Gingrich Proposes U.S.-Led Force for Bosnia

Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), trying to hone his foreign-policy image after emphasizing domestic issues in his first six months as House Speaker, suggested Tuesday that the United States should put together a massive military force to prevent rebel Serb forces from overrunning Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The United States and its allies cannot allow themselves to be pushed around by “a small band of barbarians,” he said in a speech in which he also heaped scorn on U.N. military operations and asserted that America is the only power capable of world leadership.

He said the Balkans conflict has interfered with the far more important task of conducting a rational national debate over the U.S. position in the post-Cold War world. But he said there are frightening implications in the Bosnia debacle.

“This is the one thing that concerns me about Bosnia,” Gingrich said. “When directly challenged, we must be victorious. The notion of a small band of barbarians directly taking on the civilized democracies and winning is a threat to the entire survival and stability of this planet. And we should respond to it with whatever level of coercion is ultimately required to communicate the fact that we are serious people.”

Gingrich, who has not advocated the use of U.S. ground troops in the Balkans before, did not try to spell out the military implications of his argument. But he said the United States maintains its military Establishment to put muscle behind its foreign policy.

“You do not need today’s defense budget to defend the United States,” he said. “You need today’s defense budget to lead the world. If you’re prepared to give up leading the world, you need a much smaller defense budget. Then we just have to balance off our former allies and watch them devour the various continents and try to stay aloof.”

As for the United Nations, Gingrich asked sardonically: “Would any of you voluntarily allow your neighborhood to be protected by the U.N.? You can’t ask soldiers to train to be hostages. You can’t ask soldiers to ride around in white vehicles or wear blue helmets.”

The speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies was designed to add a foreign-policy dimension to positions in Gingrich’s book “To Renew America.”