Friday, June 4, 1999 --- New York (APJP) -- As I began this column, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea was speaking to reporters about NATO's role "building peace in Kosovo." He had warned that "the promise of peace... is not yet the reality of peace" and that the next move is up to Slobodan Milosevic.

But make no mistake: the air campaign is a success.

I strongly supported NATO's decision to use air power to decimate Slobodan's capability to wage ethnic cleansing -- and know full well that Slobodan was out to cause a humanitarian disaster by any means necessary, be it by mass murder, mass rape, mass theft, a refugee crisis or all of the above.

I was also amazed at the blatantly foolhardy mouthings of Clinton's most obnoxious enemies in the press, who were trying every trick in the book to undermine "Clinton's war."

As the situation stands now, NATO not only seems to have brought Milosevic to heel, but it has humiliated a cadre of what Tony Snow facetiously referred to a couple of weeks ago on Fox News Sunday as "nattering nabobs" -- the self-appointed pundits who try to tell you what to think.

Here is one classic example: remember how all the "Sunday morning quarterbacks" were complaining that there was no "endgame?" Of course, they all knew full well that NATO was utilizing scenario planning in which there is no single outcome, and adjustments are made to take full advantage of a multiplicity of possible outcomes.

And there was much criticism of Clinton surrounding the admittedly appalling refugee crisis, a genuine humanitarian horror -- but they refused to consider the ramifications of seeing Europe stand by complacently once again as Milosevic unleashed nearly unimaginable horrors on yet another ethnic minority on whose territory this thug had designs. Intervention or no, there would have been crimes against humanity.

Another favorite canard: "NATO will fail -- and they're obsolete anyway, having been formed to counter the threat of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact."

WRONG and WRONG. NATO is for real. Ask Milosevic. NATO succeeded in forcing Serbia to negotiate a withdrawal -- and has destabilized Milosevic's power base. Remember also that Europe has not exactly been the model of total stability since the Soviet Union held its "going away" party -- the Russian government is trapped in a quagmire of mass corruption and an economic disaster, and Slobodan has spent the last decade systematically destabilizing the southeastern region of Europe.

NATO is not only relevant -- it is a necessity for preserving European and American interests.

How about that other great pundit line, "Air wars have never succeeded."

WRONG AGAIN. Times change. Technology improves. Much to the horror of the opinion elite, the air war is succeeding. As this column was in preparation, a look at this morning's Washington Post contained an article by Howard Kurtz which touched on this very subject. Titled "War's Casualties: Naysaying Pundits," the article highlights a number of ridiculous comments made recent days concerning NATO's air campaign by the usual naysayers who act like they don't seem to get it. At one point, Kurtz asks, "Could it... mean that all the commentators who castigated the White House for utterly and completely bungling the war might say they were wrong? Not a chance."

He stopped short, though, of stating the obvious: that the Beltway loudmouths are trying to undermine confidence in Bill Clinton once again, still claiming that "his" air war is a failure.

But Kurtz hit the nail on the head. The sputtering, blustering pundits may never admit that they were dead wrong, but in the end they have lost their on-the-air war to undermine confidence in Bill Clinton over intervention in Kosovo.