THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512160018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
Will someone please explain to me, a retired military intelligence officer with extensive background in strategic intelligence, what exactly the vital national interest is in Bosnia?
The President claims that unless we act, a religious civil war will spread throughout the Balkans and possibly into Central Europe. Yet there is absolutely no indication that Turkey, Greece, Italy, Albania, or anyone else is willing to go to war over Bosnia. Nor is it valid to compare the Serbs, who are engaged in a tribal dispute, with Hitler's legions.
We have also been told that since the Europeans have failed to resolve this civil war, it is ``up to us to do something.'' As long as we continue to bail them out with our treasure and blood, the Europeans will not fend for themselves. These are prosperous countries who have failed to shoulder their defense responsibilities. I would have no problem with the U.S. providing intelligence and lift support, but why can't the combined forces of Western Europe, with over 300 million people, muster troops to fight in their own backyard?
And if ethnic cleansing is so despicable, why wasn't a young Bill Clinton and the anti-war crowd in the '60s moved by the ideological genocide waged by the Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge in Indochina?
I find it hypocritical that the same crowd of Democrats who for decades whined that we should not be the world's policeman are now banging the war drums. Where next will Clinton unwisely dispatch troops?
MARK JAWOROWSKI
Virginia Beach, Dec. 1, 1995 by CNB