Bosnia 94

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-21/news/mn-11474_1_combat-mission


Los Angeles Times


Germany OKs Jets to Cover a U.N. Bosnia Withdrawal : Europe: Possible dispatch of six to eight Tornadoes would be Luftwaffe's first combat mission in 50 years.

December 21, 1994 MARJORIE MILLER TIMES STAFF WRITER

BONN — In a historic move that could end 50 years of foreign military abstinence, the German government on Tuesday agreed to provide NATO with Tornado jet fighters in the event of a withdrawal of U.N. peacekeepers from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Cabinet made the decision in response to a request earlier this month from the NATO supreme commander for Europe, U.S. Gen. George Joulwan.

Although the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United Nations appear committed to strengthening the 23,000 peacekeepers in Bosnia, and the Tornadoes may never be called, the decision is significant for reunified Germany, which is struggling to define its role in post-Communist Europe.

It is also highly emotional. The contribution of six to eight jet fighters would not make Germany a major military player in the Bosnian conflict, but it would mark the Luftwaffe's first foreign combat mission since World War II.

The deployment would be legal under a landmark ruling by the country's highest court last July that Germany may use its armed forces outside the NATO area, in cooperation with international missions and with parliamentary approval.

In its final meeting before Christmas, the Cabinet also offered to provide logistic support to any withdrawal operation in the form of air transport, a mine-sweeping squadron and medical units. But it agreed with Kohl and many opposition leaders that Germany's history prevents it from sending ground troops to the Balkans, where the Nazis installed the brutal Ustasha regime in Croatia and supported the execution of thousands of Serbs during World War II.

Many Germans fear that their military participation could provoke the Serbs and further complicate the situation, expanding the Balkan conflict.

Another reason for their hesitation is that many political analysts blame Germany for igniting the war in the Balkans in the first place with an overly hasty recognition of Croatia and Slovenia when the republics broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Chancellery Minister Friedrich Bohl said NATO will be advised of the German government's decision after Parliament is officially informed. The decision must be ratified by a simple majority in Parliament, where Kohl's three-party coalition holds a 10-seat majority.

The issue has divided the major political parties in recent weeks.

The opposition Social Democratic Party has said it is undecided how it will vote on deployment of the Tornadoes for a withdrawal, but several members have spoken out on both sides of the issue. Their allies in the leftist Greens Party are opposed.

Germany is the only NATO country besides the United States that has the aircraft equipped with sophisticated electronic systems that could neutralize and destroy Serbian antiaircraft missiles during a contested withdrawal. This equipment can detect radar beams from a surface-to-air missile and fire rockets back at the source of the beams.

Bohl said American planes are tied up in Iraq.

Opinion polls have shown that most Germans oppose sending combat planes to Bosnia.

Kohl has argued against that sentiment, saying that as May's 50th anniversary of the Allied victory over Germany approaches--an occasion Germany celebrates as a liberation from Hitler--the country must be prepared to return the support it received from the West to rebuild and the protection it received during the Cold War.










http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-21/news/mn-11465_1_white-house-grounds


Los Angeles Times


Police Wound Attacker in Front of White House

December 21, 1994 PAUL RICHTER and AARON NATHANS TIMES STAFF WRITERS

WASHINGTON — A homeless man brandishing a nine-inch knife was shot by a U.S. Park Police officer in front of the White House Tuesday, marking the third shooting outside the presidential residence in two months.

Marcelino Corniel, 33, a Southern California native who had been camped in adjacent Lafayette Park, was shot in the chest and leg after charging across Pennsylvania Avenue about 9 a.m. and menacing a cordon of U.S. Park Police officers, authorities said. Police saw no indication that Corniel was trying to hurt President Clinton, who was at work in the Oval Office at the time.

Corniel, who remained in very critical condition after surgery Tuesday night, will be charged with assaulting a police officer, the FBI said.

Other people camping in Lafayette Park, which is home to dozens of protesters and drifters, said that Corniel apparently had been angered Tuesday morning by patrolmen who routinely came by to wake them. Corniel jumped out from beneath a soiled blanket, shouting: "I'm going to get you!"

