Continuing Crisis in Bosnia

The atrocities in Bosnia are daily headlines. The Senate has voted to lift the arms embargo against the Bosnians, but it probably will not take effect.

I have two questions. One question is political, one is practical.

First, the political question. What is the real agenda of Britain, France and Germany? They make strong threats, indict the Serb leaders, etc., but stall every intent to really solve the problem. Does Western Europe really want to eliminate the Bosnians? There has to be a very deep political undercurrent that the U.S. press has not discovered or at least not addressed.

Second, the practical question. Militant Muslims [are everywhere], from Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran to the emerging republics of the old Soviet Union, and even New York. Where are these fearless fighters when they are needed by the Muslims of Bosnia?

Muslim countries have enormous supplies of arms and trained fighters. Bosnia urgently needs them.

The importance of Bosnia goes much beyond the borders of the old Yugoslavia. The whole reputation of NATO and the United Nations is at stake.

JOHN E. LOVE

La Verne

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* On President Clinton’s watch as “leader of the free world,” humanity has suffered one of the most disgusting episodes of hate and aggression, and he has stood by.

Arm the Bosnians. Remove the U.N. forces and give these people a right to defend themselves. Once the U.N. is out, why would U.S. forces need to go in?

I realize that it may be futile to appeal to a man who has sat idle so far. But I hope and pray that maybe one day soon he will wake up and realize that it is time to take action. This may not be an “American” problem, but it is a problem of human dignity.

ABDUL K. HUSSAIN

Tustin

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* This is a bad play about Bosnia in three acts.

ACT 1: News media show horrible pictures of the slaughter in Bosnia. Blood in the street, bodies strewn about, mothers with dirty, crying babies.

ACT 2: The pressure mounts. Congress, the President, TV, newspapers, news magazines, political cartoonists and columnists, with much wringing of hands, saying we are morally bankrupt if we don’t do something to stop the insanity. A daily onslaught to force our participation with ground troops and air power.

ACT 3: The first troops hit the ground. Hundreds of people dying, theirs and ours. Aircraft drop napalm and burn civilians to death; women and children afire running in the streets. Body bags pile up.

Students at home demonstrate. “Hell, no, we won’t go,” they shout. “We are killing thousands of Serbs,” they cry. “Stop the war,” they screech. The news media take up the banner of “Peace, not war,” the headline scream.

The President and Congress feel the pressure and stop the fighting. Army, Air Force and Marines barely escape. No one wins, nothing is changed.

Everyone smiles and says, “Never again. Never again.”

BOB OLSEN

Hemet

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* At daybreak, I read the caption for The Times front-page picture: “War-weary refugees . . . bus to . . . Zenica.”

No, you are wrong. Those pictured are my distant cousins riding to Dachau and Buchenwald for their ultimate ethnic cleansing.

Wait! I and my countrymen and women from Santa Monica and Santa Fe and Utica and Somerville are on that bus. We are standing, invisible in the aisles. The fare was cheap: Abandon a refugee, ride “free.”

DAVID LEANSE

Malibu