Lawmakers Balk at Air Strikes Against Serbs

President Clinton won strong congressional backing Tuesday for a lifting of the arms embargo on Bosnian Muslims, but he received tough new warnings from key lawmakers and top military leaders against launching air strikes against Serbian positions in Bosnia.

The developments came in a meeting nearly three hours long between the President and his top national security advisers and key House and Senate leaders in which lawmakers were described as “very sharply divided” over the question of military action.

Meanwhile, the nation’s second-highest-ranking military officer warned that launching U.S. air strikes against Bosnian Serbs would be a difficult operation that would be likely to embroil the United States in a long-term commitment and risk the loss of U.S. pilots.

Adm. David Jeremiah, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also raised the possibility that the action would increase civilian casualties. It was the first time a member of the Joint Chiefs had issued such warnings publicly about Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The intensity of the sentiment expressed Tuesday appeared likely to limit Clinton’s options--at least for the moment--in his effort to hammer out new measures that would step up pressure against the Serbs to end the fighting in Bosnia.

Earlier, in an attempt to allay concerns about possible U.S. military action, Secretary of State Warren Christopher told lawmakers that the White House would set clear objectives--and lay down a strategy for getting out of the conflict--before approving such operations.

In testimony before a Senate appropriations subcommittee, Christopher also insisted that the Administration would not order increased military action unless it was sure that the operation would enjoy widespread support, both from the American public and among U.S. allies.

Although the President has said that he will announce new measures concerning Bosnia “within the next several days,” some who were at Tuesday’s meeting suggested that he may be forced to postpone any new action and instead give newly imposed U.N. economic sanctions against the Serbs more time to work.

“I think he concludes he’s got a problem,” Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters after the session.

“It is an overwhelming illustration that the buck stops there (at the White House),” declared Biden, who has been among the more vocal members of Congress in urging air strikes.

Biden added, however, that “there’s a consensus, a vast majority (among lawmakers at the meeting), that lifting the embargo was a good thing. . . .”

While noting that the President remained uncommitted during the meeting, Biden said that he firmly believes Clinton “will reach the conclusion that he must lift” the arms embargo on the Bosnians. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) also told reporters after the meeting that he believes Clinton will call for the lifting of the embargo.

The U.N.-imposed embargo prohibiting the sale of arms to Bosnia had been intended as a way to reduce the fighting in former Yugoslavia. Its effect, however, has been to leave the Bosnian Muslims with inadequate weapons, while the Bosnian Serbs, who have the support of the Belgrade government, have been able to circumvent the embargo and carry out what has been called “ethnic cleansing” of the Muslim population in Bosnia.

To lift the embargo would require action by the U.N. Security Council, and it is unclear how members would react to a U.S. proposal.

The White House apparently called the meeting in an effort to begin consultations with Congress early, in hopes of winning full backing from the lawmakers once the President’s policies are in place.

Participants said that White House officials ran through a series of limited options, from waiting for the tightened sanctions to take hold to launching air strikes. Top Administration officials insisted late Tuesday that the President still has not decided what, if any, new measures to recommend. And Clinton confirmed that, saying, “I have not made a final decision yet.”

Questioned by reporters later, the President termed the meeting “fascinating.”

“I must say, after all the work we’ve done on it, the members in there raised some new questions, some new issues and made some interesting arguments,” he said. “It was a good meeting.”

At the same time, the Administration continued its efforts to persuade key U.S. allies, particularly the French and British, to support tougher measures--including possible air strikes--against the Serbs.

Officials said that Christopher spent part of the day on the telephone asking allied foreign ministers where they stand on various options, and the White House said that Clinton was planning to call French President Francois Mitterrand personally.

But support from both the American public and the allies continued to be elusive Tuesday. A poll conducted last weekend by Cable News Network/USA Today/Gallup showed that 62% of Americans oppose U.S. air strikes in Bosnia, with only 30% in favor of them.

And in Brussels, Field Marshal Richard Vincent, chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military committee, joined in Jeremiah’s warning that policy-makers must provide clear objectives before any new military operations can be launched.

Participants in Tuesday’s meeting with the lawmakers indicated that the debate among the congressional leaders was heated and, in one policy-maker’s words, “tumultuous.” Besides the top congressional leaders, the session included members of key foreign policy committees.

“There was no consensus, none whatsoever,” said Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense. “Opinions from ‘A’ to ‘Z,’ ” Murtha said. “I told (Clinton) to stay the hell out of there. I see it as another Vietnam.”

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, agreed. “I don’t think there are easy answers to this,” Nunn said. “There’s a risk in every course you take here, including the status quo.”

Asked if Congress would approve a resolution endorsing air strikes against Serbian artillery, Dole said: “I think it would pass the Senate. I’m not sure about the House.”

Times staff writer Doyle McManus contributed to this article.

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