Ehrlich on Washington column, November 24, 1996

NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Lutherville, Maryland 21093 Washington, D.C. 205 1 5 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of November 24, 1996 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich CLINTON’S FLIP-FLOP ON BOSNIA Will the U.S. military become embroiled in another Vietnam-like quagmire? That is the question that must be asked after President Clinton made the post-election announcement that he is extending the deployment of America’s service men and women in the war-tom Balkans. Defense pundits speculated over the last several months that Clinton would keep U.S. troops on the ground in Bosnia-Herzegovina beyond the promised one year, but would delay making the decision public until after November 5th. Unfortunately, the news media failed to remind the American electorate that the one-year time limit appeared to be in jeopardy. Clinton has attempted to change the subject by claiming that the Implementation Force (IFOR) will end in December, but a new and different follow-on force will take its place. We’ve got news for the President. The American public isn’t buying it. Whatever clever name the Clinton Administration calls it, the end result is the same: American troops are being kept overseas to conduct a mission which appears to follow ill-defined foreign policy goals. In a letter to Congress dated December 12, 1995, Clinton promised “that the IFOR can complete its mission in about 12 months.” A total of 30 months does not fall roughly into the one year category. Of course, that is assuming American forces are safely withdrawn in another year-and-a-half, as Clinton has now promised. IFOR’s mission, as outlined in the same letter, was limited solely “to assisting the parties