Lift and strike (Bosnia)

Lift and strike was the name of a proposal made by the administration of United States President Bill Clinton in 1993, which sought to improve the chances of a political settlement in the Bosnian War. The proposal would have involved lifting the arms embargo that was in place at the time, in order to allow the poorly armed Bosniaks to arm, thus balancing the conflict, along with the threat of air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs.cite book|last=Bacevich|first=Andrew|title=American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of US Diplomacy|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|date=2002|pages=92|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5TND4SpnuxIC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=%22lift+and+strike%22&source=web&ots=3uzTOKdkeV&sig=YP9ayiEbWoqL2hIyJJyeJ8QYmxI&hl=en#PPA92,M1] [cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E0D81339F930A15752C1A963958260|title=Essay: Biting Bosnia's bullet |last=Safire|first=William|date=1995-11-23|publisher="New York Times"|accessdate=2008-08-10] The policy was initially called for in the summer of 1992 by the then Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović.cite book|last=Silber|first=Laura|coauthors=Little, Alan|title=The Death of Yugoslavia|publisher=Penguin/BBC Books|location=London|date=1996|edition=2nd edition|pages=254|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6kJFAAAACAAJ&dq=The+Death+of+Yugoslavia]

United States Secretary of State Warren Christopher visited European governments in May 1993 in order to persuade the to support the strategy, which would have required their involvement, but the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Russia rejected the proposal,cite book|last=Daalder|first=Ivo H.|title=Getting to Dayton: The Making of America's Bosnia Policy|publisher=Brookings Institution|location=Washington, DC|date=2000|pages=14-18|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kNMrdbug4S0C&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=%22Lift+and+strike%22&source=web&ots=5vBPRyvH2W&sig=J5dn6QuR7Bqg3-rsQlnLBlh0mV8&hl=en#PPA14,M1] fearing that it would endanger UNPROFOR troops and the UNHCR's humanitarian programme. [cite book|last=Fenton|first=Neil|title=Understanding the UN Security Council: Coercion Or Consent?|publisher=Ashgate|location=Aldershot|date=2004|pages=157|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SJniAe16FCIC&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=%22lift+and+strike%22&source=web&ots=6HR4FZ6V1L&sig=TaxO4K7q7yrBgT7uFF6se9bqrmg&hl=en#PPA157,M1]

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. [cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E0DA1039F932A25757C0A960958260|title=Oversight evader|last=Safire|first=William|publisher="New York Times"|date=1996-04-11|accessdate=2008-05-16] [cite journal|last=Peceny|first=Mark|coauthors=Sanchez-Terry, Shannon|date=1998|title=Liberal interventionism in Bosnia|journal=The Journal of Conflict Studies|volume=18|issue=1|url=http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/JCS/bin/get.cgi?directory=SPR98/&filename=peceny.html] It is also reported that Clinton's wife Hillary influenced this decision. [cite book|last=Kelley|first=Colleen Elizabeth|title=The Rhetoric of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton: Crisis Management Discourse|publisher=Praeger|location=Westport, CT|date=2001|pages=226|isbn=027596695X|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1j6Xy5FnBzkC&pg=PA226&lpg=PA226&dq=hillary+clinton+%22lift+and+strike%22&source=web&ots=LGtmdFalHD&sig=vKVoAvCQI9cjnOnKtv1npQgWEPg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result] 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 the Bosnian Serb Army.

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