TV REVIEW : ABC’s ‘Peacekeepers’ Calls U.N. on Carpet Over Bosnia

By any account, the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been a profound and tragic failure, and the blame can be spread around. ABC News, with its Peter Jennings-hosted report, “The Peacekeepers: How the U.N. Failed in Bosnia,” doesn’t spread it around at all. Jennings and company fix blame squarely on the shoulders of the U.N. military commanders and a peacekeeping strategy whose architects seem unacquainted with the term force .

The report explores three chapters in this sorry story of post-Cold War war. The first, the April, 1994, Serbian attacks on the designated “safe zone” of Gorazde turned from taunts to all-out war because of the ineffectual U.N. military response. Adm. Leighton Smith, head of NATO air forces, tells Jennings that despite his unit’s readiness to swiftly respond to constant Serb shelling of civilians, his boss--Gen. Michael Rose--never gave orders for a full attack.

Rose is shown either dismissing early accounts of Serb terror, criticizing outgunned Bosnia militias or being caught by Jennings in outright falsehoods about everything from the number of Gorazde dead to his force’s non-response to the Serb offensive.

Rose’s failure was compounded by the November, 1994, Serb assault on another “safe haven,” Bihac. Audiotapes of phone calls between Rose and Serb officials indicate those officials felt free to insult and talk down to the U.N. commander and that, by this time, the U.N. wasn’t taken seriously.

Perhaps most tragically, the report shows how Serb forces routinely turn back U.N. relief convoys headed for areas in need. Former convoy leader Larry Hollingworth shrugs with frustration at the thwarted humanitarian effort.

What Jennings’ report does not do is examine how Rose’s miserable leadership was tied to a complex history of U.N. squabbles over peacekeeping strategies and how U.N. politics constantly thwarts a coherent Western response to the Bosnia genocide.

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“The Peacekeepers: How the U.N. Failed in Bosnia” airs tonight at 8 on KABC-TV Channel 7.