Trying To Lift the Siege of Sarajevo

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WHAT WILL IT REQUIRE, SHORT OF SENDING IN THE U.S. Air Force, to halt Serbian aggression in Bosnia-Herzegovina? Clearly it will take measures sterner than the U.N. economic sanctions imposed three weeks ago. Defiant Serb gunners last week turned the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo into hell on earth, killing at least 30 people and injuring hundreds more. Thousands of shells blasted buildings and crashed into streets, terrorizing the 300,000 remaining residents, who mostly cowered in basement shelters. Sarajevo TV broadcast what appeared to be a military radio message from Serbian General Ratko Mladic, intercepted less than two weeks earlier, commanding soldiers in the overlooking hills, "Burn it all!"

In an appeal to President Bush from his bomb-battered office, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic called for U.S. air strikes on the Serbian gun emplacements. "Force can be countered only by force," Izetbegovic declared. "Let them bomb those who are bombing us." Washington backed a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing peacekeeping troops to reopen Sarajevo airport if a cease-fire is reached so that urgently needed food can be flown in. But the Bush Administration was reluctant to intervene directly, despite its concern that Serbian shelling might hit a major toxic-chemical plant north of Sarajevo and trigger an environmental disaster. Impatience with the Serbian onslaught is growing in the U.S. Senate. Says Senator Richard Lugar: "The time for drawing the line has come."