A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

n Elizabeth Taylor , trundled out to play Fred 's insulting mother-in-law , fall

s disappointingly short of imperious . She isn't exactly helped by the mediocre 

bones the screenplay tosses her way . While the movie officially scripted by Ste

ven E. de Souza , Tom Parker and Jim Jennewein labors through its primeval ooze 

, it churns out incessant , dull visual gags , including a Stonehenge-meets-'50s

-America and the `` pigasaurus '' creature under the sink that serves as a garba

ge disposal . It also heaves out unfunny Hollywood `` inside '' jokes : The movi

e opens with a `` Steven Spielrock Presents '' credit ; Halle Berry 's character

 is named Rosetta Stone ; George Lucas ' `` Tar Wars '' is playing at the local 

theater . When , inevitably , Fred locked out of the house by his pet saber-toot

hed tiger thumps the door and yells `` Wilma ! '' , it doesn't bring `` The Flin

tstones '' to a triumphant close . It just sets the audience free . `` The Flint

stones '' is rated PG .

 SARAJEVO , Bosnia-Herzegovina On days when Bosnian Serb rebels have allowed U.N

. troops to patrol the mountainous terrain around Sarajevo , the peacekeepers ha

ve counted at least 20 heavy artillery pieces and seven tanks in violation of a 

NATO-proclaimed no-weapons zone . Despite a threat made more than three months a

go to punish such violations with air strikes , the U.N. . Protection Force is s

till trying to win withdrawal of the offending Serbian armor through negotiation

 . In the eastern enclave of Gorazde , the U.N. mission has set aside another NA

TO ultimatum . Serbian gunmen who invaded the purported U.N. `` safe haven '' in

 April have refused to heed a U.N. order to retreat . But instead of ordering ai

r strikes , the mission has asked the Bosnian government to make a `` goodwill g

esture '' to encourage its attackers to pull back . The U.N. commander for Bosni

a , British Lt. Gen. Michael Rose , has asked the Muslim-led government to withd

raw its lightly armed defense forces from the center of Gorazde an act of capitu

lation requested neither by NATO nor by the U.N. . Security Council . Rose insis

ts that the threat of air strikes against those defying the international commun

ity 's efforts for peace is still credible . But with mounting evidence that the

 mission has neither the will nor the political backing to use force against tra

nsgressors , cease-fires have broken down , fighting has escalated , and U.N. of

ficials have adopted a damage-control strategy that oscillates between understat

ement and outright denial . U.N. mission spokesman Maj. Rob Annink has begun eac

h daily briefing for the past week by describing the situation in Bosnia-Herzego

vina as `` stable , '' while subsequently reporting the following incidents : Se

rbs fired at least 500 artillery shells into the mostly Muslim enclave of Bihac 

, another U.N.-protected area , in the 24 hours before Thursday morning . Govern

ment forces have been on the offensive against Serbs in the central Bosnian town

 of Tesanj , as well as in Olovo and along 100 miles of front line that arcs bet

ween the two flash points . Bosnian Croats and government troops have massed on 

either side of the narrow Serb-held corridor linking conquered areas of eastern 

Bosnia with Serbian spoils farther west . The Croats and Muslims , newly reconci

led allies , appear to be coordinating artillery attacks on the town of Brcko , 

along the vital supply route . Two Serbian tanks entered the weapons exclusion z

one around Sarajevo Monday to attack government forces in the town of Breza . An

other Serbian assault Wednesday against the government town of Pazaric was also 

suspected to have been launched from the zone , which is supposed to be demilita

rized . Tuesday , snipers killed a Bosnian woman riding a bus under U.N. escort 

through Serb-held territory west of Sarajevo . Bosnian government officials said

 she was at least the 40th civilian fatality since NATO proclaimed a cease-fire 

in the area three months ago . Sarajevo has not been under intense bombardment s

ince the February ultimatum , but sniping remains a daily danger and there have 

been increasing instances of `` detonations '' which the U.N. spokesman refuses 

to call shelling . Foreign diplomats in Sarajevo express concern that Rose 's no

t-to-worry approach to collapsing cease-fires and fraying agreements is giving t

he outside world the erroneous impression that the conflict in Bosnia is on the 

mend . `` On the one hand he is putting pressure on the parties to settle this t

hing diplomatically , by refusing to publicly acknowledge what is going on , '' 

