It stopped in England to pick up equipment to support British troops, then proceeded toward Croatia. Despite these actions, Perry said the first element of the U.S. policy on Bosnia continues to be to take no side in the war as a combatant. Second is to press for a negotiated peace. Third is to keep the war from spreading. And fourth, he said, is to reduce violence inflicted on civilians.
Critics say America has a moral obligation to enter the war on the Bosnian government side.
Perry opposes such a move, saying it would involve a long war, the deployment of tens of thousands of U.S. troops and thousands of U.S. casualties. U.N. plans call for about 25,000 U.S. service members to be part of a 50,000-strong NATO force that would be required to withdraw U.N. peacekeepers from Bosnia. U.S. troops would be deployed primarily from Europe. To prepare for such a contingency, U.S. Army, Europe, recently deployed more than 4,500 soldiers in Germany for Exercise Mountain Shield. Most of the training was centered at the Grafenw hr Training Area.