READY TO GO

Mark Thompson reports that the Pentagon expects to send as many as 2,000 American soldiers to Bosnia by next week. "It's part of an enabling force that will set up shop near Tuzla, where the headquarters element of the U.S. sector will be," says Thompson. The military plan calls for an additional 18,000 American troops, mostly from the German-based 1st Armored Division, to supplement a NATO peacekeeping force of 40,000. But those Americans may not get their orders to embark, says Thompson. "The President has put himself into a nasty box by committing the country to this deployment without having asked the country." The White House announced today that President Clinton will address the nation from the Oval Office next Monday evening in an effort to garner public support for the military operation. "But he will have a high hurdle to jump," says Thompson, "given the length of time that we've allowed the slaughter to persist and the general lack of interest in the United States over the Balkan theater." Congressional hearings about the troop deployment are scheduled to begin next week.