one European envoy said . `` On the other hand , he 's taking a tremendous risk 

of it all blowing up in his face , as it did in Gorazde . '' Rose repeatedly cha

racterized a recent Serbian offensive against that safe area as a `` limited , t

actical maneuver '' to improve the rebels ' bargaining position in stalled peace

 talks . But nearly half the city fell to Serbian gunmen , tens of thousands of 

Muslims were uprooted , and 700 people , mostly Muslim civilians , were killed i

n the sustained artillery attack . Another Western diplomat characterized the U.

N. mission 's attempt to play down the spreading crisis as a consequence of the 

world 's major powers having given the peacekeepers no real option for containin

g it . `` There 's this assumption that Bosnia is already dead and it just needs

 a proper burial , '' the diplomat said . `` The problem with that assumption is

 that Bosnia is not dead , and it 's going to continue fighting . '' Rose warned

 the Bosnian army Tuesday that it should not pursue a military solution to the c

onflict . While shepherding a NATO delegation around some of central Bosnia 's m

ore peaceful venues , Rose told a senior army commander that it would take years

 for the government to get its troops armed and trained for a successful campaig

n to recover lost territory . Government officials say they resent the attitude 

that they should accept defeat by a force repeatedly castigated by the U.N. . Se

curity Council as the war 's instigator . `` The problem is that the basic aim o

f the mission from the beginning has been to see us capitulate , '' said Bosnian

 Information Minister Ivo Knezevic . `` All their calculations have been based o

n this assumption . We 've blown all their plans because we do not accept this .

 This is why we have become such an irritation to the powerbrokers of the world 

. ''

 LOS ANGELES The 67 men of the Los Angeles Police Department 's Special Weapons 

and Tactics unit are members of the department 's most exclusive club . Handpick

ed for the duty after passing rigorous entrance requirements , they train using 

live ammunition and confront armed and barricaded suspects at the rate of more t

han one a week . For a quarter-century , SWAT has occupied a unique place in the

 Police Department and the public imagination a group of virtual soldiers embedd

ed in a police agency , their missions among the most demanding in law enforceme

nt . The original SWAT team was pioneered by the LAPD , and it has grown up ther

e , evolving from a ragtag group of eager volunteers into a tightly disciplined 

group of professionals whose officers train side-by-side with Navy SEALS and Arm

y Green Berets . Insular and intensely proud , SWAT was battered and shaped by e

arly criticism and a pair of nationally renowned shootouts , one of which occurr

ed 20 years ago this month . It battled a reputation for militarism , redoubled 

its emphasis on negotiation and emerged as one of the nation 's most widely emul

ated hostage-rescue organizations . Most recently , when a highly regarded femal

e officer was denied entry into the unit , it raised the question of when , if e

ver , SWAT will open its doors to women ; her case is in court and its outcome c

ould again reshape SWAT as it continues to define its place within the LAPD . As

 SWAT has changed , so has the Police Department , which is trying to adopt a mo

re community-oriented style that bears little resemblance to the work SWAT offic

ers perform . But the paramilitary arm of the Police Department remains fully st

affed and in robust health despite the vogue for a kinder , gentler force , desp

ite money problems in municipal government , despite the departure of its godfat

her and founder , former Chief Daryl F. Gates . His successor , Willie L. Willia

ms a police chief better known for his devotion to community policing than his b

elief in special weapons and tactics has expressed his confidence in the unit . 

