The head of the U.S. forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina says that continued U.S. contribution to the peacekeeping effort is important since its soldiers are "the best-trained, best-led and best-equipped troops in the world. U.S. troops in Bosnia
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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com"Our potential competitors know that. This uniform commands respect wherever it goes," Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack Jr., commander of NATO's Stabilization Force Multinational Division (North), told the Star-Bulletin in an e-mail interview.
Part of Swannack's command includes more than 1,000 soldiers from Schofield Barracks' 25th Infantry Brigade, which left in March for a six-month peacekeeping tour in the Balkans. Russian, Turkish, Finnish and Nordic-Polish soldiers make up the rest of Swannack's multinational force.
The continued participation of the United States in peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia is under scrutiny as the Bush administration seeks protection for U.S. peacekeepers from a new war crimes tribunal.
The United States had threatened earlier to end its participation in a U.N. peacekeeping force if it did not get open-ended immunity for peacekeepers from countries that have not ratified the Rome treaty establishing the court, which came into existence on July 1. The treaty has been signed by 139 countries and ratified by 76.
The new draft U.S. resolution asks the court for a 12-month exemption from investigation or prosecution of peacekeepers and "expresses the intention to renew the request ... for further 12-month periods for as long as may be necessary."
The position has put the Bush administration at odds with its closest allies and the rest of the world.
Last month, Washington vetoed a six-month extension of the 1,535-strong U.N. police training mission in Bosnia and a yearlong extension of the authorization for the 18,000-strong NATO Stabilization Force (SFOR) -- and then gave the missions two reprieves, the latest until this Monday.
At a press conference last week, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the United States remains committed to the NATO force.
"From the U.S. perspective, nothing is going to happen to SFOR," he said. "As the president said very well -- and the words haven't changed and the policy hasn't changed -- in terms of SFOR and NATO, we're in together and out together."
In response to a query from the Star-Bulletin on the continued U.S. presence in Bosnia, Swannack said: "American soldiers are representatives of our society and American values. When soldiers are out on patrol, interacting one-on-one with the local populace, they're role models for a multiethnic society that works extraordinarily well together. It's valuable for the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina to see and understand that.
"There has been much progress toward lasting peace in Bosnia over the past 6 1/2 years since the war ended.
"However, Bosnia-Herzegovina still faces significant problems: It has a weak economy, porous borders, large stockpiles of weapons, fugitive war crimes suspects and fundamental divisions in its society.
"But I do think the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina realize how much the war cost them, and they want a future in which they can work together and prosper as a society rather than continue to fight each other. It's up to the people of Bosnia themselves to make that a reality."
For Army Pfc. Dennis Bartoleme, a 2000 Damien High School graduate and member of the 25th Division in Bosnia, the continued U.S. presence is necessary "since we don't know what will happen to this country if we were to leave."
Bartoleme said in a telephone interview that he believes people in Bosnia "look up to us.
"I especially enjoy helping out the schoolchildren, playing soccer with them and giving them a hand with their schoolwork," said Bartoleme, 20, who is assigned to a company of 100 Schofield Barracks soldiers at Forward Operating Base Connor near the border between the Republic of Srpska and Serbia in northern Bosnia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.