Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 7, 1994 TAG: 9401070105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM LENGTH: Medium
Its NATO allies are supporting the plan, which marks a major change in NATO by giving members the option of joining in peacekeeping or other European missions or even of linking up with former Warsaw Pact foes for an operation.
In the past, the alliance's plans for potential military missions have drawn together as many of the 16 member nations as possible to show solidarity.
While the United States is the leader of NATO, American leaders have been reluctant to get caught up in trying to stop conflicts like that in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Some European allies see a role for the alliance in that war.
President Clinton and other leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations plan to approve the new approach at their summit next week, said diplomats and officials interviewed Thursday.
The new plan would retain NATO's long-held provision that a military attack on one member is an attack on all.
U.S. officials designed the plan so they could keep American ground forces out of peacekeeping missions.
American forces still could support peacekeeping operations by letting officers stay in NATO's chain of command and by providing air support, transport and satellite intelligence.
Still, pressure for an American role in enforcing any peace plan in Bosnia might still push its way onto the agenda of the two-day conference opening Monday at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
French officials said earlier in the week they would offer a new Bosnian initiative at the summit. Defense Minister Francois Leotard called for unspecified U.S. intervention in the 2-year-old conflict, which is estimated to have killed more than 200,000 people.
Clinton has been reluctant to commit U.S. ground forces to Bosnia, because of the complexities of the ethnic conflict.
by CNB