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- Xref: sparky talk.politics.misc:65083 alt.current-events.somalia:706 alt.politics.bush:14864 alt.president.clinton:1234
- Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.current-events.somalia,alt.politics.bush,alt.president.clinton
- Path: sparky!uunet!unipalm!steven
- From: steven@unipalm.co.uk (Steven Vincent)
- Subject: Re: WAR IN BOSNIA!!!!
- Message-ID: <1992Dec22.092216.17625@unipalm.co.uk>
- Organization: Unipalm Ltd., 216 Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge CB4 4WA, UK
- References: <ATAYLOR.92Dec16175208@gauss.nmsu.edu> <1992Dec17.161645.3316@cbnews.cb.att.com> <1992Dec17.170640.12623@wam.umd.edu> <BzF3Ju.K69@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <1992Dec18.065834.11262@netcom.com>
- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 09:22:16 GMT
- Lines: 71
-
- harp@netcom.com (Gregory O. Harp) writes:
- >>This is probably the biggest foreign-policy mistake we could make. Bosnia
- >>is an extremely dangerous region and sending US troops can only result in
- >>a great deal of American bloodshed.
-
- >This is true. If we were to send ground forces into Bosnia, we would
- >stand to lose a great number of soldiers. However, from what I heard
- >on CNN today (Dec. 17), the only military action that we've pledged to
- >the U.N. is airborne.
-
- >That is, at minimum we would be enforcing the no-fly zone by
- >intercepting and possibly destroying Serbian fixed-wing aircraft
- >flying over Bosnia. At maximum, we'd be using smart bombs and
- >anti-radiation missles to take out various targets.
-
- This is what has Britain and several other (but not all) European
- countries worried. If the USN starts shooting at the Serbs then the
- Serbs are going to start shooting at the UN troops on the ground.
- That means the British, Canadian an Ukrainian troops. (The French as
- well but they are for heavier action). Now I personnally think that
- military action is neccessary and that it should be done as a WEU
- operation without US involvement. I recognise that this will involve
- a commitment far beyond the Gulf operation and at best will reduce things
- to the level of Northern Ireland. i.e. we will have to go in and fight
- a war lasting several years and will end up with a segregated population
- and a long term terrorist problem. Sure European military power can go
- in and occupy the Towns and villages in a matter of weeks but the Serbs
- and several other groups will just take to the hills and it will take
- a long time to reduce there stocks to a managable level.
-
- >>3) United States involvement in an area that has been historically explosive
- >>(remember World War One?) can only feed tensions in the region and stir Anti-
- >>American sentiment in the area.
-
- Very True.
-
- >Leave the situation alone and you practically guarantee widespread
- >war. This sort of non-involvement sentiment is what allowed WWI and
- >WWII to happen.
-
- Possible but there have been lots of civil wars in the Balkans, only one
- let to a world war. We have two choices, War of Enforcement by the UN or
- a quarantine order which allows those on the ground to sort things out
- in their own (Bloody) way. Anything inbetween just increases the third party
- costs and prolongs the agony. In particular Air-Strikes would just up the
- ante and make the current UN policy unworkable.
- Of course with the Arab world allready breaking sanctions to supply
- the Muslems and threatening to do more while certain cash starved nations
- with large military surplus stocks supply the already well equiped Serbs
- the situation can only get worse.
-
- >>In the meantime, we should all pray for peace in Bosnia before it becomes
- >>more of a mess than before.
-
- Prayer: (verb) the act of soothing a guilty conscience while doing nothing.
-
-
- >President-Elect Clinton mentioned today Serbia's opportunity to avoid
- >U.S. action against them. They must take advantage of their upcoming
- >elections to bring a non-agressive goverment to power. The Bosnian
- >leaders are anxious for peace, or so they say.
-
- What the Bosnian leaders want is not the issue since the elections are
- for the Serbs!!! In fact it looks like the Serbs have voted for militancy,
- real or rigged that is what the poles are showing now so the situation
- will get worse still.
-
- -=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- Of course it is easy to right the problems of the world from here.
-
- Steven Vincent steven@unipalm.co.uk
-