More important , he has kept it at full strength despite cutbacks in other areas

 of the Police Department and pressure to put more officers on patrol . This sum

mer , SWAT will stand guard against terrorism during the World Cup games , the s

ame function it performed a decade ago during the Summer Olympics . The 1965 Wat

ts riots made a deep impression on the city and its police and no one reacted mo

re strongly than a young commander named Daryl Gates . Convinced that the riots 

proved the need for the LAPD to better counteract sniper fire , Gates pioneered 

SWAT , making the LAPD the nation 's first police department to develop such an 

organization . In the early years , SWAT was informal . Officers continued to wo

rk their regular jobs , they got no bonus pay , and they kept a decidedly low pr

ofile . The officers who staffed SWAT in the early years veterans now refer to t

he team during that period as `` Old SWAT '' were dedicated to the mission but s

ometimes ill-equipped to carry it out . And on Dec. 8 , 1969 , Old SWAT came fac

e-to-face with the Black Panthers . When the officers arrived at a Central Avenu

e stronghold to serve arrest and search warrants , they were greeted with shotgu

n blasts and submachine-gun fire . Over the next five hours , more than 200 Los 

Angeles police officers and a handful of Black Panthers exchanged thousands of r

ounds of gunfire . When it was over , three officers and six Black Panthers were

 hurt . Although no one died , the Black Panther shootout raised deep concerns .

 To do its job correctly , LAPD leaders decided , SWAT needed to be a formal uni

t whose officers trained and worked together full time . In 1971 , Old SWAT beca

me New SWAT , a full-fledged unit under the wing of the department 's Metropolit

an Division . Then , on May 17 , 1974 , the LAPD engaged in the most notorious g

unfight in the history of the organization . That afternoon , three SWAT squads 

, hundreds of other police officers and FBI agents descended on a 54th Street ho

me where they expected to find members of the Symbionese Liberation Army , the g

roup that had kidnapped heiress Patricia Hearst a few months before . For about 

two hours , police and suspects traded shots while news crews broadcast the shoo

tout nationwide . Eventually , the house burned to the ground . Six SLA members 

died , three from gunshots , three from the fire . As the Panther battle had in 

1969 , this major shootout forced the LAPD once again to review the way its SWAT

 officers went about their work . `` When I took over Metro ( a few months after

 the SLA incident ) , there was a lot of sensitivity about SWAT , '' said Jesse 

Brewer , who went on to become an assistant chief and then president of Police C

ommission . `` There was a feeling that we were using military tactics against c

itizens . '' Brewer tightened SWAT 's admission standards , clamped down on disc

ipline , insisted that SWAT officers treat members of the community with respect

 . Under him , the unit replaced its old tear-gas canisters , which were implica

ted in starting the fire that destroyed the SLA headquarters . ( Begin optional 

trim ) All of that helped calm the waters , but the evolution of SWAT reflects a

 constant balancing between the unit 's use of military tactics and the departme

nt 's desire to project a friendly public image . In the mid-1980s , that tensio

n flared up again when SWAT began using a pair of battering ram-equipped small t

anks , known as V-100s , in some confrontations . `` That sent a terrible signal

 , '' said Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. , a prominent Los Angeles attorney and frequen

