PERSPECTIVES

CRITIC OF MILITARY INTERVENTION

The deployment of United Nations peacekeeping forces to the former Yugoslavia was a mistake. The atrocities of war are horrible, but it is naive for the citizens of the world to imagine that all conflicts can be averted by sending in UN soldiers to "save the day."

A war will not end until both sides agree who will control whatever is in dispute. Peacekeeping, covered by Chapter VI of the UN Charter, requires that the intervening force remain impartial. In a conflict like Bosnia, where combatants consistently reject peace, impartial peacekeeping is impossible. Peace enforcement, authorized under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, is undertaken when combatants refuse to accept peace. Before late 1995, UN Security Council Resolutions regarding Bosnia authorized only limited peace enforcement. These actions were weak and did not stop territorial advances by combatants.

The fundamental problem with the United Nations' role in Bosnia is that it has attempted to fulfill the role of peacekeeper when its only possible role is that of peace enforcer. Although limited peace enforcement has been attempted, it will not be successful. The political will does not exist in NATO or the UN to stop Serbian aggression, and the UN cannot dispel ethnic nationalism. Rather than stopping territorial gains, the principal effect of UN intervention has been to prolong the war and insure the continued suffering of millions.

The UN intervened in Bosnia because the world community clamored for action. Despite the US brokered peace agreement and the deployment of ??,000 American troops to the region in late 1995, peace enforcement in the Balkans will ultimately fail. Inevitable casualties will erode support for the mission which a majority of Americans feel is not a "vital national interest." American soldiers will not launch an offensive campaign to re-take Serbian captured land, thereby securing these territorial gains for the future. The historical animosties which gave rise to the Balkan war will not be solved through a military intervention. UN soldiers cannot "save the day," because it has already been lost.

NOTE: This "personal testimony" and others included in this project were written using published sources to provide an accurate depiction of the perspectives of different individuals involved in the conflict in the former-Yugoslavia. Direct quotes were used when possible, and inferences made to complete each perspective.

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