President Clinton said Friday he was confident the United States could find "a common policy" with hesitant European allies on the next steps to end aggression in the former Yugoslavia. He said he hoped to announce a decision shortly.
Clinton weighed his options amid growing expectations of some sort of eventual military action against Bosnian Serbs, the final holdouts against peace in the region.The president appeared confident he could overcome European reluctance to sign on to allied military involvement against the Serbs. He planned weekend meetings with his security advisers and Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who returns tonight from a week's worth of talks with Russian and European nations.
"I just have the feeling based on my conversations in the last week and the reports that I've been getting that we can reach a common policy," Clinton told reporters Friday. One factor weighing in Clinton's favor is the Serbs' rejection of a peace proposal this week.
"I think we have to turn up the heat and keep the pressure on," Clinton said.
As he left Rome Friday, Christopher said "some military action" could be justified under existing U.N. resolutions. However, for "greater military action we would much more likely require the explicit authorization of the United Nations," Christopher said.
There is an expectation it will be weeks rather than days before military action might commence.
The president is said to be favoring a dual approach of limited bombing strikes on Serb artillery and the arming of Bosnian Muslims. The allies fear that both approaches could widen the war.
Clinton's strategy envisions using air strikes only as long as it takes for the Muslims to equip themselves, a period of months, a senior U.S. official said.
Encouraged by hopes Russia will support a military operation, Christopher was sending Strobe Talbott, his senior adviser on Russia, and Lt. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, top aide to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, back to Moscow for more talks.
All the allies are ready to make sacrifices for Bosnia - up to a point. All the NATO powers feel threatened by the war in Bosnia - up to a point.
Clinton is wrestling with how to handle the Serbian nationalists, who seem ready to go all the way to reach their goals, while Washington and its allies are ready to go only part way to stop them.
For the Serbian nationalists, this is about total war; for all the outsiders, this is about limited war.
Washington and its allies seem to be tailoring their strategy to what will sell at home, not what is needed to bring a decisive halt to the fighting.