Clinton Letter Assures U.S. Will Train Muslims
President Clinton sent a letter Tuesday night to Republican leaders that appeared to give them the written assurances they sought that the United States would lead an effort to arm and train the Bosnian Muslims.
The assurances that arrived on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night were meant to pave the way for the Senate to offer the president its grudging support for deploying American troops in Bosnia. Clinton heads to Paris today to sign the Bosnian peace accord.
As of early Tuesday evening, Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., had not commented on the letter. But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has been working closely with Dole in trying to forge an agreement with the White House, said he was satisfied with the president’s commitment.
Earlier in the day, Dole said he had talked with Clinton on the telephone, adding, “I think they are going to come our way.”
Formal debate on the Bosnia mission began in the Senate on Tuesday night, just as the president sent the letter. Voting on it is expected today.
Action in the House is not expected at least until later this week and at this point, even though Americans have already begun landing in Bosnia, it is not clear whether the House will support the mission. The president says he does not need congressional authorization for the mission, but he wants it.
Clinton’s letter said in part that the United States “will take a leadership role in coordinating an international effort to insure that the Bosnian Federation receives the assistance necessary to achieve an adequate military balance” when the peacekeeping force leaves the Balkans.
Administration officials had said they wanted third parties to oversee the military training of the Muslims so that the United States could maintain a neutral stance.
It was the assurance that the United States would lead the effort that Dole and McCain had demanded in return for their support. The president had sent a letter two days ago that was vague on this point. Tuesday, the senators wrote back to the president, saying, “We are seeking your confirmation that the United States will lead in coordinating and providing the Bosnians with the means for self-defense.”
The senators’ letter added: “To state that no U.S. military forces will be involved - as your letter does - is a guarantee that such a program will be wholly ineffective and may not even occur.”
The president responded Tuesday night that he would “do nothing that I believe will endanger the safety of American troops,” and added, “in the view of my military advisers, this requires minimizing the involvement of U.S. military personnel, but we expect that some individual military officers” would be involved, including, for example, those from the Defense Security Assistance Agency.