BOSNIA . . . SERBS VICTORIOUS?

Tens of thousands of Muslims in the Northwest Bosnian town of Bihac are at the mercy of their Serb enemies, who after aweek-long assaultare poised to overrun the isolated community. The Muslims' hopes grew dimmer this weekend as their allies seemingly abandoned them. Yesterday, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry acknowledged that the Serbs had all but won the 31-month war; today White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta flatly stated the U.S. was not prepared to send troops to fend off the Serbs. "There was bitter disappointment among Muslims when he said that," saysTIME Central Europe Bureau Chief James Graff. "So far they still had hope that the U.S. would come to the rescue." Latest reports from Bihac had Bosnians -- who this past weekend agreed to a U.N.-brokered cease-fire -- in hand-to-hand combat with advancing Serbs while the regional hospital overflowed with wounded and ran short of supplies. U.N. Bangladeshi peacekeepers who, Graff reports, are armed with just one rifle for every four men, have been reduced to taking refuge behind the hospital. Graff says that international peacekeepers are hoping their presence deters victorious Serbs from the kinds of mass killings they've been accused of in the past.As Bihac burns, Western countries continue to fiddle: U.S., British, Russian, French and German foreign ministers have set up a meeting in Brussels Friday, with the (by-now old) objective of a negotiated settlement. In the U.S., Senate Minority leader Robert Dole, following Perry's comments, hurled blame at the British and the French in light of their reluctance to use NATO more aggressively against the Serbs. British officials charged that the criticism was inappropriate coming from "countries who have not provided a single soldier on the ground." SaysBrussels Bureau Chief Jay Branegan: "Dole is, in effect, asking NATO to become the Bosnian air force: That's simply not in the cards. That's not what NATO and the U.N. are here for."Post your opinion on theInternationalbulletin board.