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Right from the start, the U.S. has been the shadow belligerent of the Bosnian war. From thousands of miles away, our politicians have been igniting an ethnic conflict which rained devastation on Sarajevo, Tuzla, Gorazde, Bihac and elsewhere. For the war to end, these remote-control warriors must be disarmed.

That's why Jimmy Carter's real peace-making challenges are only beginning. It was no great feat to get the Bosnian warring factions to sign another ceasefire. They had done it 38 times before. Skeptics have also opined that the Bosnian winter will do at least as much to slow down the hostilities as any signed agreement. The real test of Carter's negotiating abilities will come when and if he tries to persuade the White House, the National Security Council, the State Department, and the Congress, to abandon their illusions of a unitary Bosnia in which the Serbs would happily live under the Muslim yoke, just because the U.S. thinks they should.

That's a daunting task, even for someone who used to be one of the would-be global rulers himself. And it is a role to which the former President has not committed himself. Since returning home, he has talked more about ending the baseball strike than the Bosnian war.

"I am more of a missionary than I am a politician," he said during a recent TV interview from the Carter Center in Atlanta. "I never really liked the political world." Add to this his disarming smile, and one can see why Carter earned high marks from the Bosnian Serb leaders, none of whom are professional politicians, either. General Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serbs' top military commander, told this writer immediately after the Carter meeting at Pale that the entire Bosnian Serb leadership, as well as he personally, were "very impressed with Carter and his wife." Yes, Rosalynn took part in all the proceedings. As befits the wife of a missionary.

Carter has also been a long-time member of the Council for Foreign Relations (CFR), the country's most powerful, globalist-leaning foreign policy group, who have plunged America into Vietnam and other misadventures. No wonder Carter, the President, surrounded himself with no fewer than 284 members of the (CFR). Carter's "CFR team" was led by Cyrus Vance, then the Secretary of State, and by Brzezinski, his old pal from the Trilateral Commission, whom Carter had appointed the National Security Advisor.

Even if Radovan Karadzic didn't know all these things (and he should have), his choice of Carter as a mediator may have been a strategic mistake. Seen from an objective vantage point, the less America has to do with the Bosnian conflict, the better off the Serbs will be. The U.S. had already decided to pull back from its aggressive anti-Serb stance. So why did Karadzic want to draw Washington back into the thick of things again?

Despite the suddenness with which Carter's mediation in Bosnia was announced, the idea was actually not new. Sources close to the situation on both sides of the Atlantic said that something like this was being considered for months.

So why now? "The Serbs (read Karadzic) were ready to make concessions but nobody was listening," explained a former senior Western diplomat with many years of experience in the Balkans.

The Clinton administration, on the other hand, sobered by the presence of Russian missile systems in Serb hands, gave up on the idea of NATO bombing the Serbs into submission.

Suddenly, an old idea was revived as a way for both parties to compromise without losing face. Karadzic announced his invitation for Carter to come to Pale on CNN on December 14. Clinton, having been already briefed about it by Carter, also nodded to the idea.

In the end, Carter's visit was the greatest media coup staged by the Bosnian Serbs since the start of the war. But the White House got its licks in, too. They added Zagreb, (Muslim) Sarajevo and Belgrade to Carter's itinerary, thus diminishing the PR value to the Serbs.

"All (Balkan) parties play for the cameras," noted the veteran Western diplomat. "They all have to save face, somehow or other. They all play for maximum solution. They love the fact that they are now on the world stage. They were nobodies before; most of them will be nobodies when it's all over with. Meanwhile, their people are suffering."

How true...

For, when the camera lights are turned off, the cold reality returns: "Permanent peace will come to Bosnia only when one of two things happen: (1) One belligerent is defeated on the battlefield; (2) The U.S. government, including the Congress, quits giving the Muslims false hopes that Uncle Sam will somehow save them, either militarily or politically."

So unless Carter commits all his waking hours to the latter goal, his Bosnia trip will go down in history as a "Trojan Horse"-type diversion for the benefit of the devious, rather than a mission by a real peacemaker for good of the humanity. r

PHOENIX, Dec. 27, 1994 - "Dear Mr. President:

Any time someone is attacked simultaneously both by the political left (Washington Post, New York Times), and the right (Washington Times, Wall Street Journal), you know that such a person must be doing something right! Your recent trip to Bosnia has opened up the eyes of many Americans, perhaps for the first time, to the real truth in that tragic conflict. No wonder the U.S. editors, commentators and columnists, who have so brazenly emasculated the truth in the last five years, are reacting like the emperor in the "Emperor Who Had No Clothes"-tale - with shock and dismay that somebody dared expose so publicly, what they thought, was their little secret.

For that alone, any of us who are dedicated to ensuring the fairness and balanced analysis of foreign affairs, owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you for your courage to speak the truth, and for your effort to find a peaceful solution to this world crisis.

Having said that, Mr. President, based on my many years of dealing with Messrs. Karadzic, Milosevic, Gen. Mladic, Patriarch Pavle and other chief protagonists of the Yugoslav drama, it is my humble opinion that all your efforts so far will be for naught unless you continue to engage on the side of the truth and justice. You see, permanent peace will come to Bosnia only when one of two things happen:

(1) One belligerent is defeated on the battlefield;

(2) The U.S. government, including the Congress, quits giving the Muslims false hopes that Uncle Sam will somehow save them, either militarily or politically.

Right from the start, the U.S. has been the shadow belligerent of the Bosnian war. From thousands of miles away, our politicians have been igniting an ethnic conflict which rained devastation on Sarajevo, Tuzla, Gorazde, Bihac and elsewhere. For the war to end, these remote-control warriors must be disarmed.

That's why your real peace-making challenges are only beginning. It was no great feat to get the Bosnian warring factions to sign another ceasefire. They had done it 38 times before. Skeptics have also opined that the Bosnian winter will do at least as much to slow down the hostilities as any signed agreement. The real test of your negotiating abilities will come, if I may respectfully suggest, when and if you try to persuade the White House, the National Security Council, the State Department, and the Congress, to abandon their illusions of a unitary Bosnia in which the Serbs would happily live under the Muslim yoke, just because the "world's only remaining superpower" thinks they should.

I have not heard you commit to this daunting task. But I hope that you will. For, these types of initiatives can often end up like a flash in pan. They can shine brightly for a while, and then they burn themselves out. If that happens in your case, only my above Option (1) will remain for the unfortunate people of Bosnia. Which will make the Yugoslav tragedy even more immense than it has been so far.

Please let me know what, if anything, I can do to help you in your noble peacemaking endeavors. Good luck!"