Stop Fiddling While Sarajevo Burns

(Washington, D.C.): As Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic and his Bosnian henchman, Radovan Karadzic, execute their Final Solution for the multi-ethnic state of Bosnia, President Clinton announced that he is dispatching Amb. Reginald Bartholemew to participate in the umpteenth round of negotiations in Geneva.⁽¹⁾ The President also indicated that the United States would at last utilize its airpower against the Serb aggressors — but only if the U.N. Provisional Forces (UNPROFOR) in Sarajevo (whose troops were shelled by Serbian artillery for the second time in 48 hours yesterday) formally ask the U.N. Secretary General for air cover and, only then if Boutros Boutros-Ghali in turn asks NATO to provide such support.

Responding to questions by reporters this afternoon in the White House East Room regarding what the United States is prepared to do in Bosnia, President Clinton said:

"We are prepared to fulfill our commitments, yes….We are prepared to move if we are asked to provide…assistance by the Secretary General. Will it be enough to deter aggression, to stop the shelling of Sarajevo, to bring the parties to the peace table? I don’t know. But we are prepared to do our part."

Christopher’s Appeasement Repudiated?

This statement represents a welcome departure from Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s oft-repeated assertion at his press conference last week to the effect that: "The United States is doing all that it can [in Bosnia] consistent with our national interests." Mr. Christopher’s remark was understandably seen by the Serbs as yet another in the series of green lights to aggression signalled by the Clinton Administration since it came to office.

The Christopher line has translated not only into new Serbian offensives aimed at taking — or at least destroying — Sarajevo and other remaining Muslim positions. It has also produced fresh evidence of the Serb’s utter contempt for the West. For example, the Bosnian Serb Army’s Chief of Staff, Gen. Manojlo Milovanovic with a straight face informed the international press today that his forces "do not shell civilians" and that "I guarantee you that we are not shelling Sarajevo." Reporters were even told that the war was imposed on Serbia and that Sarajevo was not under siege.

Will Clinton’s Latest Gambit Make Matters Better — Or Worse?

It remains to be seen, however, whether Mr. Clinton’s latest pronouncements will be regarded by the Serbs as a yellow light — or just a further impetus to complete their present offensive, producing yet again "facts on the ground" that will render negotiations moot, and dictating terms to the Bosnian Muslims or exterminating them. One thing seems clear already, though: By insisting that any action to aid the victims of Serb aggression — or even the peace-keepers assigned to what amounts to a death watch for multi-ethnic Bosnia — must await formalized approval up an unwieldy chain of command means that hundreds, if not thousands, more innocent civilians will die needlessly. Likely as not, Sarajevo will be effectively, if not literally, burnt to the ground while the West fiddles.

The Bottom Line

The Center for Security Policy finds it unspeakably callous and deplorably feckless for the United States to insist at this late date that every formalistic box be checked, every legalistic nicety be respected before previously authorized action is taken to protect U.N. peacekeepers and, at least indirectly, those they are deployed to protect. It is past time for the Clinton Administration and NATO to execute standing plans for the defense of UNPROFOR. The West’s already shameful record of inaction and appeasement must not be compounded in Bosnia by allowing more blood unnecessarily to stain American hands and honor.

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1. The Center for Security Policy believes that Amb. Bartholomew’s performance to date as the U.S. mediator — what Secretary of State Warren Christopher once called the "full weight of U.S. diplomacy" — has been both emblematic of and a contributing factor to the Clinton Administration’s hapless role in the Bosnian tragedy. See in this regard the Center’s Decision Brief ‘The Full (Dead) Weight of U.S. Diplomacy’: Clinton Sells Out the Bosnians, (No. 93-D15, 10 February 1993).