Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 22, 1994 TAG: 9402220114
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TERENCE HUNT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The apparent answer is, not immediately - if ever.
In view of NATO's strong reluctance to take the first step, there's likely to be stiff resistance to doing more, especially since the United States still refuses to join other allies in putting ground troops in harm's way in Bosnia.
Even while hailing the success of threatened air strikes in stopping the shelling of Sarajevo, Defense Secretary William Perry spoke cautiously about extending NATO's commitment beyond Sarajevo.
"Our first and most important objective is to secure the gain we've already made and we will not seriously consider taking more options until we are certain that this one is really secure," Perry said Monday.
"So, those options are certainly weeks away; they're not days away," he said.
More warplanes and more pilots would be required to expand the demilitarization formula and the threat of air strikes. The risk of retaliation against allied forces on the ground would grow. There would be a threat of deeper and deeper involvement.
Clinton, at a news conference, would go no further than to say that U.S. officials would talk with European leaders this week about extending NATO's ultimatum to other parts of Bosnia.
He said the United States must be sure its allies are prepared to back up any further ultimatums, guaranteeing that "NATO not undertake a mission it is not fully capable of performing."
Secretary of State Warren Christopher said, "Let's wait and see" if a wider commitment is prudent. He said the emphasis should be on the peace table.
"This situation is not going to be resolved on the battlefield," Christopher said.
For all the hesitation, there's a simple allure to extending the Sarajevo model: It worked where nothing else has.
After a 22-month siege that killed 10,000 people, the guns finally are silent in Sarajevo. People who huddled terrified in their homes are back on the streets.
Muhamed Sacirbey, Bosnia's ambassador to the United Nations, pleaded with the West to protect other cities, such as Bihac, reported to be under Serb attack. He said weapons removed under threat from Sarajevo are being rushed to other battlefronts.
"It seems to us that the focus on Sarajevo has somehow encouraged the Serbian forces to attack in Bihac," Sacirbey said on NBC's "Today" show.
"But there is also, for instance, Zepa, Srebrenica, Gorazde, Tuzla, not to mention Mostar and several other Bosnian cities that are suffering quite badly right now," he said.
Clinton spent months pressing the allies to threaten air strikes in Bosnia and to lift the embargo preventing outgunned Muslims from arming themselves. His pleas were rebuffed, and Clinton refused to act unilaterally.
Even when NATO finally threatened air strikes in August, the threat was not carried out. The allies wavered again in January even after pledging anew to punish Serb forces shelling Sarajevo.
It was not until the world was revulsed by the massacre of 68 people by a single shell in a marketplace that NATO laid down an ultimatum for the withdrawal of heavy guns and the end of the shelling of Sarajevo. By that time, 200,000 people had been killed across Bosnia.
Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic said life would have been normal in Sarajevo if NATO had issued its ultimatum two years ago.
In a question that will haunt history, Ganic sadly wondered "why they needed 10,000 graves in Sarajevo in order to write one page of NATO resolutions?"
Keywords:
INFOLINE
by CNB