Word: serb
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There is a Serb soldier who cannot believe his own people have imprisoned him. He says he had been sent to the front lines to kill Muslims and had been very successful. When he came home he continued to kill them and, to his surprise, he was arrested. "If it is O.K. there, why not here?" he asks...
Colonel Slavko Lisica heads the Doboj Corps. He claims to have 45,000 men -- a gross exaggeration according to intelligence estimates that put the total Serb troops in Bosnia at no more than 90,000 -- under his command, and controls about 400 sq. mi. of territory substantially "cleansed" of Muslims. The situation map behind his desk shows his lines extending like a pointed finger into Muslim territory. All that would be needed to trap the corps would be for the Muslims to cut through the 10-mile-wide base of the finger with an assault on Doboj...
That is the Bill Clinton plan for getting tough with the Serbs. At least it is the essence of the ideas Secretary of State Warren Christopher was shopping around Europe last week as the U.S. sought support for a way to push the Serbs toward the peace table and end a slaughter that has taken at least 134,000 lives. The U.S. proposal is to exempt Bosnia from the U.N. embargo on arms sales and use air strikes to protect Muslim enclaves from Serb attacks until their forces are strong enough to defend themselves...
There was a glimmer of hope at week's end that none of this would be necessary. At Sarajevo airport, the commanders of the rebel Serb forces and the Bosnian army signed a cease-fire agreement aimed at "a cessation of armed attacks" throughout the country on Sunday. They also agreed to demilitarize the encircled Muslim towns of Srebrenica and Zepa...
...stakes for the President, meanwhile, have escalated. By sending Christopher abroad and calling for prompt action after the Bosnian-Serb rejection, Clinton generated momentum toward a confrontation. It would be awkward for him to back down. "Once you say you're going to do something," explained a congressional leader who was briefed by Aspin last week, "you have to do it. There is no turning back without a big cost." Even so, Clinton is not planning to order any military moves unilaterally or suddenly. He intends to ask Congress for a vote of confidence and the U.N. Security Council...