U.S. Won’t Use Air Power to Stop Gorazde Attacks : Military: But officials suggest some U.N. forces might arrive at the besieged Bosnia city soon.

WASHINGTON —  The Clinton Administration said Thursday that it would not be willing to use U.S. air power to stop Serbian attacks on Gorazde before U.N. peacekeeping troops reach that city in Bosnia-Herzegovina. But officials suggested that some U.N. forces might arrive there soon.

White House National Security Adviser Anthony Lake outlined the Administration position in a rare speech, apparently designed to counter critics’ complaints that the President’s refusal so far to deploy air power has effectively encouraged the Bosnian Serbs to continue their siege.

Lake’s remarks largely repeated the Administration’s longstanding conditions for launching U.S. air strikes--including the maxim that North Atlantic Treaty Organization aircraft would attack only to protect U.N. peacekeeping troops who are threatened.

But officials disclosed that the Administration is pressing British Gen. Michael Rose, the U.N. commander in Bosnia, to rush U.N. forces to the city quickly.

Lake said a U.N. contingent “should soon be on its way” to Gorazde.

Lake also pledged that the Administration will stand by its commitment to send U.S. ground troops into Bosnia as part of a U.N. peace-enforcement operation, if the three warring factions sign a cease-fire agreement that includes plans for a long-term political settlement.

And he asserted that the United States “has distinct interests at stake” in Bosnia to justify “strong American involvement”--from the need to help prevent a widening of the war to stemming a flood of refugees across Europe.

Key U.S. officials billed Lake’s address as the Administration’s first attempt to prepare the American public for the possibility that the United States might send ground troops to Bosnia--particularly in view of recent signs that a peace accord may be imminent.

Even so, that Lake felt compelled to spell out the air-strike policy again reflected the Administration’s difficulty in defending its limited--and complex--approach to the Bosnian conflict in the face of the siege of Gorazde.

Defense Secretary William J. Perry set off a barrage of criticism Sunday when he said that the Administration would not intervene to stop Gorazde from falling to Serbian troops. “We will not enter the war to stop that from happening--that is correct,” Perry asserted.

Almost immediately, State Department officials reportedly took issue with his stance, suggesting that Secretary of State Warren Christopher believes that military action must be considered.

Although Perry and Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who echoed the defense secretary’s views Wednesday, both had left room for air strikes if the situation changed, the Administration again found itself described as sharply divided.

But, ironically, while Lake’s speech Thursday attempted to portray the Administration position as tough, it merely repeated conditions the White House had set previously--without directly addressing Perry’s statements.

“Let me be clear--neither the President nor any of his senior advisers rules out the use of NATO power to help stop attacks such as those against Gorazde,” Lake told students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “We stand by that commitment,” he added later.

He also asserted that, if the Administration ultimately decides to send ground troops to help enforce a peace agreement, it would be “in sufficient mass to get the job done.” If U.S. forces go into Bosnia, “they will go in strong,” he said.

But at the same time, Lake said U.S. forces would only launch air strikes if the sorties were specifically requested by U.N. peacekeeping forces in the area and then only as part of a NATO air armada, acting on behalf of the United Nations.

He also warned that, if the United States sends ground troops to enforce a peace accord, it will set a specific date for pulling them out, as the Administration eventually did in Somalia.

“Our mission will not be open-ended,” he told the students.

The Administration initially said that it had agreed to send about 25,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia--half of a total U.N. force estimated at 50,000 soldiers.

More recently, however, U.S. officials have said that the United States would supply “less than half” of a smaller total force.

Administration officials have said they imposed the strict conditions on deployment of U.S. troops to avoid a protracted war in the Balkans that neither Congress nor the American public is likely to support.