In fact, Perry was hoisting a red flag. He seemed to be saying that even if no one else in the administration was coming clean about the limits of U.S. policy in Bosnia, he would. “Perry was sending a signal to the domestic audience, [telling them] that we’re not going to get more involved militarily”, says a State Department official. The message to the Muslims: you’ve lost the war; now try to get the best deal you can.
Behind such a flinty assessment lies the Pentagon’s recent memory of Somalia. Originally sent to feed the starving, American troops ended up as victims of guerrilla warfare. This latest fear of quagmire has a name - “mission creep” - and it permeates Pentagon thinking. Mission creep may partly account for the curious defense of nonaction by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. John Shalikashvili, who argued that the threat of air power, so effective against Serbian tanks around Sarajevo, wouldn’t work against the infantry assailing Gorazde.
Perry’s blunt words also sent a message to the Oval Office: don’t count on the military to bail out a flagging diplomatic effort. Only recently, the omens were favorable. Special U.S. envoy Charles Redman had persuaded Muslims and Croats to stop fighting and merge their territory and armies. But now the peace process seems to have stalled. Instead of negotiating, the Pentagon believes, the Muslims are bent on fighting for more land or at least provoking a disproportionate response from the Serbs - such as the assault on Gorazde - to draw in U.S. firepower. Some in the State Department disagree with that assessment.
Not surprisingly, the administration moved to downplay any apparent dissent between Perry and Christopher. “There never was any difference between the two of them,” said the president. Yet in separate public addresses, both Christopher and national-security adviser Anthony Lake effectively erased Perry’s remarks by asserting that the military option was still very much alive. But would a Sarajevolike ultimatum work elsewhere? The administration is considering a “no-fire zone” around Gorazde. Serbs would be subject to NATO airstrikes if they attack but, remarkably, would be allowed to keep their weapons instead of surrendering or moving them. The latest casualty in the Bosnian crisis may be Perry’s attempt to nail down a clear U.S. policy.
