Lift and strike (Bosnia)
Encyclopedia
Lift and strike was the name of an American policy, which sought to improve the chances of a political settlement in the Bosnian War
. The idea of the proposal was to lift a United Nations
arms embargo
in order to allow the poorly armed Bosniaks
to arm with imported weapons, thus balancing the conflict, along with the threat of air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs. The policy was initially called for in the summer of 1992 by the then Bosnian
President
Alija Izetbegović
., and later adopted by several US Senators including Joseph Biden. After initially opposing the policy, Bill Clinton
adopted it as a part of his 1992 campaign platform, in an effort to distance himself from George H. W. Bush
on foreign policy.
United States Secretary of State
Warren Christopher
visited Europe
an governments in May 1993 in order to persuade them to support the strategy, which would have required their involvement, but the United Kingdom
, France
, Germany
and Russia
rejected the proposal, fearing that it would endanger UNPROFOR troops and the UNHCR's humanitarian programme.
In 1994, the United States Congress
and Senate
called for the arms embargo to be lifted, but by this time Clinton opposed it because of previous European opposition. It is also reported that Clinton's wife Hillary influenced this decision. Several important political figures had called for military intervention, including US Senator Bob Dole
and former British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
.
The conflict was finally brought to an end in 1995 by the Dayton Agreement
, following NATO bombing of Bosnian Serb Army positions.
on September 25, 1991. The resolution imposed an international arms embargo on all Yugoslav territories, in an effort to prevent escalating violence. At the time the embargo was imposed, only the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), which was believed to be neutral, had significant supplies of heavy weapons; however, as the conflict progressed the Army fell under Serb control. As a result, Serb forces Serbia
, Republika Srpska
and Republic of Serbian Krajina
inherited large weapons stockpiles from the JNA, leaving Croatia and Bosnia struggling with what they've captured during war Battle of the Barracks
or smuggled under difficult conditions. Thus, the arms embargo "cemented an imbalance in weaponry" among the sides in the conflict.
In response to the uneven situation, President Izetbegović and the Bosnian government made repeated calls to lift the arms embargo, so that they could arm their country to resist the Serbs. Izetbegović and other also claimed that the embargo was an illegal violation of the Bosnian right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
experts and politicians began to warm to the idea of lifting the arms embargo to even the playing field, and a number advocated air strikes against the Serbs, as they were perceived to be the principal aggressors. In July 1992, Bill Clinton adopted the idea of lift and strike as part of his call for "real leadership" in Bosnia, an effort to strengthen his foreign policy platform. While President Bush was seen as a foreign policy expert, the Clinton team identified Bosnia as one of his weaknesses. Clinton "called on Mr. Bush to seek United Nations authorization of selective bombing of Serbian targets in Bosnia", and delivered strong rhetoric on the Bosnian crisis. In early August, in response to Congressional debate, Clinton declared himself in favor "of lifting the arms embargo on the former Yuogslav republics of Bosnia and Croatia."
Throughout August 1992, the "lift and strike" idea began to catch on in the press. New York Times correspondent Leslie Gelb
proposed that US officials could "threaten air strikes against targets in Serbia...and threaten to arm the virtually defenseless Muslims...to discourage Serbia from spreading its policy of ethnic cleansing". Also, in late August, Senator George J. Mitchell
met with President Izetbegović, and after the meeting told reporters "that Izetbegović had made 'a very strong case that an arms embargo freezing a military imbalance in place was inherently unjust."
Growing support for the idea culminated in Senate Resolution 341 on September 16, 1992, which called on the President to end the arms embargo.
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
. The idea of the proposal was to lift a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
arms embargo
Arms embargo
An arms embargo is an embargo that applies to weaponry. It may also include "dual use" items. An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes:# to signal disapproval of behavior by a certain actor,# to maintain neutral standing in an ongoing conflict, or...
in order to allow the poorly armed Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
to arm with imported weapons, thus balancing the conflict, along with the threat of air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs. The policy was initially called for in the summer of 1992 by the then Bosnian
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
President
Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the head of state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.-Overview:...
Alija Izetbegović
Alija Izetbegovic
Alija Izetbegović was a Bosniak activist, lawyer, author, philosopher and politician, who, in 1990, became the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000...
