HOUSE VOTES TO LIFT BOSNIAN ARMS EMBARGO

The House voted 318 to 99to lift the arms embargo on Bosnia, overriding objections that the unilateral action would inevitablydraw the U.S. into the Balkan war. The Clinton Administration opposes lifting the ban for that reason. "It will put Americans right in the middle of the hottest war today," Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.) said in today's debate. But a growing number of Republicans and Democrats believe that the U.S. must side with Bosnia's Muslim government against the Serbs.TIME correspondent J.F.O. McAllistersays the resolution will likely squeak through the Senate; if so, President Clinton could stop the action only by vetoing the foreign aid bill to which it is attached. Lifting the embargo, McAllister says, could lead to "a huge mess in Bosnia. First, the Serbs would probably step up their attacks. Many more U.S. troops would be needed, both to train the Muslims in how to use the weapons and tohelp evacuate the peacekeepers, since the U.N. expedition has said it would withdraw if the U.S. lifts the embargo."