European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 4, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday May 4, 1994 commentary 1 the stars and stripes Page 15 to m Harry g. Summers damned if you do damned if you done to. When it. Comes to Bosnia that a the horns of the dilemma upon which president Clinton finds himself impaled. From conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh on the right to political cartoonist Herb lock on the left Clinton is being castigated for not taking sides in the bosnian civil War. Yet the moment he does the United states ceases to be part of the peacekeeping process and instead becomes part of the problem it ostensibly is trying to solve. A a that a the message that longtime peacekeeper Ian Douglas a retired Canadian brigadier general brought to the . Air Force Academy recently As a fellow panellist in the Ira c. Eaker distinguished lecture on National defense policy. Now stationed in Liberia As the senior adviser to the . Special representative Douglas began his peacekeeping experiences 37 years ago with the Force in Cyprus. Also he was chief of staff of the . Peacekeeping Mission in Central America charged with de mobilizing the nicaraguan contras. A peace cannot be enforced by Force of arms a emphasized Douglas. A it can Only be gained by political discussions and compromises resulting in agreements from All concerned. The first offensive round that is fired by the peacekeeping Force causes the peaceful process to end arid the problem then reverts Back to a much earlier and violent stage with the . Now on one Side or another. A a Somalia. Might Well fall into that category where the use of offensive , Force disrupted the peace process Cycle and caused not Only a slowing Down of the process but indeed saw the . Force becoming part of the the United states should know that not Only from its bitter experiences in Mogadishu a where18 . Soldiers died in a vain attempt to capture somalian warlord Gen. Most med Farrah aided a but also but from its earlier experiences in Lebanon. In october 1983, 241 . Servicemen were killed after the United states abandoned its impartiality and took sides in the civil War there. To his credit president Clinton has tried to avoid that trap. A a a / a a v a a a / a i would remind the serbs that we have taken no action a none a through nato and with the support of the . To try to win military Victory for their Adversa lies a he said april 14. . Efforts he said were aimed at getting the serbs a to Honor the . Rules and to encourage them to do what they say they wish to do which is to engage in and he repeated that stand during his april 20 news conference. But rather than applaud his perspicacity critics across the political spectrum have condemned his Pupil Lani mity for not intervening on the Side of the besieged bosnian at Gorade and elsewhere. They could not see the Fine line Between defensive action to protect the , and Nail peacekeepers and offensive action on the Side of one of the warring parties. Yet that distinction is critical if the United states is to avoid becoming just another combatant in the bosnian civil War. The solution proposed by Clinton on april 20 is to continue to avoid taking offensive action against the serbs by making the reaction to their aggression a clearly defensive measure. That would be done by expanding Sarajevo Model defensive perimeters around the Muslim Safe areas. That Model requires the removal of the serbian siege guns out of Range of such Safe areas or their placement under , control. Violations of these terms would trigger an immediate defensive reaction by nato air strikes a a a 1 _ a. While Clinton a solution provides for the impartiality necessary to broker a peace settlement ins later response to questions was anything but impartial. He made it Clear that lie thought the serbs were the Vil. Lains and while that May be True it hardly encourages the peace process that Clinton emphasized was amen cars primary reason for becoming involved. The tendency to demonize our opponents is one reason America is not Well suited Lor peacekeeping operations. Perhaps because of our Puritan heritage we lend to turn Conri its into morality plays categorizing one Side As evil incarnate and the other the epitome of goodness and niceness. \ Clinton needs to resist the Siren Call to take sides in the bosnian civil War. Not Only would that sound the death Knell for the peace process but As John Quincy Adams warned in 1821 about . Involvement in an earlier bal Kan crisis America a would involve herself beyond the Power of extraction in All the wars of interest and in Trigue of individual avarice envy and ambition which assume the colors and usurp the standards of