The Kosovo Albanian rebels were pushing ahead with their own war aims.

Yes, for such an emergency rescue mission, NATO would certainly be justified in acting as the air force of the Kosovo rebels.

And members of their extended family are active in the Kosovo Liberation Army, the Kosovo Albanian rebels who have been fighting for independence.

Last month, Albanian officials alerted the Clinton Administration that Iran was sending weapons to the Kosovo rebels, through Albania.

"I have no doubt there may be some bad actors" among the Kosovo rebels, he said in a telephone interview from Australia.

A European diplomat said that the most troubling thing about the Kosovo rebels was that it was not clear what they stood for.

The area is dangerous, in part, because Kosovo rebels have set up operations there, and several Serbian rockets have landed nearby.

He resigned his commission there to return, in March, to fight against Serbian forces with the Kosovo rebels.

It helped them calculate the source of the Serbian artillery fire on the Kosovo rebels in a matter of seconds.

The Pentagon reported Serbian counterinsurgency operations against Kosovo rebels but said the intensity of the fighting seemed to have eased.