Dean urged action in Bosnia
By Gannett News Service
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Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean, a strong critic of what he calls President Bush’s unilateral approach to foreign policy, urged President Clinton to act unilaterally and enter the war in Bosnia in 1995.
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“I have reluctantly concluded that the efforts of the United States and NATO in Bos-nia are a complete failure,” he wrote, citing reports of genocide during the Bosnian civil war. “If we ignore these behaviors … our moral fiber as a people becomes weakened. … We must take unilateral action.”
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The July 19, 1995, letter was written on Dean’s official stationery as Vermont governor. The language appears to contradict Dean’s core complaint that President Bush has followed a unilateral foreign policy, instead of a multilateral approach that relies on consultation and joint action with allies. He repeatedly has attacked Bush’s decision to invade Iraq.
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“I think getting rid of Saddam Hussein is a wonderful thing,” he said last month. “But the question is, is it a good idea to send 135,000 troops unilaterally to do it?”
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In the 1995 letter, Dean argued for unilateral action in Bosnia on moral grounds. “As the Catholic Church and others lost credibility during the Holocaust for not speaking out, so will the United States lose credibility,” he wrote.
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The civil war in the former Yugoslavia gave rise to war crimes and mass murders not seen in the West since World War II. U.N. peacekeeping had failed, but the Clinton administration was undecided on whether to take military action.
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Dean called for Clinton to bomb the Bosnian Serbs and supply arms to the Bosnian Muslims. He opposed using American ground troops.
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Clinton eventually won approval from NATO but not the United Nations for a limited bombing campaign that led to peace talks and a NATO peacekeeping force at the end of 1995. About 3,000 U.S. troops are in Bosnia today.
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Dean’s support for the war in Bosnia is one of several examples he uses to differentiate himself from Democrats who oppose virtually all international intervention.
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His advisers say his stance has remained consistent over the years.
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