He dashed across the street toward the White House, holding his knife in front of him.

A U.S. Park Police officer called for assistance and grappled with Corniel, whose knife was taped to his left hand. As other officers gathered, they repeatedly demanded that Corniel drop the weapon.

With at least three other officers standing in a semicircle about 10 feet from him, a policeman approached Corniel and demanded again that he drop the knife. Television videotape of the incident shows that Corniel was moving only slightly and not trying to strike the officers at the moment he was shot.

But a Park Police spokesman insisted that Corniel's behavior threatened the officers' lives and that the shooting was justified. The homeless man "still had the knife," said Maj. Robert Hines of the U.S. Park Police. "He was still looking at them. He might have been trying to figure out which one to knife."

After the shots were fired, Corniel collapsed on the sidewalk about 10 feet from the north gate of the White House. He was taken to George Washington University Hospital.

Police characterized the incident as routine urban violence but acknowledged that the string of shootings, along with the crash of a small airplane into the White House in September, produce the kind of attention that could generate copycat incidents.

"There is a contagion theory about these things," said Eric Harnischfeger, Secret Service spokesman. "They can draw in other unbalanced individuals. That's why we don't want to talk about it too much."










http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/w/windtalkers-script-transcript-wind-talkers.html


Windtalkers [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]


Charlie.
Behind you!
Watch out!
My hand!
I got you.
Goddamn!
We're running out of ammo.
We've got to get out of here.
Move!
Watch out!
Come on!
Come on, you can do it! Come on!
We got nothing, Enders! We're out of ammo!
Joe, nobody else needs to die.
We can go, we can get out of here!
We got orders!
They told us to hold the position,
and that's what we're going to do!
Get up, Marines!
Hold the goddamn position!










http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-22/news/mn-11922_1_white-house-official


Los Angeles Times


Clinton Rethinking Staff for Reelection Bid, Officials Say : Politics: New aides may supplant directors of '92 campaign. President is described as 'madder than hell.'

December 22, 1994 RONALD BROWNSTEIN TIMES POLITICAL WRITER

WASHINGTON — Angry and frustrated over his political reversals and nervous about his prospects in 1996, President Clinton is devising a reelection campaign plan that diminishes the role of the high-profile political consultants who guided his 1992 race, according to senior White House and Democratic Party officials.

In wide-ranging conversations with Democratic leaders and consultants over the last few weeks, Clinton has expressed deep concern about his precarious political standing and sharp disappointment with the mid-term Democratic campaign message that was heavily influenced by pollster Stanley B. Greenberg and media consultant Mandy Grunwald. He also has expressed anger over the huge sums spent by the Democratic National Committee in the unsuccessful Nov. 8 election effort--including large payments to his 1992 consultants.

"He's madder than hell," said one highly placed Democrat recently consulted by Clinton. "The President is now his own campaign manager. He's had it with people telling him how to do it. He's taking charge."










http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-22/news/mn-11919_1_kidney-damage


Los Angeles Times


Long Acetaminophen Use Linked to Kidney Damage : Health: The painkiller is sold mostly under the Tylenol label. Researchers note it is safe and useful in most cases.

December 22, 1994 THOMAS H. MAUGH II TIMES MEDICAL WRITER

The painkiller acetaminophen can severely damage kidneys if it is taken for long periods, according to a new study that reinforces previous fears about the popular drug.

Acetaminophen, most commonly known by the trade name Tylenol, causes an estimated 10% of the 50,000 cases of kidney failure that occur in the United States each year, the researchers report today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Preventing those cases could save the country $700 million a year in health expenses, according to government figures.

An average daily dose of more than one tablet can double the risk of kidney failure, as can the use of more than 1,000 tablets over an extended period, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore.

The report comes only a day after a separate team reported that taking the drug during a fast, either voluntary or caused by illness, can cause serious liver damage.

The two reports represent a major dilemma for the millions of people who require frequent pain relief and who have switched from aspirin to acetaminophen because it was thought to be safer.










