As NATO’s air strike campaign against Serbian forces in Kosovo approaches the end of its second week, some Iowa State professors say the organization’s intervention is necessary.

Mary Ann Tetreault, professor of political science, said she supports NATO’s reaction to the ethnic conflict.

“People can’t live and develop institutions unless they are protected,” she said. “It goes back to the ideas of [philosopher John] Hobbes, where government’s purpose is to protect its people.”

James McCormick, professor of political science, also agrees with NATO’s decision to use military action.

“Doing nothing is from my taste unacceptable,” he said, adding that from a policy standpoint, NATO’s use of ultimatums in the negotiation process required bombing in order to maintain credibility.

Although both Tetreault and McCormick endorse the use of military action, their reasoning stems from separate roots.

Tetreault said American guilt is at the source of the country’s humanitarian efforts.

“The exact same thing happened in Bosnia, as we watched it on TV,” she said. “Everyone said, ‘Too bad.'”

McCormick said there is a movement in international law to intervene in humanitarian issues.

“We are seeing that sovereignty is not as sacrosanct as in the past,” he said.

While many Americans want Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s reign of ethnic cleansing to stop, the professors said the public may have mixed feelings about implementing ground forces.

“We must ask ourselves how committed we are to human rights,” Tetreault said. “If you really care about this, you have to do this.”

McCormick said ground forces may be needed before stability returns to the region.

“I think it will be difficult to satisfy the goals for an autonomous Kosovo without territorial control,” he said.

McCormick cited the Dayton Accords, which brought a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Bosnia, as evidence for his position.

“Agreement was reached only when American forces backed the Croats and began to reclaim some territory,” he said. “The Bosnian Serbs had no reason to negotiate when they controlled 70 percent of the territory.”

Tetreault said a quick ending to the crisis in Kosovo is not likely to happen.

“It takes a while,” she said. “We bombed Iraq for a month before ground troops went in, and that had more favorable conditions.”

McCormick agreed that the situation may take a while to improve.

“It could be very long, and that’s not tolerated by people in the U.S.,” he added.

While people watch for daily position changes among the NATO alliance, Tetreault said it will be the long-term policy of NATO that will shape the operation’s success.

“In Iraq, we let the government get entrenched again,” she said. “A lot of things take 50 years to resolve.”