Is the U.S. Being Snookered?

Was the NATO ultimatum of three weeks ago aimed at forcing the Bosnian Serbs to move their artillery away from Sarajevo? Or was it aimed at drawing U.S. ground troops into the peacekeeping operation, a longstanding wish of the United Nations?

The initial ultimatum, at the request of the United Nations, was quickly softened to something more like a standing cease-fire. The Serbs were to be required to entrust to the U.N. Protection Force (UNPROFOR) those artillery weapons that they had not removed. Initial, over-optimistic reports were that only a small fraction of the weapons was still in the exclusionary zone and in need of U.N. military control. Now, however, it appears that hundreds of artillery pieces remain, so many that Gen. Jean Cot, UNPROFOR’s military head, formally requested 10,650 new troops, a near-doubling of the UNPROFOR forces for Bosnia. The U.N. officials claim to need 6,050 troops to monitor the U.S.-sponsored cool-down agreement between the Muslims and Croats of Bosnia and--this they stress--4,600 to preserve the shaky cease-fire in Sarajevo.

As regards the first part of the request, it should be noted that the level of violence has gone down at the flash points of Muslim-Croat confrontation since the agreement was signed. As regards the second part, the proper response is a rebuke. The United Nations should not be wasting its constituents’ money financing the continued presence of Serbian artillery near Sarajevo. Rather than muster a huge new U.N. force to keep the artillery in place, the world body should withdraw its forces from around the artillery and NATO should commence destroying it from the air. NATO has insisted that the Russian presence does not cancel the ultimatum, and it should not. If the bombing threat again grows acute, the Russians may easily bring further pressure on the Serbs to comply. After all, the Russians have already endorsed compliance.

It was outrageous for Cot to accuse the United States of a lack of courage for not sending ground troops to Sarajevo to help him pull the last teeth out of the ultimatum. If the policing of the Muslim-Croat accord were the sole cause for the request, he might have a point. Clearly, however, he has merely included that matter as a cover for his real request. Cot should support the air strikes. If he does not, the failure of nerve is his, not President Clinton’s.