Freedom. She might become the dict Atress of the ,. Quot a. \. A a. A c los Angelos Tringa a it s the first great nazi crime in world War ii was the terror bombing of Rotterdam on May 14, 1940. The Luftwaffe destroyed the City Center and killed 900 people. The world shocked called it the rape of Rotterdam. The serbian assault on Gorade is a crime of similar character. In recent weeks hundreds of serbian mortars and heavy guns and 60 tanks fired at Point Blank Range into that Small bosnian City More than 700 people have died. In 1940, the anti Hitler forces did not yet have the Means to Stop the nazis. In 1994, there is no such excuse. Nato has overwhelming military Power in Europe it has not been used to Stop the serbian aggression because nato governments were indifferent to the Slaughter Blind to its consequences or incompetent in the use of Power. Comparison of today s serbian leaders with the nazis always brings the objection that the serbs Are not a menace on the same scale. True even the greater Serbia they want would not be anything like the threat that nazi Germany was. But in other respects the analogy is Apt Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and the bosnian serbian leaders Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic Are gripped by hatred a psychopathic hatred one has to think. They have no compunction in slaughtering the civilians of Gorade because those people Are of a different religion muslims. To the serbian leaders they Are what the nazis called jews unt Ermons Chen. No one since Josef Goebbels the inventor of the big lie has covered up killing with lies As a Brazen As those uttered almost daily by the serbian leaders. When nato aircraft carried out pinprick raids last month on serbian forces shelling Gorade a spokesman for Karadzic said that a no shelling of Gorade had taken Karadzic said that Gorade was a mostly serbian City its pre War population was in fact 70 percent mus Lini a. Last month Karadzic said a a i he Serbi. An Side unilaterally proclaims peace in Gorade. With this the Gorade crisis comes to an As he spoke the serbian forces intensified their shelling. Even the russians gave up on serbian leaders As irredeemable liars. One of the aspects of Anthony Lewis the worlds response to serbian Aggras Sion has been the Gullible performance of the top , official on the scene Yasu Shi Akashi again and again he has fallen for transparent serbian lies. On april 17, after meeting with Karadzic Akashi said a Cdr Karadzic and 1 have agreed a cease fire in and around Gorade should become effective Immy. Dia Cly. We agreed that forces should be withdrawn from the front lines As far As possible As soon As possible a the serbian assault of course continued. When serbian forces failed to meet the terms of the nato ultimatum to Stop shelling Gorade and withdraw their guns three Kilometres from the City Akashi again blocked nato commanders plans for immediate bombing once again he relied on false serbian promises of Early compliance. When president Clinton finally decided to do something about Gorade he proposed that the ultimatum be enforced by nato airstrikes without seeking . Approval. But that part of his plan was blocked by objections from other nato governments. What serbian forces have done at go razed a the shelling of an essentially undefended City the deliberate targeting of hospitals and refugee centers a is a straightforward War crime. But does the West really care is it serious about Stop Ping the crime that remains Uncertain. If we Are serious one thing we should do is Speed up preparations for prosecution of the War criminals Mladic his principal of filers Karadzic and Milosevic should be put on notice that their actions at Gorade Are Prina Facie evidence of crimes. I heir assets overseas should be seized. Milosevic is not exempt because he is in Belgrade. The guns and tanks at Gorade were not made by the bosnian serbs they come from the yugoslav army. Similarly Serbia should not be exempt from the nato ultimatum. Sources of Supply for the aggressors should be prime targets for airstrikes. Surely by now the West should be Awe to see the Clanger of letting genocidal aggression in Europe go unchecked. Or is our View distorted by the fact that the victims arc muslims in his last forthcoming Book the late Richard Nixon said the civilized world would hot have permitted the horror to go on so Long if the victims had been a predominantly Christian or Gorade after All the other cruelty makes it certain that the serbian nation will Bear the stigma of the demagogues who led the aggression As Germany was marked by the nazis. But there Are no churchillian heroes in the West Only weaklings who resisted too Little too Natiw York Titos a a
