1.   Before France would return, he said then, the alliance would have to let European members assume a more visible defense role.

2.   Advocates of that option noted that the alliance has yet to fulfill some of its plans.

3.   All have occurred in the history of the polls, but the alliance has clean answers for none of those scenarios.

4.   Allied officials in Brussels say the alliance has no contact of any kind with Kosovo Liberation Army forces inside Kosovo.

5.   But the alliance had the option to seek a better deal after three years to insure a national championship game.

6.   But the alliance has no political qualms in the north where its forces are freer to try to take territory.

7.   But the alliance is already having trouble maintaining its unity.

8.   But the bowl alliance still has a weekend of nail-biting.

9.   But the new alliance will still have gaps in its network.

10.   But the new records and recently released documents from Chinese archives suggest that the alliance did not have a strong foundation and may have been foredoomed.