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Bosnia Arms Deal Cound Have Used Friendly Nations
Using Iran strengthened ties between the Bosnians
But U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and National Security Advisior Anthony Lake argued against the plan, calling it "too risky," according to the Times. Christopher worried it would provoke a crisis between the United States and its allies France and the Britain. Lake rejected the idea as he believed it would be illegal, though his aides now say he misunderstood the law.
While Holbrooke accepted the decision, privately he charged, "this administration is not given to boldness," a Holbrooke colleague told the Times.
Although the Clinton administration's decision to allow the secret Iranian shipments was legal and in a sense helped stem the tide of the war, it also strengthened ties between the Bosnians and Iranians and proved to be a problem in the administration's current involvement in Bosnia.
The United States has long considered Iran as a supporter ofterrorist activity. "The Iranians have done their best to burrow into Bosnia's military and intelligence services," the Times quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying.
By April 1994, Bosnian Serbs had mounted an aggressive assault on Bosnian government troops, eventually surrounding the city of Gorazde and pounding its buildings and 65,000 citizens with heavy artillery. Bosnian government leaders began complaining their troops were running out of ammunition, and they re-opened an Iranian arms smuggling operation. That pipeline, which ran through Croatia, had previously been closed by the White House under President George Bush.
The Clinton administration, however, turned a blind eye to the Iranian smuggling because it worried the Bosnian government might fall to the Bosnian Serbs.
When Holbrooke became involved in the Bosnian negotiations in the fall of 1994, he began to explore how third party, so-called "friendly" countries, could ship arms to the Bosnian goverment instead of the Iranians. He asked State Department lawyers to check the legality of the idea. Their report said "suggesting to a foreign country through diplomatic channels that it might consider a covert action" appeared legal, but "potentially risky" from a political viewpoint, the Times said.
Though Holbrooke wanted to move forward with the idea, Christopher and Lake did not.
From May 1994 to January 1996, Iran shipped more than 5,000 tons of weapons to Bosnian government troops and provided the support for some 2,000 foreign fighters in Bosnia, according to the Times. While the Clinton administration has said all organised Iranian military units are now out of Bosnia, U.S. officials privately acknowledge some Iranians and other foreign militants remain in the country. |
LOS ANGELES, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. officials could have curbed Iranian influence in Bosnia by urging friendly nations like Saudi Arabia to sell arms to Sarajevo instead of allowing shipments from Iran, the Los Angeles Times said on Sunday. From 1993 to 1995 Richard Holbrooke, President Bill Clinton's chief negotiator in Bosnia, drew up plans for countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan to offer military aide to the Bosnian government in its war with the Bosnian Serbs, the newspaper reported.
Berserkistan, May 21 · U.S. Ambassador Explains Bosnia-Iran Arms Deal
Berserkistan, May 13 · Many Allies Secretly Helped Arm Bosnia
Berserkistan, May 9 · House to Spend $1 Million on Iran-Bosnia Probe
Berserkistan, May 3 · U.S. House to Investigate Iran-Bosnia Arms Deal
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