U.S. Retaliation Not Ruled Out, Clinton Says

The United States warned Saturday that it stands ready to support NATO air strikes in Bosnia-Herzegovina’s civil war and branded the shelling of a crowded Sarajevo marketplace “a deliberate criminal attack.”

“We rule nothing out,” President Clinton said of possible U.S. responses to the massacre.

The President ordered a stepped-up role for the U.S. military in evacuating the wounded. In a written statement, he asked that the United Nations “urgently investigate this incident and clearly identify those who are guilty.”

“There can be no possible military justification for an attack against a marketplace where women, men and children of the city were pursuing their everyday lives,” Clinton said.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher, using particularly harsh language, called the action “a deliberate criminal attack designed to kill large numbers of innocent civilians.”

He kept alive the possibility of sending jets from the United States and other NATO nations on raids over military positions--but only if responsibility for Saturday’s attack can be determined.

Despite the sharp words, there was no firm indication that the United States and others in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would ultimately respond with force. U.S. leaders, in particular, have expressed willingness to retaliate with air strikes in the past but have taken no action.

Under the terms of NATO’s potential involvement, no air strikes can be launched without the approval of the U.N. Security Council. And Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has stipulated that ground forces be reinforced in advance of any use of air power that could be expected to spur retaliation.

Other U.S. officials took note of the failure to act as they reacted to the carnage Saturday.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said that while the massacre was tragic, it was “not surprising in light of the international community’s utter lack of will and principle in responding to nearly two years of aggression against Bosnia.”

And Rep. Frank McCloskey (D-Ind.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, called the attack “a major turning point and an escalation in the war in Bosnia.”

Urging Clinton to support the bombing of Serbian artillery positions, he asked, “How many people have to suffer death, maiming, destruction and dispersal from their homes before Bill Clinton and the West move ahead and do the right thing?”

In the attack, at least 66 people were killed and more than 200 others wounded when a single large shell struck a busy marketplace. It was the bloodiest attack on the ravaged citizenry of Sarajevo in the 22 months of war there.

Although U.S. officials were careful to avoid fixing blame, they sought to squelch any suggestion that Bosnian Muslims had fired the shell to discredit their Serbian enemies.

A senior Administration official said the President’s decision to use American aircraft to evacuate wounded Sarajevans demonstrates a new readiness to step up U.S. involvement.

While U.S. aircraft have been used, reluctantly, for past medical evacuations, Clinton’s order to Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was seen as a more aggressive stance.

Defense Department spokesman Dennis Klauer said Saturday night that the first plane was being dispatched from Rhein Main Air Base in Germany in time to reach Sarajevo at first light today.

While the statements from the White House and State Department suggested growing impatience, the Pentagon made it clear that it is not about to dispatch ground troops without full support from the warring parties.

“The United States is not ready, NATO is not prepared to send armies into Bosnia . . . against the will of the people,” Defense Secretary William J. Perry said in Munich, Germany, where he was attending a conference on security issues.

But Perry said that the United States remains willing to “consider stronger action, including air strikes.”

Times staff writer Art Pine in Munich contributed to this story.