THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010414
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
President Clinton stepped significantly deeper into the Bosnian crisis Wednesday, saying the United States should be prepared to send ground troops to help the United Nations move its forces to more defensible positions in Bosnia.
``We have obligations to our NATO allies,'' Clinton told this year's graduating class at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, ``and I do not believe we can leave them in the lurch. So I must carefully review any request involving a temporary use of our ground forces.''
Previously, he had said they would be used only to help cover a U.N. withdrawal from Bosnia.
Clinton stressed Wednesday that he would not commit U.S. troops to a long-term role on the ground in Bosnia and promised to consult with Congress before taking any military action.
Clinton also noted that U.S. military help had not been requested by either the United Nations or NATO.
Despite all that, Clinton's words clearly moved the United States closer to direct military involvement in Bosnia's bloody civil war, where more than 300 U.N. peacekeepers have been taken prisoner in recent days by Bosnian Serbs.
Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination next year, denounced administration and allied actions. They added up, he said, to ``nothing more than a policy of reinforcing failure.''
Other leading foreign-policy spokesmen inboth parties expressed strong doubts about Clinton's apparent willingness to broaden the circumstances under which American troops might be committed.
The dispatch of American troops to the region would represent a major political gamble for the president, which is why he has struggled since taking office to avoid it. But he is now edging cautiously toward military involvement, apparently in the belief that European stability is threatened.
A top State Department aide said that while Clinton did not explicitly mention it, a third possible circumstance for the use of American troops would involve the extremely difficult task of mounting commando raids to try to free the hostages.
``The ball is in the Europeans' court,'' the aide added. ``They are just formulating their plans, and they may ask us for help in pulling their troops out, or strengthening their positions, or rescuing the hostages, a combination of those options or none of the above.''
Senior Pentagon officials say that any commitment of U.S. forces at this point would most likely involve helicopters and fighter jets, and possibly small numbers of ground troops, in quick and limited missions under NATO command.
But some senior officers warn that Washington might have to increase its force quickly if the Bosnian Serbs attacked U.N. troops as they regrouped. Another senior Pentagon official seemed to play down the possibility of involvement by U.S. ground troops.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said any American forces committed to Bosnia would be under NATO command but that the United States would not be part of a ``strike force'' apparently being discussed by some allies.
France on Wednesday called for a top-level allied meeting in Paris to discuss a French proposal to create such a force: an international rapid reaction force to bolster protection for the U.N. troops.
At the United Nations on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali also endorsed the possible dispatch of a multinational unit.
A Marine amphibious ready group, with what the Pentagon calls ``special operations capability,'' is in the Adriatic Sea off Bosnia along with a variety of other ships, including the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
Another defense official disclosed that two more Navy ships in the Med have been ordered to sail for Bosnia. The additions of the cruiser Hue City, based in Mayport, Fla., and the frigate Hawes, from Charleston, S.C., will bring to nine the number of U.S. surface warships in the area. At least one attack submarine also is believed to be operating in the Adriatic. MEMO: Staff writer Dale Eisman contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bosnian Serb lines behind him, a French peacekeeper scans U.N.
vehicles coming into Sarajevo. Serbs have used the vehicles to
infiltrate there.
by CNB