U.S. officials called the secret Iranian presence a direct threat to NATO – the first to emerge against the 60,000 peacekeeping troops. And the discovery came at a time when the White House was already concerned enough to call the Balkan chieftains to a Rome summit – one more trip to the woodshed with U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke. What especially outraged the Americans about the raided camp was that the Bosnians were involved; Washington has been their chief patron. U.S. Adm. Leighton Smith, NATO’s commander in Bosnia, called the camp an “abomination” and angrily rejected Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic’s claim that it was an old intelligence post. As recently as two weeks ago, Izetbegovic had also insisted that all the Iranian fighters were gone, as promised under the Dayton deal. “This is terrorist training activity going on,” Smith said, “and it has direct association with the people in the government.”
The Iranian bases weren’t the only pressing item on the table in Rome. Bosnian Serbs were so outraged over the extradition to The Hague of officers arrested by the Muslims last month that they broke contact with NATO. Last week’s commando raid against Muslims may have helped even the score. Last week the Serbs revived contact with NATO for the first time in a week. But they, too, were under renewed pressure. At the weekend, NATO announced troops had destroyed a Serb antiaircraft gun as part of a crackdown on heavy weapons held in violation of the Dayton deal. Another delicate issue was President Franjo Tudjman’s refusal to make Croats in Bosnia turn over the city of Mostar to a joint Muslim-Croat federation. If the federation were to fall apart, the entire peace accord could unravel.
Still, the U.S. team was upbeat. As the Rome meeting opened, Holbrooke called the new issues mere “bumps in the road.” And the chief negotiator of the Dayton deal was clearly the man to skirt them. But Holbrooke was scheduled to leave government at midweek. The next time things start to fall apart, there’s no guarantee that Washington will be able to call on so skilled a navigator.
