National Security Report: U.S. Troops in Bosnia: Caught in the Quagmire. Volume1: Issue 1

摘要

As the one year milestone approaches thousands of American soldiers remain inBosnia, the cost of the mission have more than doubled and its prospects for success have not brighten. Operations like Bosnia are slowly diminishing the ability of our armed forces to meet the national military strategy. Important modernization and readiness programs are being mortgaged to pay for these indefinite contingency missions. One year into this operation, it is legitimate to ask whether the benefits of U.S. participation have out weighed the costs and whether the American presence in Bosnia has helped to create the condition for a just and lasting peace. While the large scale fighting has ceased, the bitter divisions that gave rise to the conflict in the first place have intensified and are likely to remain for years. Human rights violations continue on all sides. In reality, the Dayton accords have served to ratify the ethnic partition of the country. In short, one year after Dayton, NATO is no closer to ensuring lasting peace in Bosnia and the United States is no closer to developing a credible exit strategy that will lead to the withdrawal of U.S. ground troops from that troubled land.