.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".