It is difficult to decide which image of the ethnic Albanian refugees being driven out of Kosovo is most heartbreaking. It could be the little girl holding up two fingers for peace as she is carried away on a crowded, dirty trailer, the little boy who stands crying, appearing as if his whole world has been shattered, or the elderly woman who struggles to climb up into a truck before it hastily pulls away in the pursuit of safety.

Pictures of these and other innocent people being persecuted by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and the stories of others who have allegedly been murdered under his orders, come to us through our television sets every night - and strike a sensitive chord.

But the images not only instill pity, they present a moral dilemma.

The latest reports from Washington indicate that there is no end in sight for NATO intervention in this ethnic cleansing, because Serbia's elaborate radar and missiles present too big a threat for pilots to carry out low-level attacks to stop the atrocities. And, Milosevic and his entourage have said only that they want the U.S. and other countries supporting the NATO air raids to stop their "aggression," not that that they have any plans to stop theirs.

With these dynamics, the scary possibility of the deployment of NATO ground troops looms, although the White House denies this will happen. One top U.S. Senator has said that President Clinton should not be the one to decide this, but rather the Congress - in order to ensure that the people's wishes are represented. Certainly, this is what the writers of the U.S. Constitution intended when they designated Congress as the branch of government that is authorized to declare war.

The latest Washington Post/ABC poll reveals that 49 percent of the American people do not support the use of ground troops (only 44 percent support it). That is quite logical: who among us wants to put this country's sons and daughters in harm's way? But, can our collective conscience allow us to stand by as the genocide perpetrated by Milosovec continues? And, now that our president has gotten us into this, would pulling out make us look unresolved, thereby threatening our national security? As much of the public opinion on this grave issue is now being shaped in the local communities, another key question remains - that is, what do you think?

A.M.