BY PAT SMITH
Washington and the chief imperialist powers in Europe
are wrangling over their most recent bid to expand the war
in the former Yugoslavia. The so-called allies have been
frustrated from implementing their designs by their own
conflicting interests and the intransigence of rightist Serb
forces operating in Bosnia. The slaughter of working people
in the Balkans, meanwhile, continues apace.
The war is likely to expand in the coming days. The Bosnian government has begun massing tens of thousands of troops for a ground offensive to break the siege of Sarajevo. Rightist Serb forces operating in Bosnia are still holding some UN soldiers in an attempt to prevent further air strikes by NATO warplanes.
Several governments in Europe recoiled from a proposal to place 12,000 new United Nations troops under the command of their national armies to carry out offensive missions. The Clinton administration temporarily abandoned its proposal to commit U.S. ground forces to work alongside allied soldiers after it met with widespread opposition at home. The U.S. Congress also forced a delay in the Security Council plan to increase the UN force to 57,370. "The official aim of the United Nations mission in Bosnia now is the `status quo ante,' " reported the New York Times.
"UN forces operating in former Yugoslavia have been rendered nearly helpless by the United Nations rules of engagement," Washington's former representative to the United Nations, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, complained. Frustrated that President Bill Clinton did not retaliate for the June downing of a U.S. F-16 fighter, she argued for leveling "a disproportionate response-that would discourage future attack, build credibility, and therefore eliminate the necessity of future use of force."
Capitalist governments in Europe, which initially threatened an expanded use of UN troops in ground operations in Bosnia after the seizure of several hundred UN soldiers by Bosnian Serb forces, are now hedging their bets. The UN mission in Sarajevo announced June 10 that it will carry out no operations in Bosnia without the consent of rightist Bosnian Serb officials. A UN representative called the decision "the low point of a long, bad experience in Bosnia."
"The arrangement," wrote Washington Post reporter John Pomfret, "reflects the unwillingness of both U.N. headquarters in New York and the countries contributing troops to the U.N. mission here - specifically France and Britain - to walk into a war with the Bosnian Serbs-"
At the same time the White House threatened to veto any legislation lifting the arms embargo against the Bosnian government. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a measure that would end the embargo June 8. The Senate is expected to take up similar legislation. The Clinton administration, fearful that such a move would exacerbate tensions with London, Paris, and Moscow, said a unilateral break from the UN embargo would lead to the withdrawal of UN troops.
The White House, Congress, the Pentagon, and the big- business media meanwhile launched into a week-long patriotic frenzy to celebrate the return of U.S. pilot Scott O'Grady. The F-16 captain had been shot down by Serb forces over Bosnia, and was picked up by U.S. forces six days later. O'Grady's return represented "true grit, superior technology, and outstanding leadership, " said U.S. defense secretary William Perry.
But the Clinton forces haven't had much luck parlaying the rescue into support for further war moves.