No For Now on Bosnia

SAYING NO TO AN OLD BOSS IS NEVER EASY. STILL, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher refused to endorse a Bosnian peace plan urged on him by two United Nations mediators: Cyrus Vance, his chief in the Carter State Department, and Britain's Lord Owen. Washington objects, saying the plan, which would divide Bosnia into 10 provinces largely along ethnic lines, would leave Serbs in control of areas that they have won by aggression and "ethnic cleansing." The U.S. also fears endless conflicts along province borders that might trap a U.N. peacekeeping force -- one perhaps including American troops -- in a cross-fire among Serbs, Muslims and Croats. Vance and Owen retort that their plan is the only one that might stop the war, and they may be right. Christopher avoided a flat no, pending an American policy review. Military intervention is opposed both by European allies and by the American Pentagon, and it seems doubtful that the U.S. can come up with any more acceptable diplomatic solution.