Mission: Peace-Feedback

What users have said about The War in the Balkans

Web posted December 12, 1995

Since we launched our site, we have recieved hundreds of your comments and questions via Email regarding the war in Bosnia. Here is a sampling of what you have said.

Despite the personal risks, it is vital for the US to maintain a presence in Bosnia. American military power is one force all sides in the conflict are willing to respect, if only because they must. More importantly, NATO's future and with it the future of transatlantic ties are dependent upon the Bosnia mission. Not only American leadership, but also cooperation with a very precarious Russia can do nothing but benefit the future of security in Europe. It would be unfortunate if partisian sniping in Congress could undermine that which took two world wars to create.

Name : Jeff Mankoff
Email : jmankoff@uoknor.edu

Why are we getting involved in a religious war? This is "christians"(in name only) againt Moslems. It's been going on ever since the area was invaded by the Moslems, in the post crusade era. We're going in on the side of the Moslem's!?! The timing is really great, we'll be there during the winter when the two sides both want to rest and regroup and when we leave (declaring there is "peace") the two sides will get back to slaughtering each other.

Name : Bill Smith
Email : attmail!smithwr

Name : Ruth McAlister
Email : tyche@whidbey.net

The US needs not make itself the World's policeman. We obviously have more at home that we can handle as it is!

Name : Jeffrey K.Hunt
Email : jeffrey-hunt@uiowa.edu

We don't need to send our troops anywhere. Let's bring home our troops from around the world. We need to get out of the war business and let private business run our economy.

Name : Jerry Sandage
Email : Jesco@gnn.com

I am strongly opposed to sending US troops to Bosnia. Not every world problem requires a US solution. Clinton is sending men and women to a dangerous zone where almost certainly some will die, and for what? To further his image as a "world leader" and a "man of action." This kind of wanton disregard for human life is beneath contempt. If Clinton is so hot on sending people to die in this cause, let him go. It's always easy to expend human lives when they're nothing but numbers on a list. While events in Bosnia are tragic, this action only compounds it.

Name : Rick Fernandez
Email : ricklaw@uclink.berkeley.edu

I am bothered by the idea that we can decide on a whim to ignore our NATO treaty obligations. While we may not agree,we forced the treaty on western europe to deal with the cold war,and now that our NATO allies consider Bosnia a security threat,we can hem and haw weather we want to abide by a treaty we supposedly signed in good faith.

Name : John Ernest Perry II
Email : jp@powernet.net

The decision of the world's military leader to make an end to the Bosnian bloodshed comes far too late. It should be clear that the wounds, which were already bad enough before the beginning of civil war in Yugoslavia, have become unsurmountable barriers for at least the next two decades. The blame is nevertheless not only on the US: Europe has shown that its decision-making rituals work when it comes to Bananas, but beyond that the EU acts worse than any pact in the world. The situation has shown once again that the western world relies on the US to make and keep peace, if the US does not act, nothing will happen. Whatever reasons that has, fact is that the Bosnian tragedy has cost thousands of lives, and it should open our eyes that we have become far too saturated to be moved by pictures of dying children and torn away bodies. And all that is happening some hundred miles away from the european capitals.

Name : Erik Mueffler
Email : E.W.MUEFFLER@LSE.AC.UK

The world should not have interferred with bosnia in the first place now stay away until the people of bosnia now what they want to happen to their country. DON┤T GO.

Name : A.C.J. Snoeren
Email : 101447.2561@compuserve.com

President Clinton's decision to send troops to Bosnia is ill-advised. The people in Bosnia and Serbia have been fighting for years so what is the point for the U.S. wasting more of our boys on another ridiculous cause? Clinton, himself, wasn't willing to fight for our country when it was his turn. The politicians in Washington need to get a grip on the problems of the U.S. and quit trying to save the rest of the world.

Name : Tom Smith
Email : T.A.S@gwis.com

It is unpleasant to have to deal with people who can be regarded as war criminals by their conduct, but sometimes in the modern world it is necessary to just hold your nose and do what has to be done. Maintaining what peace there is should be our primary and only mission, nation building can and should be left to the Bosnians to sort out.

Name : Harry E. Chamberlain
Email : harryc@ids2.idsonline.com

I think the Bosnian crisis isn't a threat to most U.S. interests. However, it is turning rapidly into a foreign policy dilemma due to our involvement with the U.N. and its role in global peacekeeping. Therefore, I think we should send a powerful force into Bosnia, not just a puny 20,000 peacekeeping force, and end the matter quickly so that we won't become bogged down into some futile war of attrition.

Name : Tyler Cheung
Email : cheung@intac.com

I see no reason at all to send our boys over to Bosnia. As you listen to the President speak all his word are fluff. When you try to determine what he really has said it means nothing. This tells me that the real reason for being over there has not been given. If protecting this area and bring peace is so important the president himself should go, like in the old days when the kings would go out infront of their men. I feel that this is nothing more than a Vietnam where the government uses the press to convince us of things that just are not true.

Name : Mike U'Ren
Email : mykeys2u@ix.netcom.com

Regardless of the current situation in Bosnia, one thing is certain... our US troops are there, we must support them 100%!

Name : Peter J. Blouin
Email : 73223.703@compuserve.com

I support our President in his effort to bring peace to the Bosnia Region.. I hope the legislators in Washington are able to get with the program and support this effort in the Bosnia region. I hope the legislators in Washington back this effort at peace.

Name : Orville Damron
Email : odaron@ionet.net

I do not aggree with the President's decision to send troops to Bosnia. The Serbs have already signalled their intention to keep fighting. I think it's a big mistake.

Name : Bill Freihofer
Email : worrydog@accessnv.com

I strongly oppose it. We have no way out. Nobody has thought through the mentality that has kept this war going for the time it has gone on. We all think that, as on TV, EVERYONE will cooperate after some Sylvester Stallone acrobatics, and it will all come out OK before the last commercial. Unfortunately, this is real world.

Name : J. VanZendimer
Email : Jezvz@AOL.COM