Irredentism in the Balkans

Your Nov. 19 editorial, “Blockade: Do It but Do It Right,” reported that the Security Council of the United Nations had voted to impose a naval blockade on Yugoslavia but then made the point that “The key question whenever military sanctions are imposed by the United Nations is: By means of whose military?”

If the secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, has his way the answer would be U.N. military. His recent report “An Agenda for Peace” calls for the creation of a U.N. military force under Article 43 of the U.N. Charter. “The mission of forces under Article 43 would be to respond to outright aggression.” He then continued, “I recommend that the Council consider the utilization of peace-enforcement units in clearly defined circumstances and with their terms of reference specified in advance.”

Under these circumstances, with the conditions clearly defined in advance, the commander in chief of the military forces should be authorized to take action to restore peace without waiting for a consensus from the Security Council.

If we want to “do it right,” we must first implement the provision of the U.N. Charter and create military peace-enforcement units. We must also revise the charter to give one person the authority to use this force. We cannot rely on the President of the United States to take the initiative unless his source of oil is threatened.

EDWARD C. PERRY II

Palm Springs