THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, December 13, 1994             TAG: 9412130019
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   46 lines

BOSNIAN BLATHER ACT FIRST, TALK LATER

In his latest misstep on Bosnia, President Clinton has telegraphed his punch and invited trouble. The problem is less with the proposed policy than with blabbering about it in advance. Didn't the president ever hear that loose lips sink ships?

He has said the United States would commit as many as 25,000 troops to Bosnia if they are needed to extricate U.N. peacekeeping forces. They have become targets and hostages of Bosnian Serb forces who have no interest in peace.

But in the same breath Clinton announced that following any such withdrawal the United States would do all in its power to pursue vigorously a so-called lift and strike policy that would lift the arms embargo on Bosnian Muslims and pursue NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serb aggression.

U.N. troops should have been gotten out of harm's way long ago, and lift and strike should have been international policy long ago. But linking the two at this juncture looks like an invitation to the Bosnian Serbs to misbehave.

After all, if the Bosnian Serbs know that the U.N. peacekeepers are all that stand between them and lift and strike, are they going to let them go peacefully or tighten their grip? And when U.S. troops are asked to help get the peacekeepers out, will they meet cooperation on the ground or stiff resistance?

Perhaps Clinton and his advisers believed the threat of U.S. troops to aid any withdrawal - accompanied by the threat of lift and strike afterward - would make the Bosnian Serbs suddenly go all limp and drive them to the negotiating table. But so many threats over the past 30 months have been idle that the Serb forces no doubt discount the bluster while appreciating the advance warning.

It is hard to see what Clinton hoped to gain with this announcement and easy to imagine what it might cost. And it seems unnecessary to have made it. The U.N. still hopes its troops won't have to be extracted and NATO members still oppose lift and strike. Next time, Clinton might consider acting forcefully first and talking about it second. by CNB