Bosnian bunco game. (Correction, Please!).

ITEM: A piece in the Wall Street Journal for March 15th, entitled "Anti-Terrorism Requires Nation Building," calls for indefinite U.S. peacekeeping operations in the Balkans. Journal editorial writer Matthew Kaminski quotes an American general, Gen. Steven Blum, commander of the U.S. forces at Eagle Base in Tuzla, who "makes the most convincing military case for remaining. 'If we leave, this place will implode,' he says. Without his troops here, 'Bosnia would be an even more dangerous place for Europe and for us, because it would be a haven for terrorists.'"

CORRECTION: Some of us did warn that once U.S. forces were installed, the "right time" to pull them out would keep receding. And one does recall that candidate George W. Bush, especially in the second presidential debate, decried the Clinton administration's "nation-building" efforts -- but has stayed the course once in the Oval Office.

There's been an ongoing bunco game played over Bosnia. To get Congress to go along, President Clinton sent American troops into Bosnia -- way back in 1995 -- as part of NATO's Implementation Force (IFOR), with a limited mission and a one-year deadline to leave. The limits were seemingly explicit. Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee: "IFOR will not be responsible for the conduct of humanitarian operations. It will not be a police force. It will not conduct nation building. It will not have the mission of disarming, and it will not move refugees."

After baiting and switching, the mission became anything but limited and the exit deadline was eventually discarded. In fact, the Balkans in general and Bosnia in particular have already been breeding grounds for anti-American terrorists.