Air Strikes

WASHINGTON -- The Maryland congressional delegation is taking a cautious view toward possible U.S. military action in the former Yugoslavia, with most of the 10 members saying that any intervention should be multilateral, not unilateral.In general, the Marylanders support the stiffened United Nations sanctions against Serbia that went into effect this week, and they support lifting the U.N. arms embargo against the Bosnian government.Most members of the delegation, who report few calls or letters, also favor air strikes -- or, at least serious consideration of air strikes -- against Serbian military targets.

WASHINGTON -- High-level Clinton administration debate over what to do in the Balkans burst further into the open yesterday with Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher posing "very severe" tests for American use of force and a top military officer highlighting the difficulties and uncertain consequences of using air power in Bosnia.Their comments underscored the conflicting pressures on President Clinton as he prepares to announce a stronger policy, and pointed up the arguments he may use if he pulls back again from military action.

For a few hours last night, rap fell silent on Baltimore's V-103 and gospel was stilled on Heaven-600. Country-and-western took a break on WPTX down in Lexington Park and the symphonies paused on WSCL in Salisbury.Gov. William Donald Schaefer and a SWAT team of state officials took to the airwaves on 11 Maryland radio stations and Maryland Public Television to answer listeners' questions on crime.From the moment the phones started ringing at the second Governor's Radio Summit on Violent Street Crime, it appeared that the evening would tap plenty of frustration but generate little consensus and uncover few new ideas.

It is time to exempt the government of Bosnia from the United Nations arms embargo on Yugoslavia. One must resist the temptation to say Muslims of Bosnia, because the defenders of Sarajevo and the Bosnian state have always included ethnic Serbs and Croatians. Reginald Bartholomew, the Clinton administration's special envoy to the region, is already talking of arms for Bosnia.It is time to consider bombing Serbian artillery positions, particularly around Srebrenica and Sarajevo, which are slaughtering civilians.

WASHINGTON -- The United States, joined by Britain and France, is preparing for a possible military strike against Iraq that could occur at any time and without further warning as President Saddam Hussein's belligerence continues."

Brian Lee Mortimer thought he and his wife, Marianne, had things planned out so that he would be home when the couple's second child was born early in January."

WASHINGTON -- Bush administration officials have drawn up plans to use air strikes against any Iraqi military unit that uses poison gas on rebels battling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, senior administration officials said yesterday.The military planning followed the receipt in Washington of U.S. and allied intelligence reports stating that Iraq's high command in Baghdad had issued orders to its military commanders in two Shiite holy cities, Najaf and Karbala, to use chemical weapons to put down uprisings in those cities, administration and allied officials said.

WASHINGTON -- In an unprecedented effort to avert a wider Mideast war, the United States rushed anti-missile batteries to Israel yesterday as allied warplanes continued to search the Iraqi desert for the elusive Scud missile launchers.With the Persian Gulf war now in its fourth day, allied warplanes' heavy bombardment of military targets continued throughout Iraq and occupied Kuwait. U.S. casualties grew to nine missing or presumed dead, officials said.Military leaders confirmed that the allied air campaign had begun to shift south.