President Clinton and the War in Bosnia

President Clinton said that the conflict in Bosnia was ultimately for the warring parties to resolve and that "bad things" will continue to happen there "until these folks get tired of killing each other." He was supported by those thinking of the last war – in Vietnam. The war in Bosnia dragged on. The Serbs were engaged in ethnic cleansing, and in 1995 the Srebrenica massacre occurred. A Serb force shelled Sarajevo with mortars, killing 38 civilians and President Clinton changed his mind. He supported a NATO air campaign against the forces around Sarajevo. This was not Vietnam. The goal of the bombing matched circumstances and induced Serbs to negotiate an end to the war. In December 1995 a settlement was signed at Dayton Ohio.