1991 film "Flight of the Intruder" DVD video:

00:48:43


US Navy Lieutenant Commander Virgil 'Tiger' Cole - USS Independence CV 62 US Navy A-6 Intruder bombardier navigator: They either have to shut off and lose the missile or eat the Shrike. Even if they do shut off, sometimes the Shrike remembers where they're at. Mean bastards, eh?










http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-21/business/fi-11523_1_windows95-software


Los Angeles Times


Windows95 Debut Delayed Again

December 21, 1994|From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Microsoft Corp. said Tuesday that it will delay introduction of its latest Windows software until August of next year, sending its stock price sliding and disappointing analysts who hope the Windows95 software will give the whole industry a boost.

The Redmond, Wash., software giant said it wants to be sure it has worked out most of the bugs in the product--a highly sensitive issue in the computer industry right now in light of Intel's problems with its Pentium microprocessor. Microsoft appeared to be trying to show that it understands consumer requirements and won't fall into the same trap as Intel.










http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/w/windtalkers-script-transcript-wind-talkers.html


Windtalkers [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]


-Corporal Enders reporting, as ordered, sir.
-At ease.
You've done well as a Marine, Corporal.
Better than you did as a civilian.
Stole a motorbike, crashed it.
Got kicked out of high school.
Assault and battery...
on one Father Crispin O'Donnell.
A priest?
Assistant Principal at Archbishop Keenan
High School, sir, and head disciplinarian.
Public-school boy, myself.
Some minor problems in boot.
A commendation for valor in Shanghai.
And you made a hell of a stand
on the Solomons.










http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-21/news/mn-11465_1_white-house-grounds


Los Angeles Times


Police Wound Attacker in Front of White House

December 21, 1994 PAUL RICHTER and AARON NATHANS TIMES STAFF WRITERS


Television videotape of the incident shows that Corniel was moving only slightly and not trying to strike the officers at the moment he was shot.

But a Park Police spokesman insisted that Corniel's behavior threatened the officers' lives and that the shooting was justified. The homeless man "still had the knife," said Maj. Robert Hines of the U.S. Park Police. "He was still looking at them. He might have been trying to figure out which one to knife."










http://www.snpp.com/episodes/3F08.html

Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming

Original airdate in N.A.: 26-Nov-95


Bart: So, Krusty double crossed you. But your basic plan was pure genius. Where do you get your ideas?

Bob: Oh please.





http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000226/bio

IMDb

The Internet Movie Database

Biography for

Will Smith

Date of Birth

25 September 1968

Birth Name

Willard Christopher Smith Jr.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trick


Confidence trick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A confidence trick (also known as a scam) is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual operating alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty, honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, naïveté, or greed.


Terminology

The perpetrator of a confidence trick is often referred to as a confidence (or "con") man





http://www.fara.gov/fara-faq.html


THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of JUSTICE


WHAT IS FARA?

FARA is short for the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, 22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF FARA?

The purpose of FARA is to insure that the U.S. Government and the people of the United States are informed of the source of information (propaganda) and the identity of persons attempting to influence U.S. public opinion, policy, and laws. In 1938, FARA was Congress' response to the large number of German propaganda agents in the pre-WWII U.S..





http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/battlestar

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]

1-08 - Flesh And Bones 12/06/04


http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/battlestar/season1/galactica-108.htm

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

1X08 - FLESH AND BONE

Original Airdate: February 25, 2005 (USA)


Starbuck - We, uh, got the entire avionics package figured out fire control, navigation and I think that I am zeroing in on her F.T.L. Drive.

Adama - I did this in a hurry about three weeks ago. It's an after-action report on Leoben. It's a very clever machine. Manipulative, cunning. The only problem with Leoben isn't that he lies, that'd be too easy. It's that he mixes lies with truth.





http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0583047/quotes

IMDb


Memorable quotes for

"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]

The Fresh Prince Project (1990) [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]


Will: [when Will first arrives at the Banks' house] Hey, Uncle Phil! [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]

[hugs Geoffrey]

Geoffrey: I am not your Uncle Philip.










http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-21/news/mn-11478_1_u-s-air-force


Los Angeles Times


Charges in Iraq 'Friendly Fire' Incident Are Dismissed : Military: Twenty-six died in two downed helicopters. U.S. pilot cleared. Air Force now faces PR problem.

