Former State Dept. official speaks at U.

Last August Stephen W. Walker and two of his colleagues resigned from their positions in the State Department because they were frustrated with the U.S. policy in the Bosnia crisis. Wednesday night, Walker spoke about the Bosnia conflict and discussed the role the U.S. has played in the region in the Towne Building. Walker, the executive director of the American Committee to Save Bosnia, said he resigned from the State Department because he did not want to have to tell his children that he was an accomplice to genocide. "We all felt that the blood was on our hands," Walker said. "We had to take a look in the mirror and decide what we're going to do about it." Walker said the Clinton administration is doing very little about the Bosnia situation. He added that the Clinton administration began to misinform the American people about the crisis in July 1992. He said the Clinton administration is incompetent with foreign affairs and criticized Secretary of State Warren Christopher for his handling of the conflict. Clinton gave the Serbians the "green light" with his inaction in Bosnia, Walker said. He said the reason the U.S. is not doing anything about Bosnia is because of "fear of failure." Walker used an analogy of a rape victim to explain the U.S.'s inaction in Bosnia. "It's as if we bound down the rape victim and let the rapist come in and continually rape her," he said. The Serbs violent imperialism is causing this war, he added. And, the public's perception that the crisis is a civil war is inaccurate, he said. "This is not a civil war," he said. "It's an aggressive war to capture 70 percent of Bosnia and eradicate all non-Serbs. This is not an even fight." Walker said if the U.S. fails to act the town of Gorazde and it's 65,000 citizens will be completely destroyed. Before his speech, Walker said he spoke to the mayor of Gorazde on a ham radio. As he spoke to the mayor, a house next door was shelled and 10 people were killed, Walker said. Walker said the mayor of Gorazde ordered for U.S. air strikes of the city. "[The mayor] said, 'I order the U.S. to do air strikes in Gorazde. I'd rather die a quick and peaceful death, instead of the Serbs doing it slowly,'" Walker recalled. He said the way to help the Bosnians is to lift the arms embargo on Bosnia. He also said the Bosnians have two options for defending themselves. One way is to send in U.S. troops, and the other way is for Bosnians to defend themselves. He added that the Bosnians are ready and willing to defend themselves, but they need arms to fight. "If we act now, we'll save ourselves a lot of grief and guilt and intervention in the future," Walker said. He urged the audience to get involved in order to help save Bosnia. "I'm not going to stop until there's peace," he said. "Never again! Never again! I hope we all mean it this time." Students reactions to Walker's speech were full of emotion. Some were excited Walker had come to the University to speak. "I was really impressed by him and what he had to say," College freshman Lisa Shluger said. "Penn has tried to respond to the crisis in Bosnia, but I wish three was more activism in the Penn community and this country in general." The speech was sponsored by the Penn Coalition for Peace in Bosnia.