Clinton Defends Kosovo Action

In the last of three commencement addresses President Clinton is giving this spring, he said Saturday the United States could not stand aside while Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic waged war against ethnic Albanians who were driven from Kosovo by the hundreds of thousands.

"If we have the power to stop it, we ought to," the president declared.

Mr. Clinton expressed regret for waiting four years before his administration intervened militarily to stop the war in Bosnia, by which time he said a quarter of a million people had died.

He avoided comment on Russia's surprise decision to send troops to Kosovo in advance of the arrival of NATO forces and said the United States anticipates working with Russia on maintaining peace in Kosovo.

"We look forward to working with Russia and others who may not have agreed with our military campaign but do agree with the proposition that all the people of that tiny land - Serb and Albanian alike - should be able to live in peace and freedom," Mr. Clinton told the 820 graduating students at the University of Chicago.

Moscow opposed NATO air strikes against its ally of Yugoslavia, which ended last week after 79 days. But the Russians helped broker a peace deal and pledged to participate in maintaining order as Serb forces withdraw from the Serbian province.

Mr. Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin were to discuss the situation during a phone call planned for Sunday morning.

The NATO forces, led by British, French and some American troops, entered Kosovo hours before the president spoke. The troops were the leading edge of a force that will eventually total 50,000 troops, including 7,000 Americans.

The peacekeepers will protect some 1 million ethnic Albanians as they return to Kosovo, which will gain a degree of autonomy under the peace agreement with Yugoslavia.

"We are determined to reverse the ethnic cleaning," Mr. Clinton said before turning to the main theme of his address, the global economy.

The remarks drew light applause from the graduates and others attending the ceremony on a sweltering day.