Clinton Tells Bosnians to Seize Peace, Praises GIs

President Clinton on Monday urged Bosnians to choose the course of peace as they struggle to rebuild their war-ravaged society, and he praised U.S. troops stationed here for helping to restore civility in the Balkans.

In a whirlwind holiday tour of this global hot spot, Clinton had tough talk for Bosnian leaders before addressing politicians and children. In that speech, he reiterated a sentiment he said he had expressed privately to the squabbling leaders--that U.S. peacekeeping is not infinite and that the world “rightfully expects that you do your part.”

“You have seen what war has wrought, you know what peace can bring,” he later exhorted an audience of 500 or so at the National Theater. “Seize the change before you. The world is watching. The world is with you. The choice is yours.”

Whether lining the street along which his motorcade passed through their battle-scarred neighborhoods or rising to their feet in prolonged applause at the historic hall, Sarajevans gave the president a warm response.

This was Clinton’s first speech to Bosnians since the United States launched its major international peacekeeping push for this region more than two years ago--a push that culminated in the Dayton, Ohio, peace accords. Clinton said he was “surprised by the outpouring” of gratitude that he received for his role in ending the bloodshed that claimed 200,000 lives in the region--most of them civilians.

The president’s trip came just four days after he announced that he would suspend a deadline for pulling U.S. troops out of Bosnia-Herzegovina and instead will keep them there until the country is stable enough so it will not fall back into war.

Clinton said en route home to Washington on Air Force One that he had found his lightning Bosnian visit deeply satisfying because it put a “human face” for him on the situation in the Balkans and the U.S. mission there.

On Monday afternoon, he, his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, received a close-up view of the lives of American soldiers in Bosnia as they visited Tuzla, the muddy headquarters of U.S. forces here.

“Bosnia is no longer the powder keg at the heart of Europe because of you, and I can’t thank you enough,” Clinton told several hundred of the 8,500 U.S. troops now based in Bosnia.

He stressed that he wants American soldiers to stay in Bosnia because their peacemaking efforts are succeeding.

“We gave you a mission, and you delivered,” Clinton said. “So when you go to bed tonight, thank God you were given the chance to do something like this.”

Foul weather cut short Clinton’s time in Tuzla. But the president and his family still spent 3 1/2 hours greeting U.S. troops, posing for photographs with them and getting a glimpse of how Americans live in the area. The president and his family also met with some war orphans who sang to them in the local language.

While Clinton clearly had top billing on this swift trip, his entourage included other American notables. The president’s Republican opponent in the 1996 election, former Sen. Bob Dole, and Dole’s wife, Elizabeth, who heads the American Red Cross, accompanied Clinton.

U.S. forces here gave the Doles and the Clintons an enthusiastic welcome, which was also extended to the other dignitaries on the trip: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and 10 members of Congress, both supporters and opponents of the president’s Bosnia policy.

Roughly half of the soldiers in Bosnia are already on their second six- or eight-month tours, but many expressed support for the president’s decision to extend the peacekeeping mission here, underscoring Clinton’s view that their efforts are succeeding.

“As long as it keeps these people from fighting and killing each other, I’m all for it,” said Petty Officer Cynthia Shattuck, 22. “It’s exciting to see this place come to life.”

Clinton first visited Tuzla in January 1996; his wife and daughter also went there last year. But neither the president nor his family had been in Sarajevo before, because the Bosnian capital was considered too unsafe. Thus, the president’s visit assumed large symbolic importance Monday.

In a signal of the new safety in this city, once infamous for its deadly sniper fire, the president and his entourage drove down the main boulevard. They passed not only thousands of flag-waving children but also countless shell-pocked and crumbled buildings.

Still, even amid the ruin wrought upon Sarajevo in nearly four years of the most deadly combat that Europe has seen since World War II were small signs of recovery and progress: There was glass installed in most windows, and there was abundant construction underway.

In a particularly poignant moment, a guide explained to Clinton the meaning behind rose-shaped splotches on the sidewalk. They are indentations left by mortar shells that Sarajevans later filled with red paint as a memorial to the many killed during wartime bombardment of the city’s streets.

At one point, the president and his group stopped in an upscale cafe to chat with nine young Bosnians. Clinton was clearly impressed with their answer when they were asked the No. 1 thing the United States could do to help their country. “Stay,” was their unanimous reply.

That sentiment was echoed by Farouk Sabanovic, a wounded war victim who was introduced at the ceremonies at the National Theater.

“The evil of the war still lives here,” Sabanovic said, adding that the continued presence of U.S. forces is the only way to ensure that the bloodshed is not renewed.

Despite the seeming support here for American involvement, Clinton’s decision to extend the stay of U.S. troops has already encountered opposition in Congress. And one member of the delegation seemed unswayed by his visit.

“It’s a mission without clear or obtainable objectives,” Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said. “I’m concerned we’re going to be here for a generation.”

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this report.