December 21, 1994 MARY WILLIAMS WALSH and ART PINE TIMES STAFF WRITERS

BERLIN — An Air Force major general on Tuesday dismissed all charges of dereliction and negligent homicide against Lt. Col. Randy W. May, the F-15 fighter pilot involved in the fatal downing of two U.S. Army helicopters over Iraq last spring in one of the worst "friendly fire" cases in U.S. military history.

Maj. Gen. Eugene D. Santarelli, the 17th Air Force commander who has final authority in the case, based his decision on a recommendation made last month by the lead investigating officer. The dismissal ends the possibility of criminal disciplinary actions against any of the Europe-based U.S. Air Force personnel who were involved in the incident.

May, 41, a decorated pilot with almost 20 years of service with the Air Force, had been charged with 26 counts of negligent homicide for his role in the shoot-down, in which 26 people--everybody in the two helicopters--were killed. He was also charged with two counts of dereliction of duty.

A member of the Germany-based 53rd Fighter Squadron, May had been assigned to patrol the air space over northern Iraq in an effort to enforce a U.N.-ordered ban on Iraqi military flights there.

On April 14, he and his lead pilot, Capt. Eric A. Wickson, spotted two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters, mistook them for Iraqi Hinds and shot them down.

In addition to the 15 Americans on board, five Kurds working for the United States and six military officials from Britain, France and Turkey were killed.

Initial investigations suggested that May had failed to respond correctly when lead pilot Wickson asked him to confirm that the helicopters were Iraqi.

But the Air Force said Tuesday that Santarelli dismissed the charges because May had "followed proper procedures in yielding control of the action to his lead pilot."

Throughout the investigation, May has stated that Wickson had told him there were two enemy helicopters in the "no-fly" zone, and that he saw nothing to indicate that this was incorrect.

The action Tuesday left one relatively low-ranking officer, a U.S.-based captain, as the only official to face a court-martial over the shoot-down, which authorities have conceded resulted from a series of blunders reaching far up into the chain of command.

The captain, Jim Wang, had headed the Airborne Warning and Control System plane crew that was supposed to have kept track of all aircraft in the region and to have warned the patrolling F-15s that the helicopters were American, not Iraqi.

The Air Force announced on Monday that Wang will face a court-martial on three counts of dereliction of duty but dismissed similar charges against two majors and two lieutenants who were also aboard the AWACS plane.










"Earth 2" [ RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS US Title 18 ]

"Moon Cross"

Sunday 5 February 1995

Episode 10 Season 1 DVD video:

00:15:58


Alonzo Solace: [ narrating ] It wasn't until later that I realized this was what I had been dreaming about - Moon Cross. It was a special season when Terrians perform a ritual they called "going in." Going back to the earth. What we call dying, I guess.










http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-21/news/mn-11473_1_bosnian-serb


Los Angeles Times


Carter Announces Bosnia Cease-Fire Agreement : Balkans: Truce begins Friday, he says after shaky start with rebel Serbs. Diplomats remain skeptical.

December 21, 1994 DEAN E. MURPHY TIMES STAFF WRITER

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The Bosnian Serbs and the Muslim-led Bosnian government have agreed to begin a cease-fire on Friday as a small first step toward ending the 32-month civil war, former President Jimmy Carter announced Tuesday.

The modest agreement--one of many proposed cease-fires over the course of the war--came after an unscheduled second round of meetings between Carter and the Bosnian Serb leadership in nearby Pale. Carter called the extra session after conflicting claims about the results of their high-profile talks on Monday threatened to sink his entire peace mission.

Carter announced Monday that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic had agreed to an immediate cease-fire, but Karadzic backed away from the claim a few hours later.

The Bosnian government was so angered by the theatrics that President Alija Izetbegovic refused to meet with Carter when he returned to Sarajevo late Monday, choosing to make the former U.S. President wait until morning, sources said.

