The president is justified in keeping U.S. troops in Bosnia as long as they are needed to keep peace. And the United States needs to be prepared to extend its stay to keep the area stabilized. Not only is this in the best interests of the United States, it is important for the future of Europe and the rest of the world.
However, President Clinton needs to be upfront and honest about what is going to be required of the U.S. military and for how long. He has been woefully lacking in terms of candor since the United States first committed troops to be part of NATO forces in late 1995. Back then it was understood the mission was going to last a year. Instead it's been two years and now is heading into a third year. How many more years will it last? And what are the goals of the mission?Clinton is visiting U.S. troops in Bosnia next Monday to thank them for their peacekeeping efforts. He also needs to let them and the nation know what's ahead.
According to Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a continued U.S. troop presence will be required for at least two more years. Warner made that assessment after visiting Bosnia and consulting with senior U.S. and NATO officers. If that's the likely scenario, Clinton needs to state it.
There are 8,500 American troops among the 32,000 members of the multinational force in and around Bosnia. Is that number going to stay the same or increase or decrease if the U.S. presence is extended beyond the current June pullout date?
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is wisely pushing NATO to take a larger share of responsibility and is working with her NATO colleagues to devise a smaller, more flexible NATO peacekeeping force to be put in place after the current mission expires in June.
Because there is some stability in the area and because it has been maintained without having to resort to combat and extensive casualties, it's in the best interests of the United States to not pull out in June. If that occurred the entire NATO force would be put in jeopardy. A prevailing theory is that without a U.S.-led NATO presence, Serbs, Muslims and Croats would literally be at each other's throats again and tens of thousands of people would be killed in another round of ethnic cleansing.
That escalation could easily spread to other regions, which could lead to a reintroduction of U.S. troops under much more dire circumstances. The gains in Bosnia are not irreversible, and locking them in will require more effort and likely a lot more time than the June pullout date.
Clinton needs to make clear what the role of the United States is going to be in order to get congressional support for an extension. As Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., noted, the Clinton administration not only faces a problem with Bosnia, "they've added onto it a problem of credibility."
That's a problem the commander in chief can resolve on this issue by being honest with U.S. troops and the U.S. people.