41.   NATO officials are preparing to meet this week to determine their next step, amid continuing disagreements over whether to commit troops for a ground war.

42.   NATO officials, however, continue to oppose a ground war in Yugoslavia.

43.   NATO avoided a ground war, fearing heavy allied casualties.

44.   Once the fighting started, according to Clark, the Pentagon was slow to approve some of the targets and resisted planning for a possible ground war.

45.   One top Clinton administration official said that a ground war would extract too high a human price.

46.   Primakov has opposed an all-out ground war and pointedly refused an invitation to meet with President Boris N. Yeltsin earlier this week.

47.   President Clinton has exercised care not to get American troops bogged down in ground wars, opting for airstrikes in places like Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq.

48.   President Clinton, softening his opposition to a ground war, said Tuesday that options remain on the table.

49.   She would support a ground war, but she is in a minority.

50.   Second, there are the pragmatic arguments of White House staff against a ground war, and to limit the possibility of U.S. casualties.