Clinton to Insist on U.S. Control of GIs in U.N. Roles

Struggling after two weeks of foreign policy setbacks, President Clinton on Thursday delivered his most thorough defense of that policy but one showing a clear shift away from reliance on the United Nations and multinational peacekeeping efforts.

Although Clinton repeatedly voiced determination to keep the United States involved in international peace efforts--including those in Somalia and Haiti--he also made clear his belief that such efforts should be coordinated more by smaller, regional groups of nations rather than by the U.N. bureaucracy.

And in his strongest language to date, Clinton insisted that all future operations involving U.S. troops will have to be run by an absolutely clear U.S. chain of command.

Only a few months ago, Administration officials were giving serious consideration to a policy that would have allowed U.S. soldiers to operate fully under the command of foreign generals. And, while Clinton had moved away from that idea even before the bloodshed in Somalia, it is clear that the experience there--with its sharp lesson that a president cannot escape accountability for the fate of American soldiers even if they are part of a multinational force--has pushed him further back toward traditional U.S. insistence on retaining command over its forces.

“My experiences in Somalia would make me more cautious about having any Americans in a peacekeeping role where there was any ambiguity at all about what the range of decisions were, which could be made by a command other than an American command with direct accountability to the United States here,” Clinton said.

Appearing in the White House briefing room, where he claimed credit for the release of the American soldier captured in Somalia, Clinton stayed on to answer reporters’ questions about his foreign policy.

He showed an unusual willingness to discuss the subject at length--a notable contrast with past such sessions, in which Clinton has often appeared defensive at foreign policy queries.

Clinton’s willingness to talk seemed to signal a change, as he and his aides come to accept that, despite his emphasis on domestic matters, he must give Americans more of a sense that he is running events overseas rather than the other way around.

His motive in taking more care on foreign affairs is clearly intended in part to protect his all-important domestic agenda: He seems to recognize that if he does not solve the world’s small problems they will explode into bigger, more complicated ones.

International affairs have recently stolen some of the time that Clinton needs to devote to the public promotion of--and private deal-making on--his health care plan, the North American Free Trade Agreement and other proposals.

Amid the uproar over Somalia and Haiti, a planned schedule of high-visibility events to push for those initiatives has been partly eclipsed.

And these foreign affairs flare-ups threaten presidential prestige. “If the public gets an impression of a commander who’s not in command of half of his job, it will affect their perception of his leadership,” said Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian.

Clinton also provided a rare, albeit veiled, glimpse of his thinking about a major event that shaped his approach to foreign policy--the war he did not fight. Clinton did not specifically mention Vietnam by name, but his reference was clear.

“When you’re talking about resolving longstanding political disputes, the United States as the world’s only superpower is no more able to do that for other people than we were 30 years ago, or 20 years ago,” Clinton said.

International efforts to calm unstable parts of the world have to be conducted by “creating a process in which the local people . . . take responsibility for their own future,” not by outside powers trying to impose a solution, Clinton said.

Clinton made clear his foreign policy priorities as he listed the areas in which he believes his Administration has achieved foreign policy successes--Russia, the Middle East and economic relations, particularly with Japan.

Administration officials argued that their policies have succeeded in bolstering Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and that, while the recent moves toward peace in the Middle East were by the Arabs and Israelis themselves, U.S. policies helped create the environment that allowed the parties to move.

On relations with Japan, Clinton aides insisted that they have taken the necessary first steps toward reducing that nation’s persistent trade surplus, although they conceded that they have no guarantee their efforts will work.

On the more immediate events in the Third World, Clinton insisted that he and his team have made a “good beginning” in difficult circumstances.

“We are living in a new world,” Clinton said. “It’s easy for people who don’t have these responsibilities to use words like naive or this, that, or the other thing.

“The truth is we’re living in a new and different world, and we’ve got to try to chart a course that is the right course for the United States to lead, while avoiding things that we cannot do or things that impose costs in human and financial terms that are unacceptable for us.”

While observing diplomatic niceties, Clinton, who once waxed enthusiastic over expanding the role of the United Nations in world affairs, voiced frequent criticism of the international body and a growing caution about U.N. supervision of multinational peacekeeping efforts.

U.S. troops went to Somalia under American command, but the situation changed in May, when the United Nations took over the operation. Since then, the bulk of U.S. forces technically have served under U.N. command.

But remaining under direct American command were some 1,400 troops in the Army’s Quick Reaction Force left in Mogadishu as an emergency force designed to rescue smaller U.N. forces if they got into trouble.

U.S. officials conceded that problems began when U.S. commanders allowed members of the Quick Reaction Force to respond to U.N. requests for help on other assignments, such as providing security patrols and participating in search-and-seizure operations.

After June 5, when militiamen controlled by faction leader Mohammed Farah Aidid ambushed a contingent of Pakistani peacekeepers, killing 24, American units helped in the U.N. hunt to capture Aidid, alienating him in the process.

“Now, to be fair, our troops in Somalia were under an American commander,” the President said. “But because we got a general charge from the U.N. to try to arrest people suspected of being involved in the killing of the Pakistani soldiers, not every tactical decision had to be cleared here” through the U.S. command structure.

As a result, he said, some of the troops went beyond their original mission.

In the future, Clinton suggested, the United States will try to shift more of the responsibility of peacekeeping to regional groupings--an idea that he first floated in his speech last month to the U.N. General Assembly.

In Somalia, Clinton said, he believes that the lead role should be played by other African leaders.

The same idea has been behind Clinton’s insistence in recent weeks that, if the parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina ever agree to a peace settlement that would require international monitors, the force should be run by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, not the United Nations.

“I would have a far higher level of confidence” in a NATO operation, he said.

In the meantime, he added, U.N. operations need to be overhauled. “We have got to have that international peacekeeping apparatus far better organized than it is now,” Clinton said. The uproar over Somalia and Haiti over the last two weeks has already shaved about five points off Clinton’s approval rating in some polls.

And even some of the President’s most steadfast allies have been showing concern about weakness that could imperil the rest of his program.

Current U.S. Involvement in U.N. Peacekeeping

Operation and number of U.S. troops:

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Macedonia (begun 1992); UNPROFOR (U.N. Protection Force): 541 troops.

Iraq (begun 1991); UNIKOM (U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission): 15 troops.

Cambodia (begun 1992); UNTAC (U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia): 16 troops.

Haiti (begun in 1993); UNMIH (U.N. Mission in Haiti): 46 troops*.

Western Sahara (begun 1991); MINURSO (U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara): 30 troops.

Sinal in Egypt; Also Beirut (begun 1948); UNTSO (U.N. Truce Supervision Organization): 17 troops.

Somalia (begun 1993); UNOSOM II (U.N. Operation in Somalia): 5,300 troops.**

* Expected to increase to 600

** Expected to increase to more than 11,000

Source: United Nations