International Workers Aid picketed Downing Street against UN bombings the ground. They might also begin more systematic attacks on unarmed UN forces - potentially widening the war - or on aid workers.
So while NATO planes would probably return safely to base, the fresh bloodshed triggered by their raids would probably only have begun.
There is no way that the population of Bosnia could be defended against subsequent Serbian revenge attacks, short of a prolonged period of occupation by a truly massive UN force.
This kind of open-ended commitment - undesirable in any case - is not even an option for the UN, which has already fallen thousands short of the numbers of troops asked for by General Rose, and which would be rapidly left stranded if it were bogged down in an unwinnable Vietnam-style situation. Q: But the UN is only there as a peacekeeping force, not to take over. Surely its authority must be upheld if it is to be effective? A: Who controls the UN? Clearly the strings are primarily pulled by the USA, especially now, in the aftermath of the collapse of Stalinism, when the destitute Russian government is unable to use the treasury and diplomatic levers open to the old USSR.
Not since the carnage of the 1950-54 Korean War was passed off as a United Nations effort has the UN been so completely subordinate to the demands of imperialism.
US domination is reflected in
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No.61, April 30, 1994, Page 7