IT’S ABOUT TIME: CENTER WELCOMES LAUNCH OF AIR CAMPAIGN AGAINST GENOCIDAL BOSNIAN SERBS

(Washington, D.C.): Last night’s massive air
strikes against targets in Bosnian Serb territory marks a
welcome — and terribly overdue — response to Serbian
aggression and genocide. At long last, NATO has been
allowed to conduct sustained and apparently lethal
attacks on strategic and tactical targets critical to the
Serbs’ efforts to strangle Bosnian populations in
Sarajevo, Tuzla and other so-called “safe
havens.”

The Center for Security Policy has called for such a
formidable use of air power against Serb forces by the
United States and like-minded allies since Belgrade and
its proxies first launched, in turn, attacks against
Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It remains to
be seen whether this action will prove, under present
circumstances, to be decisive. The fact that NATO was
able to devise and execute such an operation, however,
reinforces the Center’s conviction that — had such an
air campaign been undertaken early on — it could have
dissuaded Serbia from inflicting on its neighbors the
nightmare that subsequently has engulfed the Balkans.

Five Breakthroughs

In addition to its robustness and target set, last
night’s aerial assault was distinguished from the
preceding, hapless Western military actions — and the
policies that produced them — in five important ways. It
may prove to be the case that the resolve and
determination evident in the UN and NATO’s breakthroughs
on these five fronts, as much as the deadly use of force
made possible thereby, will produce conditions conducive
to a durable and just peace in Bosnia:

• No Moral Equivalence: While the immediate
  pretext for last night’s attack was the odious
  Serb shelling of a crowded Sarajevo market place,
  the UN and NATO have increasingly recognized that
  the Serbs are the aggressors and the perpetrators
  of genocide. “Even-handedness” has
  permitted the conflict to continue; “taking
  sides” is essential to stopping it.
• No Akashi Veto: Taking Yasushi Akashi —
  the Japanese pacifist who, until last month,
  wielded a veto over UN and NATO military
  operations in his capacity as the UN Secretary
  General’s personal representative in Bosnia —
  out of the chain of command allowed military
  officials in both organizations to devise and
  execute an apparently competent military strike. Never
  again should Boutros-Ghali or his surrogates be
  allowed to act as commanders-in-chief of NATO.
• No Russian Veto: Ignoring Russia’s
  objections and protests, instead of permitting
  them to stymie alliance consensus and coordinated
  action, was also critical to getting this
  operation off the ground. Such bluster has, in
  the past, bought the Serbs time and exacerbated
  rifts between NATO partners that threatened
  permanently and decisively to weaken the Western
  alliance. The West must continue firmly to
  reject the sort of pressure that Moscow can be
  expected to bring to bear to stop the bombing.
• Getting the “Peacekeepers” Out of
  the Way: The UN finally took steps to ensure
  that the Serbs would not have an easy — and
  incapacitating — response to a NATO strike. As
  long as inadequately armed peacekeepers operating
  under restrictive rules of engagement remain in
  Bosnia, however, it is likely that some will once
  again be subjected to Serbian fire, kidnappings
  or other predations.
• Not Allowing a Carter Ex Machina to
  Stave Off Justified Retaliation: To its
  credit, NATO refused to fall for the old
  Karadzic-wants-peace-trust-me gambit perpetrated
  once before by former President Jimmy Carter. It
  is an indication of the contempt decision-makers
  evidently feel for both men that the Bosnian Serb
  psychopath’s eleventh-hour missive to Carter was
  not allowed to interfere with the preparations
  for and execution of the air strike. Karadzic
  is a war criminal; the West should be prosecuting
  him, not contemplating the resumption of further,
  futile negotiations with him and his ilk.

The Bottom Line

Most heartening of all are statements made by NATO
Secretary General Wilfred Claes and British Defense
Minister Michael Portillo to the effect that the air
campaign will not stop with the destruction of Serbian
anti-aircraft systems, radars, command and control
networks and ammunition facilities. It is to be sincerely
hoped that their promises, respectively, to continue air
strikes until the Serbs are “no longer in a position
to endanger Sarajevo” and until “the threat to
the civilian population” is removed will not be
overruled by higher authorities. Only by so doing can
NATO hope not only to prevent further Serbian genocide
but to create conditions conducive to a durable peace in
Bosnia.