THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050410
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Fresh from a fact-finding trip to Sarajevo, Sen. Charles S. Robb on Wednesday said the United States may have no choice but to send ground troops to the former Yugoslavia.
``This has become a test - like it or not - of U.S. leadership,'' the Democratic senator said in a speech to about 40 students at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Robb was pessimistic that recent shuttle diplomacy by the Clinton administration could produce an end to the ethnic bloodshed in the Eastern European region.
If the talks do bear fruit, however, Robb said the United States must assume a major role in the difficult process of implementing peace.
And that, he said, would mean the U.S. would join European nations in sending peacekeeping troops to the region.
In the event that the peace talks fail, Robb said, a quick deployment of U.S. troops may be needed to help extricate United Nations peacekeepers on the ground in the former Yugoslavia before winter sets in.
``Either scenario results in more - not less - U.S. involvement, and that is going to be a tough sell politically,'' said Robb, who long has advocated a more assertive policy in the conflict.
``But I believe the Congress. . . will agree to provide the U.S. forces necessary to carry out our responsibilities.''
KEYWORDS: YUGOSLAVIA CIVIL WAR by CNB