Republicans Attack Clinton's Bosnia Policy

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Oct., 11) -- Republican lawmakers are taking aim again at President Bill Clinton's Bosnia policy, condemning the administration's decision not to try to stem the flow of Iranian arms into the war-torn area during April 1994.

The five GOP representatives on a House investigative subcommittee concluded that the White House's inaction put American troops stationed in the region at risk and damaged U.S. relations with its allies by not following through with its public support of the United Nations' ban on arms shipments to Bosnia.

House International Relations subcommittee chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) denounced the move as a "foolish error in judgment," and told reporters, "The consequences of the president's decision has been far-reaching and pernicious."

Hyde warned, "We will rue the day that President Clinton gave the green light to the Iranians to play savior to the Bosnians because there is a significant Iranian influence in Bosnia." He also said that contradictory testimony given by senior administration officials was being sent to the Justice Department for "further criminal review."

Praising the Clinton Adminstration's handling of the Bosnia situation, the three Democrats on the subcommittee called the GOP findings a political ploy during the final weeks of the election.

"We have looked at the facts. We have reviewed the evidence. It is our belief that no laws were broken, no wrongdoing occurred, no covert actions took place, no false statements given, no U.S. interests harmed," the Democrats said in a written statement.

"As a result of the administration's policy, the war in Bosnia is over, the fighting has ceased, the elected leaders are trying to put together a government," the statement continued.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns agreed and accused the Republicans of simply "grandstanding" before the election. "If these concerns were widely felt in the Congress, perhaps they better should have been made in October 1995 rather than October 1996," Burns said.

Hyde said that the 200-page report cannot be made public until much of the content is declassified by the administration, which he accused of trying to keep the information secret. White House spokesman James Fetig said that the document was under review for declassification.

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