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November 29, 1995
Web posted at: 1:10 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With the first batch of American soldiers expected on the ground in Bosnia within the next few days, President Clinton Tuesday personally urged key members of Congress to support sending 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia on a mission christened "Operation Joint Endeavour."
The Associated Press quoted the Pentagon as saying an additional 17,000 Americans would provide support in and around the former Yugoslavia, which would boost the entire U.S. contingent in the Balkans to 37,000.
Confronted with a resistant public and a reluctant Congress, Clinton held a series of discussions on the deployment before he left on a five-day tour of Europe. (118K AIFF sound or 118K WAV sound) After a large Congressional briefing, Clinton met with some Republicans and Democrats at the White House Tuesday.
White House officials said Clinton assured 35 top lawmakers that U.S. troops would not be directly involved in equipping and training the predominantly Muslim Bosnian army.
House Republican leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said he was "extremely skeptical of this whole operation." He said if members of Congress are "getting the kind of phone calls from their districts" that he was getting, they would know that "getting a winning vote on this matter would be like pulling teeth through the back of your head."
Some Republican saw the deployment as inevitable. "He (Clinton) is hell-bent to do it," said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana. "So we're going to have to support him."
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said the administration should be allowed to make its case. "I'll be listening very carefully," he said.
Senate Democrats closed ranks in their support for the mission during Clinton's hour-long meeting at the Capitol.
But it is Majority Senate leader Bob Dole who could turn out to be Clinton's most powerful ally. Speaking at a forum for Republican Presidential candidates Tuesday, Dole said he was seeking ways to back Clinton "even though the American people may not agree."
"I am certain some of my opponents on the Republican side will have a field day," Dole said. "But there comes a time when you have to be responsible too, in America." (188K AIFF sound or 188K WAV sound)
His Republican presidential rival, Pat Buchanan, lambasted Congressional leaders for what he called a "pathetic response" to Clinton. "If you are a leader, stand up and say what you believe. Take the consequences," he said.
Thousands of Americans called the White House after Clinton's televised speech Monday, and "there was a great deal of skepticism," admitted White House spokesperson Mike McCurry. "The American people clearly want to know more."
Clinton said his only way to persuade them was to "keep answering questions and reasserting what's at stake here."
At the first of several hearings on the issue of deployment, the search for every answer was embodied in a single question: Is Bosnia worth dying for?
In an appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Brent Scowcroft, who was national security advisor during the Gulf war, conceded that the Bosnia operation was a "high-risk" undertaking. "But the alternative in my judgment is a clear disaster," he said. "I believe we are committed ... To turn our backs now would be a catastrophe for U.S. reliability."
Once Clinton signs off on the plan and NATO ministers give it a final okay, a lightly armed logistical force comprising about 2,600 troops, including 700 Americans, will fly into Tuzla and Sarajevo to set up headquarters and supply bases.
Simultaneously, the United States will begin moving the bulk of its troops to a staging area in Pecs, Hungary, where the force will be poised to move into Bosnia within days of a formal peace agreement signing that is expected in Paris in mid-January.
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