"We have had this character 2 1/2 years, and he lies every day," said Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic, referring to Karadzic. "Make sure that you know with whom you deal."

Carter, said to be alarmed and betrayed by Karadzic's antics on Monday, made Tuesday's cease-fire announcement in Pale standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

After driving the mountainous road to Sarajevo, Carter repeated the announcement at the airport en route to Belgrade, where he plans to hold talks with Serbian leaders.

"There will be a complete cease-fire in all of Bosnia-Herzegovina, including Bihac, to go into effect at noon on Dec. 23," Carter said. "This cease-fire is to be completely monitored, without interference, by UNPROFOR (U.N. Protection Force) troops, interposing themselves between the opposing military units wherever necessary."

In The Hague on Tuesday, a two-day informal meeting of defense chiefs from 28 countries agreed on measures aimed at strengthening the U.N. force. At a news conference after the meeting, Lt. Gen. H.G.B. van den Breemen, chief of the Dutch Defense Staff, declined to give details on the measures.

It seemed clear the proposals carried at least the potential to make the U.N. force stronger and more effective, but they must still be studied by national governments and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and then approved by the United Nations, which so far has been extremely reluctant to employ force.

Van den Breemen said the chiefs had discussed, and apparently recommended to their governments, the use of aircraft and more firepower to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians trapped by the war.

"We talked about helicopters and armed escort helicopters," he said.

Such escort aircraft would probably be provided by NATO countries.

The tenor of Van den Breemen's remarks hinted strongly that the military chiefs recommended helicoptering supplies over roadblocks and permitting armed escort aircraft to attack anyone attempting to interfere.

The Dutch general also said the agreed proposals would mean adding to the U.N. force's troop strength.

According to Carter's announcement, the cease-fire would last until Jan. 1, during which time the warring sides would negotiate the details of a proposed four-month cessation of hostilities. If the two sides agree to that temporary peace, they will then turn their attention toward transforming the agreement into a permanent end of the war.

"We don't need more negotiations; we need results," one unimpressed Western diplomat said. "One has to be very doubtful this will go anyplace."

The diplomat and others described the process set up by Carter as fragile and ridden with potential pitfalls, especially since the former President failed to resolve what has been the most intractable obstacle to peace: the Bosnian Serb refusal to accept the Contact Group peace plan.

"In that key and critical area, I think they are still 180 degrees apart," a U.N. official said. "The whole basis of negotiations is still in dispute."

The Contact Group plan, drawn up by the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia, calls for dividing Bosnia about in half between the Muslim-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serbs.

The Bosnian government and neighboring Serbia have agreed to the international plan, but the Bosnian Serbs, who would have to give up one-third of the territory they now control, have repeatedly rejected it.

The United States and other backers of the Contact Group plan have described it as a take-it-or-leave-it proposal that must be accepted by all sides before any of it can be revised or amended. The Bosnian Serbs have said they would consider the plan only if it could be renegotiated.



http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-21/news/mn-11473_1_bosnian-serb/2


Los Angeles Times


(Page 2 of 2)

Carter Announces Bosnia Cease-Fire Agreement : Balkans: Truce begins Friday, he says after shaky start with rebel Serbs. Diplomats remain skeptical.

December 21, 1994 DEAN E. MURPHY TIMES STAFF WRITER

Unable to reach consensus, Carter included the language from both sides in a written summary of agreements reached during his two-day visit but said he could not "detect any significant difference" between them.

"That is a difference in semantics that I have not been able to overcome," he said, adding after reading a note passed to him by his wife, "and I am obviously not taking sides as to whose language is best."

Carter's admission that he could not distinguish between the two positions sent chills through Bosnian government offices here.

Since Carter announced that he would visit their country, Bosnian officials have openly questioned whether his presence would be used by the Bosnian Serbs to undermine the Contact Group plan.

A U.N. official said that even if Carter secures a cease-fire Friday, it will have come at a high price.

"We're going to wait for the next two days" to see if there is a cease-fire, the official said. "Maybe it holds out a very slim chance of forward momentum, but it comes at the great cost of handing Karadzic a propaganda coup and muddying the international community's stance on Bosnia."

