White House Cautiously Supports Croatian Offensive

As the United Nations and most of the European allies condemned the Croatian government’s major offensive against separatist Croatian Serbs, the Clinton administration expressed cautious support for the move.

While calling for restraint and expressing hope that a diplomatic solution could be found, the administration said it hoped the Croats’ offensive would stop the attack by Croatian and Bosnian Serbs against the Muslim enclave of Bihac in neighboring Bosnia.

The U.S. approach was in line with the key U.S. goal in the Balkans of minimizing direct U.S. military involvement. By letting Croatia do the dirty work on the ground against the Serbs, the likelihood is reduced that U.S. warplanes would be called in to defend Bihac under a recently approved NATO plan for stepped-up use of air power against the Serbs.

Also, a military setback for the Serbs - in Croatia or Bosnia - might help drive them to the bargaining table. That could help reduce the chances that continuing military turmoil would lead to a withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers, and trigger a U.S. pledge to send thousands of American troops to help in the evacuation.

U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry, whose troops would bear the brunt of any direct U.S. involvement, was the most explicit in welcoming the Croatian offensive.

“The Croatian government has an obvious frustration with the move of the Bosnian Serbs and the Krajina Serbs into Bihac, and their actions are intended, among other things, to stop that,” Perry said in a television interview.

“We hope that that is successful, and the Serbs will stop their offensive in Bihac.”

President Clinton didn’t go quite as far, but he did note in comments to reporters that the Croatian offensive “apparently relieved a lot of pressure on Bihac.” Clinton added, “we have asked them (the Croatians) to exercise real restraint because we are very concerned about a wider war.”

France, Britain and Russia issued harsh denunciations of the Croatian offensive, expressing concern that it would lead to a broadening of the conflict. France and Britain were worried because they have peacekeepers in the Balkans, although not in Croatia, while Russia is an historical ally of the Serbs.

U.N. General Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali said, “The deliberate reopening of large-scale conflict flouts the cease-fire that has provided the opportunity to search for a peaceful settlement.”