U.S. Must Help Create Viable Bosnian State

Now comes the hard part.

The apparent success of the NATO ultimatum in Sarajevo has really just begun Western involvement in the country. While many Serbian guns have withdrawn from the hilltops around the capital, the larger task of crafting a solution to the fighting remains.

The most obvious and just solution would be to restore the borders that Bosnia-Hercegovina had when it was recognized by the international community. A return to the status quo ante would thoroughly reject the acquisition of territory by force. Yet to push the Serbs and Croatians out of the huge portion of Bosnia that they control appears beyond the willpower of the NATO allies, for whom the recent ultimatum was a major step. And any Bosnian attempt to retake all the territory would likely result in an interminable and bloody war.

Yet accepting the current division, in which the Muslim population is caged in several surrounded ghettos, is not an option. Allowing the Serbs and Croatians in effect to drive the Muslims out the country is unconcionable policy and a dangerous precedent for other regions.

U.S. and NATO policy must therefore be to create a viable Bosnian state that can survive even in the presence of hostile neighbors. The truncated Bosnian state must also have access to the sea, something the Serbs have stubbornly refused to yield.

To convince the Serbs to yield enough territory, NATO will have to issue further ultimatums to the beseigers of Srebrenica, Tuzla and other cities. Once the seiges have been lifted, the Bosnian enclaves should be linked in order to create a contiguous state.

It is likely that at some point along the way, the Serbs will fail to comply with NATO demands. At that point, air strikes will be necessary. The only thing that made the Serbs pull back from Sarajevo was the belief that this NATO would follow through. To fail to do so would undercut the credibility NATO recently generated for itself.

The West has already committed the terrible crime of complicity in the Bosnian war. Now is the time to end the complicity and ensure the Bosnians a land of their own.