WHILE BOSNIA BURNS, BILL CLINTON FIDDLES

United States fighter jets under NATO command bombed Serbian positions outside of the Bosnian city of Gorazde last week. President Clinton's words afterward were revealing: "We have no interest in using NATO's air power to affect the outcome of the war."

This comment begs the question: If the United States did not bomb last week to impact the outcome of the Bosnian war, then why did we bomb?

The answer is disturbing.

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The administration at first justified the bombing by announcing UN peacekeepers in the city were threatened. This explanation became transparent when 150 UN peacekeepers in Bosnia were taken hostage Wednesday (16 were released Saturday) and one British observer was killed -- all without repercussion.

Meanwhile, UN officials negotiated an under-cover-of-darkness evacuation for some peacekeepers from Gorazde. And, Serbian forces intensified their bombing, targeting buildings around the UN headquarters -- including the last-operational hospital -- to no response from the West.

Over the weekend, Serbian troops also began shelling the UN-controlled airport in Tuzla -- another UN-designated "safe-area" -- as well as initiating a skirmish with British troops outside of Sarajevo.

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The other reason offered by the administration to explain the bombing: UN resolutions demanded it. President Clinton himself tried to relieve himself of responsibility by saying the UN military commander in Bosnia, British Lt. Gen. Michael Rose, had requested the strikes. The United States, the president said, had little choice but to go along with these requests.

This explanation by the president should concern all Americans. For it means US jets were used not because the interests of the United States were at risk, as determined by our Commander and Chief, but because the United Nations had ordered them to be used. When before has the United States abrogated its control over its own military in such a way?

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The next explanation for the bombing, according to several administration spokespersons, was that the strikes were a "demonstration of our resolve."

For an administration that seems to believe symbolism is everything, the fact that bombing took place at all was enough. Unfortunately, in war (unlike in health care debate, where a sympathetic media seems to reward symbol over reality) the facts of action mean something. And the facts of "our resolve" were that in the two air strikes last week US jets destroyed a tent, a truck and two armored personnel carriers (the total damage inflicted).

Indeed, our resolve WAS demonstrated. The result: Serbian bombings intensified, bombings spread to other areas, British troops were attacked, a British jet was shot down, a damaged French jet barely made it back to its base, 150 UN peacekeepers were taken hostage, UN food envoys were stopped, and...Gorazde fell to the attacking Serbs.

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While all this was going on, the president played golf. He went to a car show. And, in between, he met briefly with his secretary of state, national security adviser, and secretary of defense. The message that came out of their meeting, according to a senior White House official: "We believe they (United Nations diplomats) have made progress" in ending the siege. The fact that Serbian troops were seizing strategic high ground around the city at the time was discounted by the White House as "Serb maneuvering for tactical advantage in negotiations."

A few hours later, in Gorazde, a very different message was being sent as Bosnian Serb forces broke through defense lines and stormed the city.

According to a UN relief worker there (all international media has been forced out), "The BSA (Bosnian Serb Army) has now moved into the city. Tanks are moving in. Panic has struck totally. Our building is full of people fleeing from the outskirts of town." By last night, the city was in the tactical control of the Serbs.

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United States policy in Bosnia is a debacle. Foremost, because there is no policy.

On Sunday morning, the latest White House non-policy statement was, "We are prepared to do whatever Lt. Gen. Michael Rose calls upon us to do." At the same time, administration officials were floating the possibility of relaxing the embargo on Serbia in exchange for troops leaving the city (the same type of message the N. Koreans have rejected while developing a nuclear arsenal).

The credibility of United States international power -- or what is left of it from engagements in Granada, Panama and the Gulf War (and after Somalia, Haiti and N. Korea) -- is quickly withering away. Instead of formulating a strategy, the administration seems more concerned about how its actions are reflected domestically. And if there is an ultimate strategy, it appears to be to wish away the whole ugly problem.

The war in Bosnia is not Whitewater, however. The president can't just tell news organizations to lay off. He can't just call on special interest groups, sympathetic reporters and columnists, and Congressional leaders to defend him. The war in Bosnia is killing people. And the Serbs don't care what the president says, only what he does.

Mr. President, set aside the baseball games, the basketball games, the car shows, the golf, the p.r. town hall meetings, and the celebrity dinners...the world needs a coherent foreign policy from the United States. The world needs America to be in charge of its own military. Or, soon, the world will continue to erupt in turmoil, and we will not have the luxury of being able to stay out of the fight.