As the war in Bosnia grinds on and on, the United Nations needs to either take an active military stance or get out immediately.

The U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina are not doing any good. They are simply getting in the way and stumbling over their own feet, without a clear objective. In the process, they are seriously tarnishing the reputation of the United Nations and may even be prolonging the war.

If the U.N. is going to let atrocities happen, then it has no reason to remain in the heat of battle. Let the war come to an end sooner, instead of letting all the rape, pillaging and murder happen over a longer period of time.

The U.N.’s stance seems to be that it is better to be close by doing nothing than it is to be far away doing nothing. It is vital that a decision be made immediately. Pointlessly leaving peacekeepers in the war zone could easily result in the needless loss of many additional lives.

On the matter of intervention, the U.N. is only halfway there. It knows it should intervene, but it doesn’t know how. A swift strategic air strike with a balanced follow-up partition plan could bring this horrible war to a decisive end.

Failing that, however, the U.N. must prepare to pull out.