 |
Holbrooke Feared for Bosnia's Survival Without Full-Scale Arming
By Jim Adams
He said he explored the possibility of doing so but the Clinton Administration decided not to support the broader arms supplies because such a policy would have caused friction with allies who had peacekeeping troops in Bosnia at the time. "This is something that never happened," Holbrooke said.
Had the policy been adopted, it would have gone far beyond the administration's decision in April 1994 simply to acquiesce to Iranian arms shipments through Croatia to Bosnia.
Congressional Republican leaders have turned that decision into an election-year issue, accusing the administration of deception for allowing the Iranian arms shipments at the same time it publicly supported the U.N. arms embargo. Two Senate committees and a select House subcommittee are investigating the April 1994 decision. Holbrooke defended the policy, saying that without it he never would have succeeded in winning the peace agreement in Dayton, Ohio last December that brought 43 months of fighting in Bosnia to a halt. "Without it the Bosnian government would never have survived the winter of 1994-95 and we never would have gotten to Dayton. It's as simple as that," he said.
Under questioning, Holbrooke said he did not know if President Clinton personally approved the policy. He said U.S. intelligence agencies were deliberately not told of the decision about Iranian arms supplies because it was not a covert operation only a diplomatic response to Croatia's inquiry about whether Washington would object to the Iran arms supplies. Holbrooke said there was no U.S. involvement in the arms shipments even when U.S. experts inspected an Iranian shipment of missiles in September 1995 because of a false report that they had chemical warheads. He said he asked for the inspection.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said in an opening statement that U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith "was thinking about covert U.S. help to the Bosnians by December 1993 and encouraging others to propose covert actions by March 1994."
In April 1994 Galbraith and then U.S. Bosnia negotiator Charles Redman told Washington that Croatian President Franjo Tudjman had asked if the United States would object to the Iran arms shipments, U.S. officials have told Congress. They said the two diplomats were told to reply they had viser, Anthony Lake, told Redman in May 1994 that no written report should be made. |
WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) — Former U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke said Tuesday he explored U.S. support for fullscale arming of Bosnia in 1994 despite a U.N. arms embargo because he feared for the Bosnian government's survival. "I was frankly nearly desperate with concern that they would not make it through a third winter," Holbrooke told the Senate Intelligence Committee. He said that when the Bosnian government asked U.S. officials late in 1994 to support fullscale arms supplies from Iran and other Muslims countries despite the U.N. arms embargo, "I felt it was worth an affirmative response."
Berserkistan, May 21 · U.S. Ambassador Explains Bosnia-Iran Arms Deal
Berserkistan, May 11 · U.S. House Names Panel to Probe Iran-Bosnia Arms Deal
Berserkistan, May 9 · House to Spend $1 Million on Iran-Bosnia Probe
Berserkistan, May 3 · U.S. House to Investigate Iran-Bosnia Arms Deal
Berserkistan, Apr 25 · House to Probe Iran Arms Deal
Berserkistan, Apr 24 · White House Defends Silence on Iran Arms Issue
Berserkistan, Apr 16 · Republicans Challenge Clinton's Arms Nod
Berserkistan, Apr 12 · Croatia Would Block More Iranian Arms to Bosnia
Berserkistan, Apr 10 · Clinton: U.S. Did Nothing Wrong in Iran Arms Aid to Bosnia
Berserkistan, Apr 9 · Iran Says it Supplied Humanitarian Aid to Bosnia
Berserkistan, Apr 6 · Paper says Clinton Gave Nod to Covert Arms
Berserkistan is a world news service of Michael Linder Productions, Inc.
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved