WASHINGTON -- Although some of them lukewarmly support orders to bomb Yugoslavia, Utah's members of Congress still wonder aloud if President Clinton really knows what he's doing.
"That's not a good sign," says Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah.He and others in the all-GOP delegation worry that U.S. goals for action in Yugoslavia are not clear or achievable, and therefore the bombing could lead to years of U.S. military involvement in Balkan civil wars with no clear exit strategy.
The delegation member most supportive of the bombing is Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who voted to endorse it in the Senate on Tuesday. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, opposed it.
But even Hatch's support is tepid.
"I don't think we have much choice since we've gone this far. The president has to support NATO," Hatch said.
He applauds Clinton's goal of stopping the genocide and "ethnic cleansing" that Clinton says Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic is waging in Kosovo province against ethnic Albanians.
"I think we need to send a clear message to Milosevic that if he is going to continue to commit genocide, he has abdicated his right to be treated as a sovereign nation. That's a lesson we should have learned from World War II and Hitler. We can't let that go on," he said.
Although Bennett voted against the bombing, he said, "I hope that the president is right, that this will stop the slaughter. But there is nothing I have heard from any of the military experts that would convince me that is the case." He added, "We learned in Desert Storm that ground troops are the only way to stop the slaughter."
Bennett said he is glad the president sought a vote from the Senate on his plans -- which Bennett last week loudly complained was needed before going to war. But he was not happy that it came so late, when U.S. planes were already on alert. "It was clear he would have proceeded no matter how we voted," he said.
Hansen -- who was in Bosnia on an inspection tour earlier this month, said, "It seems like we're easing into this thing, like we did in Vietnam and Korea -- rather than going in with everything you've got to get the job done like we did in Desert Storm."
Hansen also said U.S. troops in the Balkans told him "that if they were fighting for the USA, they would fight for free. But they didn't really know why they were there."
Rep. Merrill Cook, R-Utah, said, "I am very skeptical that the bombing will have the desired result."
He added, "For now, I will support the president and NATO in what they are doing, but I am very concerned this could be the prelude to ground troops, which I will oppose strongly."
Cook also complained that Clinton "has failed to keep Congress totally informed and has not properly asked for congressional authority for what he's doing" -- and said he needs additional approval if action lasts long or escalates.
Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said, "The Serbs have 300,000 soldiers on hand. This is serious. This is not some police action where we're invited in. We're invading their country."
He added, "I believe the objectives of the mission are unclear." And he worries, "The Serb armies have firepower that we haven't seen before."