Iran-Contra II, the GOP Claims; Balderdash, Say the Democrats : Foreign policy: The Clinton administration showed its savvy, not corruption, in the Bosnian arms deal.

Day after day, the horrors of the Bosnian genocide become more evident. War crimes investigators on an archaeological dig through death unearth skeletons, rotted bones, grisly human remains from mass graves. Survivors and witnesses tell horrifying tales of torture and escape.

While the search for clues about the scope of the massacres of Muslims continues in Bosnia, politicians in Washington are quietly busying themselves with a different kind of search. Seizing on revelations of a “secret” plan by the Clinton administration to arm the Bosnian Muslims back in 1994, Republicans now are digging for dirt. Congress is contemplating holding as many as six hearings on this arms issue. That’s almost as many hearings as were held last year on the far more important question of whether to send American troops to Bosnia. Some GOP members, in a fit of manufactured hysteria, are even likening the story to the Iran-Contra scandal. The White House says it won’t release the full internal report on this arms matter to Congress. Invoking its power of executive privilege, the administration is offering instead to brief the Hill on the contents of the report. In this politically charged election atmosphere, conspiracy theorists no doubt will yell “cover-up”

What’s all the fuss about? To understand, you need to rewind the tape.

In 1994, the war in Bosnia was in full tilt. The Serbs enjoyed a huge military advantage and showed no appetite for compromise. NATO was exhausted. America was frustrated. Against that backdrop, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman sought Washington’s advice on a plan for Iran to send arms through Croatia to the Muslim-led Bosnian government. Washington, anxious to do something to change the balance of power on the ground, took the position that it had no opinion on the matter--a diplomatic way of saying, “go ahead.”

An arms pipeline from Tehran to Bosnia opened that year. The effect was a successful Croatian offensive against the Serbs, which, coupled with NATO airstrikes, changed the military equation in late 1994. Ultimately, the Serbs, no longer emboldened by battlefield gains, agreed to sit down at the bargaining table in Dayton with the Muslims and Croats. The rest, as they say, is history.

Iran-Contra II? Nice try, GOP, but not even close.

Yes, by sanctioning arms traffic from Iran to Bosnia, the Clinton administration undercut its own policy of vehement opposition to the United Nations embargo. But before the Republicans cry foul, let’s remember that at the time they were pleading with the president to arm the Muslims. Their idea of helping was to lift the embargo unilaterally and unleash an uncontrolled flow of arms into the region, thereby increasing the risk to European troops on the ground. With Iran in charge, at least there was only a single spigot to worry about. Moreover, Tehran was hellbent on supporting its Muslim brethren with or without Washington’s blessings.

By effectively giving Croatia a green light to funnel weapons to the Muslims, we strengthened the military marriage between Iran and Bosnia, which would cause us headaches later on. But it was worth the price.

When it came to the Dayton peace talks, we insisted on the expulsion of all foreign forces from Bosnia, including those same Iranians who were partly responsible for the survival of the Muslims. Bosnia wanted them to stay. We wanted them to go. It has taken considerable pressure, but, according to U.S. officials, the Iranian units we worried about most, the Revolutionary Guard fighters, have, for the most part, left.

Turning a blind eye to Iranian arms shipments to Croatia did not, according to administration lawyers, break any laws. There was no direct American transfer of weapons. What happened doesn’t even fully qualify as a “covert” action.

The biggest effect of the gambit was, of course, the peace dividend. In the end, the arming of the Muslims played a role in getting all sides to sit down and negotiate a peaceful solution.

Critics of Clinton’s foreign policy sought, in the early days, to caricature the administration as weak and ineffective. Now comes proof of the administration’s ability to carry out a relatively sophisticated “wink and nod” policy with intended consequences. A little realpolitik from the gang some thought couldn’t shoot straight.

Will the peace last? No one can say. But one thing is certain. American policy is responsible for creating the only real breathing space Bosnia has known in more than three years.

As for the GOP critics, Congress is unlikely to find sinister behavior. More likely, it will conclude that what the Clinton administration did was not illegal. The real crime may be that relations between Congress and the executive branch are so strained that candor, consultation and cooperation are near impossible. That’s worth addressing if one is looking for evil.