MUNCIE, Ind. -- The decision to use air strikes against Yugoslavia is consistent with U.S. policy not to place American troops in harm’s way, says a Ball State University historian.

When the U.S-led NATO forces began attacks on Yugoslavia March 24, it continued long-standing American policy of substituting technology and finance for manpower, said Kevin Smith, a history professor.

"We often substitute technology and money for lives," Smith said. "Certainly it was the context for Roosevelt's Arsenal of Democracy speech when America was still neutral in World War II. We supplied the British and others with materials in hopes that they’d be able to fend off Germany.

"You could see it in the bombing campaigns in Iraq," he said. "Our leaders are reluctant to push a democracy too far. When a democracy's citizens die in combat, the democracy can respond by insisting upon withdrawal or destruction of the evil enemy, both of which foreclose options."

In an aggressive bid to seek compliance from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, NATO launched air strikes on Serb military and civilian targets.

The offensive came a day after last-ditch diplomatic efforts to resolve the peacefully failed. While the ethnic Albanians signed the peace plan, the Yugoslav government rejected it, opposing a key part of the deal calls for NATO forces to monitor and enforce the accord. The agreement also would give the ethnic Albanians wide political autonomy in Kosovo while keeping the province within Serbia's borders.

Smith said Americans believe that U.S. lives shouldn’t be risked unless it is absolutely necessary.

"There is a frequent American belief that because we live in a democracy, we value the lives of our citizens more deeply than do our adversaries, who are often thought to have a fatalistic response to the bombs raining down on them, he said. "This response is linked to perceptions of differences in differing cultures or religions."

While it is certainly understandable and defensible that American leaders and the public are reluctant to risk American lives, the country’s willingness to inflict damage on civilians is another question, Smith said.

"Because we live in a democracy where we choose our leaders, we think and hope that the response of those hit by bombs should be to turn on the leader who has inflicted this mess on them, but this rarely happens," he said.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Smith by e-mail at ksmith@bsu.edu or by phone at (765) 285-8722.)