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Pentagon wants to avoid 'mission creep' in Bosnia
December 21, 1997
Web posted at: 6:57 p.m. EST (2357 GMT)From Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As President Bill Clinton travels to Bosnia on a brief morale-boosting mission to visit U.S. troops, Pentagon planners are working to ensure that his decision to extend the stay of NATO forces does not turn peacekeepers into police officers.
Pentagon planners say they want to guard against what they call "mission creep" -- pressure for U.S. troops in Bosnia to go beyond military tasks and help with civilian functions such as restoring law and order.
"I do not anticipate that the NATO military authorities or their political directors will accept a broader mission," says Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon.
However, some NATO countries would like a wider mandate. They want peacekeeping forces to pursue war criminals and to help resettle refugees. That, they argue, would encourage international investment to rebuild Bosnia.
But the United States is resisting. It doesn't want its soldiers doing police work -- and even hopes to cut the number of U.S. troops from the current 8,000 to demonstrate that its commitment to Bosnia, while open-ended, is not forever.
"I still don't believe that there should be anybody interested in some kind of permanent stationing of global military presence all over Bosnia," Clinton said at a news conference last week.
The Pentagon also opposes the suggestion that NATO troops should be more aggressive in efforts to arrest suspected war criminals, such as former Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.
The United States is insisting that peacekeepers continue to detain suspects only if their whereabouts are well-known and they can be captured with relatively low risk.
"We will continue to take opportunities that present themselves to bring these people to justice," says Sandy Berger, U.S. national security adviser. "And none of them by any means -- Karadzic on down -- should feel any sense of immunity, impunity or safety."
Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen pressed European allies to provide more money for an international police force to restore security, warning that, otherwise, the U.S. Congress might not back the president's decision to keep troops in Bosnia.
"It's got to be somebody's job," said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana. "There are European police types that are of military police caliber that could do that job.
Over the next month, NATO military planners will work out the exact mission of the peacekeeping force, including the benchmarks that must be reached before all the troops can leave Bosnia.
At this point, no one can say when that will be.
Related stories:
- West criticizes 'logjam' in Bosnian reconstruction - December 9, 1997
- Cohen: Europe must contribute more to Bosnia mission - December 2, 1997
- U.S. questions legality of planned Bosnian Serb elections - October 5, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Bosnia Link
- Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- Operations IFOR & SFOR provides information relating to NATO's role in bringing peace in the Former Yugoslavia
- Serbia Online
- Yugoslavia.com
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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