"America's role will not be about fighting a war. It will be about helping the people of Bosnia to secure their own peace agreement. This terrible war had challenged our interests and troubled our souls. The people of Bosnia and people all around the world are now looking to America for leadership. So let us lead."

President Clinton, November 27, 1995

WHY AMERICA MUST LEAD TO IMPLEMENT THE PEACE AGREEMENT

1. Standing up for American Values -- Stop the Slaughter from Starting Again

• Before the Peace Agreement, over 260,000 people were killed and over two million were forced to flee their homes. The Bosnian people suffered horrible atrocities: mass executions, ethnic cleansing, rape and terror.
• All three sides -- Bosnians, Croatians, Serbians -- have made a commitment to work for peace.
• Only NATO, led by the United States, can provide the strong force to implement the Peace Agreement.
• If the United States is not there, NATO will not be there, and peace will collapse.

2. Standing up for American Interests -- Keep the Peace in Europe

• Stability in Europe is vital to American security and prosperity.
• Bosnia lies in the heart of Europe. It borders key allies and fragile new democracies. If the fighting resumes, the war could easily spread.
• In WWI and WWII we saw the danger of turning our back on conflict in Europe, delaying our involvement until it was too late to avert a wider war.
• By seizing the opportunity now to see that the Peace Agreement in Bosnia succeeds, we can prevent having to pay a far greater price down the road.

3. Living up to the Promise of American Leadership -- Keep our Commitments

• America brought the parties from the battlefields in Bosnia to the negotiating tables in Dayton.
• American leadership must be there to secure the peace American leadership helped to create.
• If America abdicates its responsibility to peace in Bosnia, American leadership toward peace will be weakened in the Middle East, in Northern Ireland, and throughout the world.

HOW AMERICA MUST LEAD TO IMPLEMENT THE PEACE AGREEMENT

1. America's Mission is to help keep the peace, not to fight a war.

• American troops will supervise the separation of forces and uphold the cease-fire, helping to create the secure conditions in which the parties can keep the peace they have agreed upon.
• America will provide about 20,000 troops (one-third) of the Bosnia Peace Implementation Force (IFOR) to implement the Peace Agreement.
• Risks to Americans will be minimized. All American troops will be under the command of an American general. American troops are well-prepared, thoroughly trained, and will have the authority to respond with overwhelming force to any threat.

2. America's Mission -- IFOR's Mission -- is Clearly Defined

* Maintain the cease-fire Immediately and throughout. Enforce zones of separation between opposing forces in the first 45 days. Supervise the transfer of forces to their appropriate sides in a matter of months. Create conditions for military stabilization and balance in the ensuing months.

3. America's Mission is Limited

• The entire mission will last about one year.
• American troops will not be part of a police force or a nation-building force. Civilian activities and rebuilding will be led simultaneously by others: Economic reconstruction by the European Union; free elections by the Org. for Security and Cooperation in Europe; refugee activity by the UN.