THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Two years ago the Clinton administration looked the other way as Iran supplied arms to the beleaguered Bosnians. Was this (a) shameful cowardice (b) a troubling skirting of the rules (c) a triumph of realpolitick or (d) all of the above?
The Wall Street Journal's editorial page mocks Clinton for practicing a Don't Ask, Don't Tell foreign policy. But there's little evidence to suggest that an attempt to supply arms directly would have succeeded. Our NATO allies opposed it as did important elements of Clinton's own party. He likely would have taken a political beating, and the Bosnians might have wound up defenseless.
New York Times columnist William Safire has painted the policy in darker hues, an Iran-Clinton to rival Iran-Contra. But that analogy is unconvincing. The United States did not act directly but simply allowed others to act. It did not act covertly, but simply conducted diplomacy after careful discussion.
The administration may not have done all it could have or should have under United Nations strictures to stop the transactions, but those who have been most critical of Clinton have often been even more scathing about the United Nations. Many of Clinton's critics concede that the pragmatic result of the arms-supply operation was welcome. Though they came from the unsavory Iranians, the arms permitted the Bosnian Muslims to defend themselves from genocidal aggression.
At issue is the old question of whether dubious means can ever be justified if they produce desirable ends. It's hard to believe that those who fault Clinton for this bit of real-world manuveuring would be quite so scrupulous if it had been George Bush or Richard Nixon at the helm.
In an ideal world, Clinton would have rallied the allies and converted critics in Congress. He would have done openly what he permitted the Iranians to do by stealth. But it's not a perfect world, as events in the former Yugoslavia have demonstrated to a fare-thee-well. It must have appeared at the time that the Iranian channel was a way - perhaps the only viable way - to achieve the relief of the suffering Bosnians. Would it have been better if they'd been permitted to perish? by CNB