Steve Cohen: “I had the opportunity last evening to join Senator Dole in meeting with British Gen. Rupert Smith, who will take command…”

“I had the opportunity last evening to join Senator Dole in meeting with British Gen. Rupert Smith, who will take command of the United Nations force, known as UNPROFOR, in Bosnia later this month. A few other Senators also had a chance to meet with General Smith yesterday. Senator Dole and I expressed admiration for General Smith's willingness to take on this unenviable task. But we also expressed skepticism that UNPROFOR can improve its credibility in order to more effectively carry out its limited mission of facilitating humanitarian relief and lessening the violence in Bosnia. But the change in command in UNPROFOR does at least offer the opportunity to try to adopt measures to make UNPROFOR more effective. I recall that a year ago, when UNPROFOR's leadership was rotating, American military officials responsible for the humanitarian airlift and airdrops in Bosnia proposed to take advantage of the situation to reestablish UNPROFOR's credibility and its ability to fulfill its mandate in Bosnia. They proposed that UNPROFOR end its 'mother may I?' construct of operations, and they outlined a plan by which UNPROFOR, even with its restrictive rules of engagement and limited troops and equipment, could use force to more effectively carry out its humanitarian mission and curb Serb and other harassment of UNPROFOR. These American military officers warned that if such action were not taken, an already bad situation would quickly get much worse.”