War Crimes Investigation in Bosnia Urged by U.S. : Balkans: Administration demands suspected death camp inspections but continues to shun the use of force.

Struggling to balance surging public outrage over atrocities in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the known pitfalls of military intervention in the Balkans, the Bush Administration Wednesday called for a formal war crimes investigation and redoubled its demand for inspection of suspected ethnic death camps.

Although it continued to shun the use of armed force, the Administration announced a range of diplomatic steps to increase the pressure on Serbia and to find out if Serbian-run detention centers in Bosnia are being used for the systematic killing of Slavic Muslims and Croats.

Elsewhere Wednesday, Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton called for action far beyond anything proposed by the Administration, urging air strikes on Serbian strongholds to end what he called “mass, deliberate, systematic extermination” of Serbia’s ethnic foes.

By contrast, in a full day of campaigning President Bush made no mention of Yugoslavia or its former republics. In a foreign policy speech, he made a point of asserting that the end of the Cold War had left “not a Europe in flames . . . but a world at peace.”

On Capitol Hill, a bipartisan group of senators, including Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) and Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas, introduced legislation demanding that the Administration seek a U.N. Security Council meeting to authorize steps, including military action if necessary, to end the violence in the Balkans.

The measure touched off an often impassioned round of Senate speeches. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic may “have to look down the barrel of a gun before he stops his aggression.”

The Democratic saber-rattling seemed to reverse the roles that the parties have assumed over the past two decades, with Clinton and his allies playing hawk to Bush’s dove. White House officials grumbled that Clinton was taking a free hit by accusing the Administration of excess caution while not having to live with the consequences of military intervention in a potential quagmire.

Nevertheless, the Administration must deal with escalating public concern over the carnage. White House officials said privately they were concerned about being backed into a corner on the issue.

“This is explosive stuff,” one Administration official said. “But there are limits to what we can do, and no one wants to find ourselves feeling pressured to act until we’re ready.”

In an interview, Bush told USA Today that the possible use of military force in Yugoslavia was “an option that I haven’t thought out yet. . . ,” then added, “But I’m not going to rule anything in or out.”

Bush added that he has substantial, unanswered questions about the wisdom of U.S. military action.

At the State Department, Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, the agency’s acting head with Secretary of State James A. Baker III on vacation, issued a statement recapping the Administration’s actions and attempting to resolve questions over what Washington knows about Serbian detention centers.

“Over the past week, we have seen an increasing number of reports about detention centers in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, including reports that indicate the possibility of executions, torture and other gross human rights abuses,” Eagleburger said. “These reports, although unconfirmed, are profoundly disturbing.”

To determine whether the accounts are true or false, Eagleburger said the Administration proposed a special investigation by the U.N. Human Rights Commission, contacted the warring factions directly to demand access to the camps, and it urged the European Community and Russia to use their influence with the parties to open the facilities.

He said the leader of the Serbian forces in Bosnia and officials of Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia immediately promised to permit inspections of camps under their control. “The promises are welcome,” he said, “but what is important is real action. We cannot allow excuses, such as those used in the past . . . to block their important mission.”

Times staff writers William J. Eaton, Sam Fulwood III and Stephanie Grace contributed to this report.

* ARMING THE RESISTANCE: U.S. Muslim Slavs are sending weapons to their homeland. E1