Pressure Builds in Congress for U.S. to Lift Arms Embargo on Bosnia : Balkans: Daylong debate in Senate pits call for unilateral action against those who want NATO’s support.

Momentum built quickly in Congress on Thursday for lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia-Herzegovina, with many lawmakers calling on President Clinton to break with the United Nations and take unilateral steps to arm the embattled forces of the Bosnian government.

During an impassioned daylong debate in the Senate, major divisions emerged between lawmakers who want Clinton to lift the U.N.-imposed embargo immediately and unilaterally and those who, like Clinton, said it should be lifted only if the NATO allies agree.

A bipartisan group of senators led by Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) introduced legislation instructing Clinton to end U.S. compliance with the arms embargo imposed in 1991 on all the fighting factions in the former Yugoslavia. The embargo has worked to the advantage of the Bosnian Serbs because they obtain arms from Serbia, which took possession of most Yugoslav army weapons when the country dissolved.

At the same time, Congress remained deeply divided over Clinton’s proposals for new allied air strikes. Some lawmakers said the proposals did not go far enough, while others warned that the escalation could push the United States into a long and possibly disastrous military intervention in Bosnia’s bloody ethnic strife.

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Clinton’s decision to press for expanded NATO air strikes moved the United States into “a very high risk” position in which the allies must be willing to respond forcefully if the Serbs choose to escalate the conflict.

“We have to be willing to escalate too . . . escalate all the way to Serbia if need be,” Nunn said.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher later rejected for the time being the idea of strategic bombing in Serbia itself, but said it “certainly can be considered in the future.”

Christopher’s threat and the language he used earlier in the day in an appearance on Capitol Hill referring to Serbian ambitions to create a “greater Serbia” through military conquest appear to mark a step up in Administration rhetoric to prepare the American people for the likelihood of greater U.S. involvement and for American casualties in the Balkan war.

That effort came as two NATO allies appeared to be backing Clinton’s proposal for expanded air power. Christopher also said France had lined up in support, and German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, in Washington to see Christopher, said the proposals were important. “Basically, of course, we support the American position,” he said.

The arms embargo legislation would be much stronger than the resolution the Senate approved 87 to 9 in January urging Clinton to lift the ban. The new legislation, if also approved by the House, would require him to do so, but its immediate effect would be largely symbolic because it was offered as an amendment to a bankruptcy reform bill that has yet to be introduced in the House.

Although there is virtually no chance the legislation will be passed any time soon, it would be significant as an expression of congressional sentiment on the worsening Bosnia crisis.

Debate over the measure divided the lawmakers who, torn between fears of standing by while another Holocaust happens or slipping into another Vietnam, could agree on only one point: President Clinton, speaker after speaker said, needs to show more leadership and be more forceful in trying to persuade the NATO allies to agree to lift the arms embargo for the Bosnians.

“The Clinton Administration has no idea of what it wants to do or how to do it,” charged Utah Republican Orrin Hatch. “It has hesitated, vacillated and equivocated.” He said Clinton must “step up to the mark . . . and lift the embargo now because the moment is right.”

“Nothing will change,” added Dole, “unless America takes the lead.”

Clinton, in announcing his intention to push for expanded NATO military action in Bosnia, said Wednesday that he would like to lift the embargo but would not unilaterally begin supplying arms to the Bosnian Muslims because doing so would could undermine international compliance with other embargoes against outlaw states.

“If we ignore a United Nations embargo because we think it has no moral basis, or even any legal validity, but everyone else feels contrary, then what is to stop our United Nations allies from ignoring embargoes that we like, such as the embargo against Saddam Hussein?” Clinton asked.

While saying they also supported the lifting of the embargo, leading Democrats came to Clinton’s defense by arguing that Dole’s amendment is ill-timed and could undercut the President’s position in critical negotiations with the NATO allies over the next few days.

“If we lift the embargo today, they (the Serbs) will do everything they can” to overrun more Bosnian territory before “the arms can be delivered” to the Muslims, warned Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)

But it was also clear from their comments that even some of the President’s defenders seemed to harbor doubts about his handling of the Bosnian crisis so far.

Nunn, who said he had not yet decided whether to vote for Dole’s amendment, voiced concern at what he suggested was the Administration’s apparent lack of a military strategy for Bosnia.

“Air strikes alone, even if we escalate, are not enough,” he said. “Once we start, it is not enough to take step one. . . . We have to think through steps two, three, four and five with our allies. There has to be a strategy, not simply a tactical move.”

The criticism from the Bosnia hawks and doves showed how much work the Administration has to do at home in selling its Bosnia policy. It also reflected a deeper concern that by piecemeal actions, the United States is sliding into the Bosnian morass, with even the fiercest congressional hawks saying they support arming the Bosnians.