Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 28, 1994                   TAG: 9411280082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. OFFICIAL: SERBS HAVE WON

``It seems that the Serbs have demonstrated military superiority on the ground,'' Perry said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.'' He said he saw ``no prospect'' of the Bosnian government winning back any of the 70 percent of the country held by Serbian forces.

Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole, appearing on the same show, called the international effort to end the war a ``classic failure'' and urged that the U.N. peacekeeping mission there be terminated.

Perry's statement came as Bosnian Serbs were on the verge of taking control of the Muslim enclave of Bihac, a U.N. safe area, in northwest Bosnia.

Even if the U.N. authorized more NATO air strikes to punish the Serbs for their aggression, Perry said, ``the air strikes cannot determine the outcome of the ground combat.''

Perry also emphasized that U.S. ground troops would not become involved in hostilities in Bosnia, and that the 2,000 Marines on three U.S. warships off Bosnia's shores would be used only for ``contingency'' and rescue operations.

``The possibility of downed aircraft and pilots needing rescue is not remote,'' Perry said.

It has also been suggested that the Marines could participate in any evacuation of U.N. peacekeepers from Bosnia, but Perry did not address such a possibility.

Dole, R-Kan., a strong critic of the administration's Bosnia policy, said it ``may be time to get the U.N. protection forces out of there.''

He added that Yasushi Akashi, the top U.N. official in the former Yugoslavia, and Lt. Gen. Michael Rose, the commander of the U.N. forces there, should be replaced.

U.N. officials, concerned about possible retaliation against the 24,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia, have been reluctant to approve NATO air strikes against Serbian positions. The U.N. Security Council has refused to sanction NATO attacks to stop the latest Serb offensive against Bihac.

``This is a classic failure where NATO has been tied in knots and they've almost become irrelevant,'' Dole said.

Dole, the next Senate majority leader, supports lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia's Muslims. He said U.N. resolutions creating safe havens in the war-torn country have become meaningless.

``Who cares what the U.N. does?'' Dole asked, adding that the new Republican majority would take a ``hard look'' at U.S. financial support for the United Nations. ``The president is going to have to stop relying on the United Nations and start looking at whether we are going to be a part of NATO.''

Perry acknowledged that NATO is ``powerless to conduct air strikes to influence the situation'' without U.N. approval, but he said he opposed unilateral U.S. action to lift the arms embargo.

It would drive U.N. troops out of Bosnia, he said, and ``it would lead to a widening of the war, it would lead to more violence.''

Perry repeated the administration position that it would ``consider more substantial actions'' against the Serbs, including use of ground troops, if the war spread beyond Bosnian borders. A small U.S. force is already on the ground in Macedonia monitoring its border with Bosnia.