Globo-cop glop.

There must be something in the Oval Office that makes the occupant think he can do whatever he wants when it comes to dispatching U.S. troops. Is there a plaque that reads, DISREGARD THE CONSTITUTION; DODGE RHE CONGRESS? Do outgoing Presidents hand the incoming fellow a globe with a pin stuck in it that says, You ARE HERE; YOU CAN Go ANYWHERE YOU WANT?

Bill Clinton sure seems to be acting that way when it comes to Bosnia. He's committed the United States to sending 20,000 troops to patrol the peace that has yet to be worked out, and he made that commitment without getting Congressional approval. Now he says he might seek such approval, but that if he doesn't get it, he can send the troops anyway.

But this Bosnia commitment may come back to haunt Clinton.

What happens when the first land mines go off, killing U.S. soldiers? What happens if the peace agreement falls apart, and 20,000 U.S. troops are caught in the crossfire? What happens if the Bosnian government forces and the Croatian forces renew their attacks on the Bosnian Serb forces, or if the Bosnian Serbs continue to commit the grossest forms of human-rights abuses? What happens if the Croatians turn on the Bosnian Muslims?

This is a recipe for disaster. And it's a recipe we've been served before. This globo-cop glop is what they always cook up at the White House. Presidents like it, but it's poison to the rest of us.

Yes, there have been horrific brutalities committed in Bosnia. Yes, the Bosnian Serbs have committed most--but by no means all--of these.

The Bosnian Muslim forces have committed a few, and the Croatian forces have committed more than their share of human-rights abuses. They've slain many elderly Serb men in the most gruesome fashion. Alexander Cockburn, writing in The Nation, cites a European Union report that is absolutely chilling. "Many have been shot in the back of the head or had throats slit, others have been mutilated."

The Croatians conducted their own brand of ethnic cleansing, rousting 170,000 Serbs from the Krajina region and burning many of their homes down to the ground. These abuses by the Croatians have fallen on deaf ears. Why? Because they upset the tidy little morality play that the media have conducted on Bosnia. This was supposed to be a clear case of good guy versus bad guy: the Serbs were the bad guys, the Croatians and the Muslims the good guys. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Ask an old Serb with his throat cut.

But don't ask Bill Clinton; he won't tell you. Mum's been the word out of the Clinton Administration, and understandably so, since Administration officials gave the Croatians the green light for their invasion of the Krajina region in the first place. The Administration thought it would be easier to broker a peace agreement once the territorial lines were "cleaner."

It now appears that the United States did more than give the green light. It gave the training, as well. You didn't hear about this while the training was going on. No, that wasn't in the U.S. interest, so the mass media didn't report it. Only when the Administration became alarmed by the extent of Croatia's brutality and the ugliness of its racist attitudes toward the Bosnian Muslims did The New York Times come out with the story of U.S. ties to Croatia.

A U.S. company called Military Professional Resources Inc. provided the training. Ostensibly a private outfit, the company employed General Carl Vuono, who was the U.S. Army chief-of-staff from 1987 to 1992, and General Crosbei Sain, who was commander of the U.S. Army in Europe from 1988 to 1992, the Times reported. Their military sessions were well attended, to say the least: "Every Croatian Government minister turned up," the Times said, including President Franjo Tudjman.

This violates the arms embargo, and it's a gross example of privatizing U.S. military policy. Shades of Oliver North.

Military Professional Resources, by the way, has plaque on its wall in Alexandria, Virginia, t the working definition of fascist philosophy: WAR IS AN UGLY THING, BUT NOT THE UGLIEST OF THINGS. THE DECAYED AND DEGRADED STATE OF MORAL AND PATRIOTIC FEELING WHICH THINKS THAT NOTHING IS WORTH WAR IS MUCH WORSE.

After the hundreds of thousands of deaths have been tallied in Bosnia, after the most grotesque war crimes have been committed, you'd have thought that one lesson would be clear: to do whatever we can to prevent wars from ever starting, and above all, to disarm the world, especially in its most troubled spots.

But this lesson is strangely lost on Washington. Even as the Clinton Administration was helping to broker a ceasefire in Bosnia, it was preparing to stoke the furnaces of war once more. Once the ink is dry on any peace agreement, the Clinton Administration will see to it that the Bosnian military is rearmed and retrained, Defense Secretary William Perry said after a recent NATO defense ministers' meeting.

"The last thing I want to see is an arms race getting started," Perry said, but the United States feels sending arms is necessary for "security and stability." We don't want an arms race, but we're starting one anyway.

According to The Washington Post, the plan is for the United States to hire private security companies to do the training. Just call Military Professional Resources; they're always available.

After this ghastly little European war, the combatants will soon be armed to the gills for another ghastly go-round, thanks to Washington.