CBS Evening News open - 1999-06-14

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:01] The Russians hang tough in Kosovo.

[0:04] Uninvited Russian forces hold their

[0:05] ground. US officials in a dither as to

[0:08] how to deal with the mess. American

[0:11] troops finally roll into parts of Kosovo

[0:13] in full force and discover evidence of

[0:16] Serb atrocities. Plus, Eye on America,

[0:19] turning schools into fortresses.

[0:24] This is the CBS Evening News

[0:29] with Dan Rather reporting from CBS News

[0:31] headquarters in New York.

[0:34] Good evening. Peace in Kosovo is

[0:36] starting to take hold, but mixed with

[0:38] more hatred between ethnic and religious

[0:40] groups and sustained tension between the

[0:43] NATO allies and Russia. Here are today's

[0:46] top developments. 1,200 US Marines

[0:49] rolled into Kosovo bringing the allied

[0:51] force there to more than 14,000. About

[0:54] the same number of Serb troops have left

[0:56] the province burning and looting as they

[0:59] went. NATO troops reported finding a

[1:01] mass grave and the remains of massacre

[1:04] victims. Uninvited Russian troops still

[1:07] control Kosovo's main airport while US

[1:10] and Russian diplomats debate Russia's

[1:12] role. As the NATO force moved into

[1:15] Kosovo, CBS News correspondents, the

[1:17] most experienced in the region, fanned

[1:20] out across the province today. Our

[1:21] coverage begins with the very

[1:23] experienced Alan Pizzey on the move with

[1:25] US Marines.

[1:28] An American armored column finally

[1:29] rolled into eastern Kosovo today

[1:31] spearheaded by US Marines with Cobra

[1:34] gunship air cover. The welcome in the

[1:36] first village they came to was a mini

[1:38] version of the allies arriving in Paris

[1:40] in 1944.

[1:42] Chanting NATO NATO, villagers who had

[1:44] been in hiding for nearly 3 months

[1:46] showered the Marines with flowers.

[1:49] Hardly women blowing us kisses and

[1:50] things like that.

[1:52] You see this stuff? Make you want to

[1:53] stay in the Marine Corps for 40 years.

[1:54] We always plan for the plan for the

[1:56] worst but hope for the best and

[1:57] fortunately so far it's been the best.

[1:59] But they didn't know how close they

[2:01] might have come to the worst. A few

[2:03] minutes after the Marines passed here,

[2:05] British troops were shown what they said

[2:07] was a landmine booby trap in a house.

[2:10] The Albanian owners who had just come

[2:11] back from 3 months of hiding in the

[2:13] woods said their house had been occupied

[2:15] by Yugoslav forces.

[2:17] And fear of them lingers on. When

[2:20] Yugoslav armor rolled through on its way

[2:22] home, people instinctively stepped back.

[2:25] But when the Marines were around,

[2:27] Yugoslav troops got a different

[2:28] reception.

[2:30] It's the kind of thing that could pose

[2:31] serious problems for the US forces if it

[2:34] provoked any reaction. American and

[2:36] Yugoslav forces weren't supposed to meet

[2:38] like this. The plan was that the

[2:40] Yugoslav army would be out of here

[2:41] before the Americans arrived. But so far

[2:44] it's only created traffic jam problems.

[2:47] "As long as both sides act like

[2:48] professional armies," one American

[2:50] officer said, "things should be okay."

[2:53] At this junction, US troops