Needed: Foreign-Legion Style Peacemakers

The theme in the front-page news analysis ``Why Only US Can Win Peace,'' Dec. 2 - that only the United States can win peace in Bosnia by virtue of its superpower leadership status - ignited a bold concept I'd like to share.

We should take the French Foreign Legion concept and broaden it into a world peacemaker and peackeeper. How? By having the US administer it. The personnel would be recruited from nonaggressive nations. They would be trained, equipped, and logistically supported by the US. In other words, they would be professionals, well paid to undertake the most important job in the world - checking aggression and preserving the peace. And they would all be willing volunteers, albeit well screened, fully aware of the risks.

How would this world force be financed? By assessing a fee on each country applying for assistance. Such funds would be freed up by allowing countries to downsize or eliminate standing armed forces.

Most important, this world peace force would need political independence; it would have to be accountable only to a charter, adopted by at least two-thirds of eligible countries, mandating the organization's purpose and limits of power and action. Fred D. McCutchen, Caledonia, N.Y.

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