Eagleburger Says Bosnia Would Be Trap for U.S. : Intervention: Ex-secretary of state, on a Nixon museum visit in Yorba Linda, is pessimistic about peace efforts. He assails American allies for dragging their feet.

The situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is so “disastrous” that the United States should not get involved for fear of risking another Vietnam, former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger said here Tuesday.

During a tour of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, Eagleburger said in informal remarks that even large amounts of American aid probably wouldn’t be enough to significantly help the war-torn region.

“There isn’t much you can do,” he said, noting that the conflict is “the consequences of 1,000 years of history.”

Although Eagleburger had earlier expressed similar sentiments, he appeared Tuesday to have become more pessimistic.

The Clinton Administration, he advised, shouldn’t consider stepping into the area. “It’s the sort of incremental involvement that got us into Vietnam,” he said. “I would rather we stay out altogether.”

Eagleburger, in Southern California to co-chair a conference on United States-Japan relations in Los Angeles on Wednesday, the former ambassador to Yugoslavia said he saw signs long ago that the region was heading for war, but never thought that the fighting would get as bad as it has.

During his last months as George Bush’s secretary of state, Eagleburger railed against U.S. allies who he said “dithered” away the world’s chances to halt the ethnic war among Serbians, Muslims and Croats.

He conceded Tuesday that the Bush Administration was not able to solve the problem, but said it was time for the world to stop thinking that the United States should solve every crisis. “I don’t believe the U.S. is the policeman of the world,” he said.

Having spent the past two months out of the White House, Eagleburger now devotes his time to consulting, teaching and arranging conferences like the one in Los Angeles, which will feature speeches by former President Richard Nixon and former Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu.

Eagleburger said the United States needs to cultivate better relations with Japan, as a new political and economic world order emerges in the aftermath of the Cold War. He said if “serious bilateral problems” aren’t overcome, both countries may lose the opportunity to shape a global economy.

“In the U.S. there is great distrust of what the Japanese tell us,” he said. “And they need to realize that.” Better cooperation, he said, is crucial to the economic and political success of both countries.