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Show The Salt Lake Tribune OPINION Sunday, January 31,1999 Joe DiMaggio Shows Best And Mike Tyson the Worst World Still Has Great Need for NATO Neither Serbs nor Albanians have yet regularly THE WASHINGTON POST The situation in Kosovo has deteriorated faster BY CLAUDE LEWIS KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE a roughdignity outsideofit. DiMaggio, once a star of the Mike Tyson and Joe DiMaggio have been on my mindoflate, but left of his storied existence. When for different reasons. It is with reluctancethat I mention Tyson's name in a column with DiMaggio. The two men area study in opposites. I am aware that putting their names in a single sentence is to link crass with class. Tyson, who has had nearly as many fights outside the ring as he’shadinside, continues to bully his way through life. Wealth and athleticism have not changed him a bit. Once the youngest ever to capture the heavyweight boxing championship of the world, he re- mains the hoodlum he wasin his harrowing childhood in Brooklyn’s slums. Now heis a troubled man who still has not learned manyof life’s basic lessons. He hasa sordid history of threatening and punching perceived enemies and cemented his reputation as a dirty fighter hepasses, nearly the whole nation will mourn for the loss of his special nobility. DiMaggio, who came from San Francisco, spent13 seasons in the majors, from 1936 to 1951. He compiled a dazzlinglifetime batting average of .325 and hit 361 homeruns. Fifteen hun- his friend Jimmy Cannon, wrote, with such “unhurried grace.” During DiMaggio’s period of magnificence. his team picked up 10 American League pennants and nine World Series. Baseball records are fine. But eventually, most of them arebroken. What DiMaggio will always be remembered for (aside from his marriage to Marilyn Monroe) was the grace that marked his when he nearly bit an ear off Evander Holyfield in the ring. He went to prison for nearly three years after being convicted of rape. He enjoys boasting that “when I’m at my best, I put men in ments on the baseball field. He routinely violates all that is assosciated with dignity and human decency. He has proven that you can wasa spectacular athlete who did his job and hurried off to a private existence. So the conscience hasto juggle body bags.” Nice imagery. Tyson take an individual out of a slum, butit is difficult to take the slum out of someindividuals. Muhammad Ali taught us that boxers don’t have to be boorish, crude and undignified. Rocky Marciano and Joe Frazier, both championswhohit with the power of dynamitein the ring, possessed than most had expected: civilian massacres, kidnappings and murders, shelling of civilians. The Clinton administration had hoped that the truce Dick Holbrooke negotiated in October wouldlastuntil spring, by which timean interim political agreement could be putin place. But negotiations have collapsed, the Yugoslav Army never met the withdrawal! conditions of the Holbrooke agreement, atrocities continue and the Kosovo Liberation Armyis attacking civilians as well as soldiers and police. Only the courageous efforts of the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) haveso far prevented a return to open warfare. Put in place to verify compliance New York Yankees, is apparently struggling to hold on to what is dred thirty-seven times, he pushed his teammates across homeplate. Perhapshis greatest accomplishments were hitting safely in 56 consecutive games and roaming the centerfield, as public life. He was never one for late nights or drunken barroom brawls. The headlines he created Mike Tyson with the Holbrooke agreement, the KVM, composed of us, a great example of what eacn of us might aspire to be- come. As for Tyson, maybe I expect too muchof him. Couldit be that whathe is what most sports fans want? Maybe he should be left alone tofight, do his jail time, and raise hell in our streets. Maybe I shouldn't expect anything more from a guy with enough courage to climb through the ropes, to walk to the center of the ring, to put his opponents in body bags. Claude Lewis is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. mainly had to do with his achieve- twoof the best-knownathletes of ourtime. One isa gifted but roguish fighter, the other, now 84, a public gentleman and, once, a baseball player so respected and cherished that he has become a nationaltreasure. Wefeel better about ourselves because of DiMaggio. He was one AAS of more than 30 nations, is being loaded with the missions that normally follow a political settlement: maintenanceof the cease-fire, separation of the military forces, mediation of disputes, protection of human rights, collection of war crimes evidence, building up democratic institutions and holding municipal elections. This “mission gallop” has occurred under condi- tions that would not be regarded assafe for a heavily armedmilitary force many timesthe size of this un- armedcivilian effort, which is projected eventually to reach 1,600 “verifiers.” The requested departure of KVMhead William Walkerasa result of his reaction to the latest atrocity, and the denial of entry to Chief War Crimes Prosecutor Louise Arbour, indicate how eG the mission is. io trust eration Army (KLA) and the Albanian population, creating major refugee flows, a serious humanitar- ian crisis and an intensified Albanian armeduprising, leading eventually to independence. This would not be a prettypicture on the eve of NATO's 50th anniversary celebration in April. Getting in for real would mean deploying a NATO military ground force, withdrawal of the Yugoslav police, redeployment of the Yugoslav Army and an end to the KLA insurgency. The international community would establish a protectorate, as the Albanians want, for an interim period. A permanent solution, possibly but not necessarily independence. would be decidedlater. What would persuade Slobodan Milosevic to ac- cept a NATO ground force? Onlyrecognition of the military stalemate: His police and military are un- able to defeat the KLAandwill suffer unacceptable losses — either at the hands of the KLAorat the hands of NATO-if they continue to try. Continued Yugoslav repression will hasten Kosovo indepen- dence, which is what both Milosevic and the international community say they want to avoid. Serwer is seniorfellow at the United States InstituteoolPeace. 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APRBBY Eye Institute | 180mos.APRATO $ 30,000 $ 230.67 $ 295.42 $492.37 | $ 70,000 $ 538.24 $ 689.32 | $ 384.46 “For qualified applicants - first mortgage ratesas of 12/28/98and are subject to change “Welike to say YES!" just ANYONE. ° It would bebetter if the Clinton administration recognized, before disaster occurs, thatit is time either to get in for real or get out altogether. Getting out altogether would meanleaving the Yugoslav Army and police to deal with the Kosovo Lib- Home Equity Loans $AST at Real Rates from Local People $ 50,000 Because your eyes targeted the KVM, but twoverifiers have been shot. 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