., and later adopted by several US Senators including Joseph Biden. After initially opposing the policy, Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
adopted it as a part of his 1992 campaign platform, in an effort to distance himself from George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
on foreign policy.
United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Warren Christopher
Warren Christopher
Warren Minor Christopher was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician. During Bill Clinton's first term as President, Christopher served as the 63rd Secretary of State. He also served as Deputy Attorney General in the Lyndon Johnson administration, and as Deputy Secretary of State in the Jimmy...
visited Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an governments in May 1993 in order to persuade them to support the strategy, which would have required their involvement, but the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
rejected the proposal, fearing that it would endanger UNPROFOR troops and the UNHCR's humanitarian programme.
In 1994, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
and Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
called for the arms embargo to be lifted, but by this time Clinton opposed it because of previous European opposition. It is also reported that Clinton's wife Hillary influenced this decision. Several important political figures had called for military intervention, including US Senator Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
and former British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
.
The conflict was finally brought to an end in 1995 by the Dayton Agreement
Dayton Agreement
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
, following NATO bombing of Bosnian Serb Army positions.
Background
At the beginning of the Yugoslav War, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 713United Nations Security Council Resolution 713
United Nations Security Council Resolution 713, adopted unanimously on September 25, 1991, after receiving representations from a number of Member States and commending the efforts of the European Community in the region, the Council decided to impose, under Chapter VII, an arms embargo on the...
on September 25, 1991. The resolution imposed an international arms embargo on all Yugoslav territories, in an effort to prevent escalating violence. At the time the embargo was imposed, only the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), which was believed to be neutral, had significant supplies of heavy weapons; however, as the conflict progressed the Army fell under Serb control. As a result, Serb forces Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
and Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
inherited large weapons stockpiles from the JNA, leaving Croatia and Bosnia struggling with what they've captured during war Battle of the Barracks
Battle of the Barracks
Battle of the barracks - sometimes also called War for the barracks - is a term given to a series of engagements that took place throughout Croatia as part of the Croatian War of Independence during 1991, with the most important fighting in September...
or smuggled under difficult conditions. Thus, the arms embargo "cemented an imbalance in weaponry" among the sides in the conflict.
In response to the uneven situation, President Izetbegović and the Bosnian government made repeated calls to lift the arms embargo, so that they could arm their country to resist the Serbs. Izetbegović and other also claimed that the embargo was an illegal violation of the Bosnian right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
Spread of the idea
Starting in 1992, a number of US foreign policyForeign policy
A country's foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu. The approaches are strategically employed to interact with other countries...
experts and politicians began to warm to the idea of lifting the arms embargo to even the playing field, and a number advocated air strikes against the Serbs, as they were perceived to be the principal aggressors. In July 1992, Bill Clinton adopted the idea of lift and strike as part of his call for "real leadership" in Bosnia, an effort to strengthen his foreign policy platform. While President Bush was seen as a foreign policy expert, the Clinton team identified Bosnia as one of his weaknesses. Clinton "called on Mr. Bush to seek United Nations authorization of selective bombing of Serbian targets in Bosnia", and delivered strong rhetoric on the Bosnian crisis. In early August, in response to Congressional debate, Clinton declared himself in favor "of lifting the arms embargo on the former Yuogslav republics of Bosnia and Croatia."
Throughout August 1992, the "lift and strike" idea began to catch on in the press. New York Times correspondent Leslie Gelb
Leslie Gelb
Leslie Howard Gelb is a former correspondent for The New York Times and is currently President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is author of published by HarperCollins in March 2009.-Background:...
proposed that US officials could "threaten air strikes against targets in Serbia...and threaten to arm the virtually defenseless Muslims...to discourage Serbia from spreading its policy of ethnic cleansing". Also, in late August, Senator George J. Mitchell
George J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell, Jr., is the former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace under the Obama administration. A Democrat, Mitchell was a United States Senator who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995...
met with President Izetbegović, and after the meeting told reporters "that Izetbegović had made 'a very strong case that an arms embargo freezing a military imbalance in place was inherently unjust."
Growing support for the idea culminated in Senate Resolution 341 on September 16, 1992, which called on the President to end the arms embargo.