A cease-fire could significantly benefit the people of the Muslim enclave of Bihac in northwest Bosnia, which came under heavy shelling again Tuesday. Unconfirmed reports said there were many casualties in the area, including a 10-year-old boy who was killed.

But for a longer truce to take hold, Carter's deal requires the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers between the two warring sides.

U.N. officials said Tuesday that there are few available soldiers, and NATO military chiefs meeting in the Netherlands did not seem inclined to send additional peacekeepers.










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 04/20/09 3:45 AM
But the Time War did begin.

We always knew George Bush was an instigator of traitorous treasonous deadly war against the U.S. federal government but the best traitors are always the hardest to catch.

JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 04/20/09 3:47 AM
As I explained to President Carter in late 1979, who can really say why the car to drive me to the Tehran embassy on 11/4/1979 was 15 minutes late that day.

I thought to myself again today about how maybe I should ponder over how I decided to wait for that late transportation that particular day, which I would not have on any other day.

JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 04/20/09 3:50 AM
Only because I waited for that late transportation that day did I avoid being captured with the embassy staff.

I saw the mob storming the gates as my car arrived.

If the car had been on time and 15 minutes earlier then I would have been inside the embassy and I would have been taken hostage with the rest of the embassy staff.

JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 04/20/09 3:52 AM
So as I explained to President Carter in 1979 we probably had one or more clandestine operatives within the enemy organization and those secret operatives ensured that my transportation was late so that I was not captured with the rest of the embassy staff.

Or I just got lucky that day.

I elaborated on how I just did not know.

But as I elaborated about whether he was trustworthy I used that incident as an example of how it really did not matter to me whether he was trustworthy or not. I explained that he could arrange for me to leave the hangar deck on any given day and walk straight into the subsonic blades of the tail rotor of a Sea King helicopter and to the point of no one even beginning to question whether I made that mistake on my own and so in terms of the president being trustworthy to me was really a moot point.

JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 04/20/09 4:02 AM
Another point I made to President Carter was to elaborate on how I would pretent to serve as a junior officer while I was actually the most senior officer and that status would give me a great level of insight into how my orders were translating down the junior officer level.

JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 04/20/09 4:07 AM
There is some other observation I wanted to make with these other observations but damned if I can now remember what it was.


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 20 April 2009 excerpt ends]










http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-22/news/mn-11932_1_president-jimmy-carter


Los Angeles Times


All Bosnia POWs to Be Freed, Carter Says : Balkans: Release of prisoners is first step in agreement that former President brokered. He warns pact is fragile.

December 22, 1994 NORMAN KEMPSTER TIMES STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON — Former President Jimmy Carter, returning to the United States from his free-lance attempt to mediate an end to the ethnic conflict in Bosnia, said Wednesday that the warring factions have agreed to release all prisoners of war as a first step toward a negotiated peace.

"Both sides agreed to let the International Red Cross come in, inspect the prisons, inspect all the prison camps and inventory the prisoners. And it calls for an immediate release, total release of all prisoners of war by both sides," Carter said at the Atlanta airport.

At the same time, the former President cautioned that the agreement he brokered between the Muslim-led government and the Bosnian Serb insurgents is fragile, and "the whole thing can very easily come apart." The pact calls for a cease-fire starting Friday, followed by negotiations on a permanent peace and partition of the country between the factions.

The Clinton Administration gave cautious approval to the deal Wednesday. Officials said that if the agreement stops the fighting, it is welcome even if it undermines the partition plan advanced in July by the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia, known collectively as the Contact Group.

State Department spokesman Mike McCurry said Wednesday that the United States believes the Contact Group plan, which would award 51% of the territory to a Muslim-Croat federation and 49% to the Serbs, must be considered the "basis for a settlement."

But other officials conceded that the Serbs, who now hold more than 70% of the country, will enter the talks from a position of strength, making it unlikely that they would agree to give up as much territory as the Contact Group plan requires.



- posted by H.V.O.M - Kerry Wayne Burgess 07:59 AM Pacific Time near Seattle Washington State USA Wednesday 07 August 2013