Military Intervention in Bosnia High on the Agenda : Summit: Some urge using long-debated NATO air strikes to lift siege of Sarajevo. Others counsel caution.

The thorny issue of military intervention in Bosnia pushed its way high onto the agenda of the first day of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit here Monday.

As a communique was being drafted that would declare the organization’s readiness to act against Serbian rebels in Bosnia-Herzegovina, some NATO leaders urged that the alliance employ long-debated air strikes to lift the siege of Sarajevo, while others counseled caution.

President Clinton had set the tone of the debate in the morning by warning that any threats of intervention to relieve the “strangulation” of the Bosnian capital and other besieged areas had to be more than mere words. “The alliance must be prepared to act,” the President told his NATO colleagues.

Referring to the declaration to be issued at the close of the summit today, Clinton added: “If we are going to reassert this warning, it cannot be seen as mere rhetoric. Those who attack Sarajevo must understand that we are serious.

“In voting for this language, I expect (NATO) to take action when necessary.”

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner had told the assembled leaders, “NATO has done everything which the United Nations have asked of it in the former Yugoslavia and we have done so rapidly and efficiently.”

The language concerning Bosnia in the draft of the final summit declaration repeated NATO’s pledge that the alliance stood ready “to carry out air strikes in order to prevent the strangulation of Sarajevo, the safe areas and other threatened areas.”

It was unclear whether NATO might consider targeting the battling Bosnian Croats and Muslims as well as the Serbs besieging Sarajevo.

NATO leaders had hoped to downplay the Bosnian issue at this summit and concentrate instead on the “Partnership for Peace”--the offer to East European countries to link up eventually with NATO.

But the French, who have the largest contingent of troops in the former Yugoslav federation, argued that the Bosnian issue be raised. The United Nations’ overall commander in the Balkans, French Gen. Jean Cot, has complained that he lacks authority from U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to defend soldiers engaged in humanitarian efforts.

The French were supported by Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, who after meeting Clinton on Sunday night, declared: “We must seriously consider whether to carry out air strikes. I think more and more countries agree that we should do this. We must give a signal.”

But British Prime Minister John Major, who has often urged caution in the use of outside force in Bosnia, declared Monday morning that NATO should consider what “realistic help” could be given to “keep Bosnians alive and encourage the peace process.”

But the Germans and Dutch repeated Clinton’s assertion that Sarajevo must not be allowed to be strangled by the Serbian siege.

The issue of military intervention has been a touchy one for the nations of NATO, an organization that has been accused of dragging its feet over assistance to Bosnia’s beleaguered Muslims.

Woerner, sensitive to charges that NATO is a paper tiger with no real role in the post-Cold War era, has indicated his willingness to back NATO’s use of air strikes and commitment of ground troops to police a cease-fire in Bosnia in the event of a peace settlement.

But NATO maintains that any action must be approved by the U.N. Security Council.

Those in favor of military intervention in Bosnia say that it will save the Muslim community, defend established national boundaries, deny aggressors the fruits of their conquest and keep other countries in Eastern Europe from practicing “ethnic cleansing.”

Opponents say that air strikes will only increase the bloodshed in the former Yugoslav republic, kill innocent civilians and risk retaliation against the Western soldiers currently serving under U.N. helmets to protect aid convoys.

And in the end, they say, bombing will not stop the fighting.