PERSPECTIVE ON BOSNIA : Myths Stand in the Way of Peace : Sound-bite coverage of this complex war has persuaded too many Americans that nothing can be done.

The United States is finally taking the lead in creating a framework for peace in the Balkans. Unburdened by historical connections to the region, we have the credibility to make things happen. However, in order to do this, we must first accurately understand the past.

In the rush to comprehend an unfamiliar region, U.S. leaders and the media have reduced key issues to easily digestible sound bites. They have a convincing ring but are incorrect, deceptive and impede developing a clear outlook on the Balkans.

Here are some of the most commonly heard myths that need to be set straight:

* “They’ve been fighting each other for 1,000 years” justifies the lack of Western effort by suggesting that any response would be useless. This myth’s historical “fact” is curiously ahistorical: Western Europeans fought each other (off and on) for 1,000 years. In just the 75 years preceding 1945, the Germans waged three wars against the French. Yet the Germans and the French are no more preordained by that bloody history to murder each other than are the Serbs, the Bosnians and the Croatians once they find a common interest in making and keeping peace. History is not destiny.

* “There’s no solution that will hold” supposes that everyone in the former Yugoslavia is hopelessly driven by emotion and ethnic nationalism that will undermine any agreement or treaty. While this is true of some people, and certainly some leaders, most are amenable to diplomatic or military persuasion. For example, many Bosnian Serbs fled to avoid becoming involved in making war on their neighbors. Others will either tire of war and sacrifice, accept a deal with which they can live or be subdued by brutal force. The Lebanese war seemed just as intractable but it did end.

* “They’re all bad guys” suggests that the West not care about the outcome in the Balkans, since all the parties are war criminals. Reality is more complicated and nuanced. While each group has committed war crimes, in Bosnia, the Serbs are the main aggressors; they have committed almost all of the ethnic cleansing, allowed their troops and irregulars to rape and pillage and intentionally shelled civilians in cities like Sarajevo. But there have been Serbs who refused to take part in depredations against their non-Serb neighbors. The fighting between Croats and Muslims in 1993 was vicious and followed no rules. As the Croat and Bosnian armies have become more professional, they have tried to control and discipline their troops and reduce human rights violations. Recent Croatian excesses in Krajina demonstrate that instilling a professional military ethic is not always quickly and successfully achieved.

* “The Muslims are innocent victims” is the siren song for most detractors of current U.S. policy. The Muslims are clearly more sinned against than sinning, but when the Croats and Muslims were fighting two years ago, both sides perpetrated war crimes. The Muslims have learned how to exploit their victim status and play the Western press, admittedly one of the few weapons they have had, and the press often overlooks Muslim faults and misdeeds. In their determination to internationalize the conflict, for example, the Muslims periodically establish their mortars adjacent to U.N. positions; they hope that the Serbs will end up firing on U.N. personnel, which would elicit a U.N. military response and draw the United States in particular into the fighting.

* “The United Nations has accomplished nothing in the Balkans” confuses the goals of the Serbs, Muslims and Croats with the much more limited U.N. goals. The United Nations entered Bosnia not to engage in peacemaking but to help with humanitarian aid under a peacekeeping charter. As there was no peace to keep, the United Nations has provided humanitarian assistance but little else. There has been no real consensus, especially from our European allies, on extending the scope of U.N. actions. In Croatia, the U.N. mandate was to separate the warring factions, assist in the delivery of humanitarian aid, and help in resettlement of the population in Serb breakaway areas of Croatia. Full implementation of that mandate was prevented by the warring parties, not the U.N. leadership.

The Balkan myths are an excuse for inaction. They allow us to feel good about easy, moralistic but unworkable solutions. U.S. policy should not be clouded by myths. It should have one immediate goal: end the fighting. The long-term goal should be to create a stable region. Peace and stability will allow all sides to turn from the past and all the myths associated with it.

We are perhaps now closer to an end to the fighting than ever before. The Croats have won a great victory in the Krajina and the Serbs are clearly on the defensive, but the moral wrongs that have taken place in the Balkans cannot be righted on the battlefield. We must go beyond this by building a bridge into the future. An end to hostilities and accepting reality, not myths, is the first step.