WASHINGTON -- Alarmed over warnings that American military lives may soon be at risk, Senate leaders were meeting with President Clinton today to get an accounting of his administration's goals for Kosovo. The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade was being evacuated.
"We will have them all out within 24 hours," a U.S. official said of employees of the embassy, noting that other governments also were pulling their staffers out of the Yugoslav capital.Earlier, nonessential U.S. personnel and their family members departed. Their way out was paid by the State Department, which did not insist that they leave.
But overnight, the situation changed, and an order for evacuation was set in motion. Some two dozen essential U.S. Embassy people were involved.
Before meeting with Clinton, Senate leaders delayed until Monday legislation that could block money for any U.S. military involvement in the Serbian province without prior congressional approval.
"The American people need to have a better understanding what the United States' national security interests are, if any," said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.
Lott, R-Miss., and other Senate leaders received a briefing Thursday from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other members of Clinton's national security team on the fragile status of peace negotiations between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians in Paris and on the continued threat of U.S.-led NATO airstrikes against Serb targets.
The talks broke down today and French and British mediators said in a statement they won't resume if the Serbs continue to reject the accord.
"There is no purpose in extending the talks any further," the mediators said in Paris.
Underscoring the threat of NATO strikes, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the withdrawal of its monitors from Kosovo would be completed by Saturday, with the observers leaving the southern Serb province by road for Skopje, the capital of neighboring Macedonia.
"I am responsible for the safety of approximately 1,400 verifiers from many different countries in Kosovo. I have no other choice in the present situation than to withdraw the OSCE personnel," Vollebaek said in Oslo, Norway.
NATO's supreme commander in Europe, U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark, told CNN International that while troops in neighboring Macedonia were on alert, Milosevic has guaranteed the monitors' safety "and we're going to hold him to those guarantees."
Fighting has claimed more than 2,000 lives in the past year in Kosovo, a province of Serbia, which is the dominant of two remaining republics comprising Yugoslavia. About 90 percent of Kosovo's 2.2 million people are ethnic Albanians, and most favor independence.
Albright, as she went into the closed-door briefing with lawmakers, said "NATO stands ready to take whatever measures are necessary."
Afterward, Lott said he wasn't satisfied -- and requested a meeting with Clinton.
"I just don't think that the predicate has been laid, that the Senate, let alone the American people, know enough about what the reasons are for potential airstrikes at this time," Lott said.
Earlier, the Pentagon's top military commanders told a Senate hearing that military action against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's forces could be difficult and could result in American casualties.
Lott spokesman John Czwartacki said sentiment in Congress had changed from "qualified support" for administration policy "to real serious debate over whether we should be heading into a long drawn-out campaign."
David Leavy, a White House spokesman on national security issues, said that at today's meeting, Clinton would emphasize "that the United States has a clear national interest in preventing a wider war from spreading in Kosovo."
"The president believes it's important to have strong bipartisan consensus here at home as we deliver a strict message to President Milosevic that his actions are intolerable and there will be further consequences if he does not abide by his obligations and agree to a political settlement that guarantees Kosovo's autonomy."