t police critic . `` It reinforced that whole argument about the LAPD as an occu

pying army . '' Without ever admitting a mistake , the LAPD scaled back the use 

of the tanks . Today they sit mostly idle , and criticism of the unit is mostly 

muted . Cochran and Stephen Yagman , two of the city 's most prominent civil rig

hts lawyers , say they haven't handled any SWAT cases in years . Cochran says hi

s impression is that the unit has improved from its rougher origins . In large m

easure , that is because negotiations or other , less subtle , forms of persuasi

on resolve almost all SWAT situations without gunshots . Still , there are times

 when SWAT officers make the hardest of all decisions in police work : When its 

officers believe they have exhausted all other remedies and feel lives are in da

nger , SWAT will shoot to kill . ( End optional trim ) If SWAT was born in the a

ftermath of the Watts riots , it came of age in the buildup for the 1984 Summer 

Olympics . Confident as ever , Gates announced that SWAT would handle any outbre

ak of terrorism inside the city limits . He sent three of his most trusted offic

ers Lt. Jeff Rogers , who headed the unit at the time , Sgt. Al Preciado and Cap

t. John Higgins to Europe , where they studied counterterrorism units in Israel 

, Italy , France , West Germany , West Berlin and England . `` We came back with

 a whole head full of ideas and a shopping list of what we needed , '' Rogers sa

id . They got it . Some new equipment was purchased by the Olympic Organizing Co

mmittee . Other pieces special poles with mirrors that allow officers to look ar

ound corners without being seen , flashlights that attach to the barrels of rifl

es were invented by officers in the Metro armory . SWAT also revolutionized its 

training . Before the 1984 Olympics , SWAT trained with blanks . Today , SWAT , 

unlike any other unit in the LAPD , uses live ammunition in hostage-rescue train

ing . SWAT officers spend 240 hours a year shooting , climbing , rappelling and 

practicing other tactics . They fire out of helicopters , rappel off the sides o

f some buildings and scale the walls of others . They drop from helicopters onto

 rooftops . It 's grueling , dangerous work , but it underscores a message : Thi

ngs sometimes go wrong ; SWAT needs to be ready when they do . `` You perform li

ke you practice , '' one SWAT cop said . `` For real . ''

 SARAJEVO , Bosnia-Herzegovina Black nylon stockings and patent-leather shoes pe

eking out from beneath Ajla Nuhbegovic 's tunic clash flirtatiously with her hea

d scarf and neck-to-ankle garb . Ajla has every intention of wearing lipstick , 

eye makeup and jewelry when she 's old enough , the enshrouded 12-year-old expla

ins between licks of a dripping ice-cream cone . She shrugs off what some might 

see as an incongruous melding of religious modesty and a young girl 's natural i

nterest in being attractive to boys . `` We have drifted too far from our religi

on . I think girls should dress in this manner , at least until they are 18 , ''

 Ajla insists , contradicting her father 's aside that she can more often be fou

nd in form-fitting leggings and sweat shirts . Her fleeting earnestness provokes

 a look of amused tolerance from her father , Hajrudin , a wry smile that sugges

ts he thinks she is just going through a phase . Ajla may be unevenly absorbing 

the religious instruction offered at the Muslim parochial school she has been at

tending for two years . But amid the hardships of war and the Christian world 's

 growing indifference to the plight of Bosnian Muslims , the desire to express a

 faith that was repressed here for most of this century is becoming more common 

. The Slavs whose ancestors embraced Islam during Ottoman Turkey 's 500-year rul

e are increasingly searching for solace where they can find it , as they continu

e to be targeted by a deadly Serb nationalist campaign of `` ethnic cleansing . 

'' And as Western nations turn their backs on Bosnia because its conflict seems 

too complex to resolve , moderates warn they have no choice but to grasp the han

d of Islam , as long as it remains the only one offered to them . Bosnia 's stre

ets , even in cosmopolitan Sarajevo , are traversed by growing numbers of women 

who dress with at least partial deference to Islamic tradition . Mosques that we

re mostly tourist attractions in the Communist era are crowded with the faithful

 ; Muslim feasts and celebrations are now official holidays . Most obviously , a

nd most worrisome for the non-Muslim majority of Bosnia , is the strengthening b

ond between this secular country in the heart of Europe and fundamentalist Islam

ic nations that have come to its aid out of sympathy for a people endangered bec

ause of their faith . Iran has smuggled weaponry to the Bosnian government defyi

ng a U.N. embargo that most Western countries concede tied the hands of this nat

ion 's defense forces throughout 26 months of assault by heavily armed Serbs . L

ibya has supplied oil when there was no money for imports . Saudi Arabia has ban

krolled pilgrimages to Mecca for 350 invalids and war casualties . And Islamic w

arriors from Afghanistan to Algeria have flocked to Bosnia 's battle zones to fi

ght for Allah , perverting an already beleaguered defense effort into a holy war

 no one in Bosnia wanted . `` We have been waiting for two years for the West to

 help us defeat fascism , for its own interest if not for our benefit , '' says 

Osman Brka , a leader of the Muslim-dominated Party for Democratic Action . `` W

e still hope against hope that America will see it must help us defend the democ

ratic values we share . But we will look to anyone willing to help us , and no o

ne in the West will have the right to blame us if they turned away . '' ( Begin 

optional trim ) Until the Serb rebellion that began in April 1992 threw this for

mer Yugoslav republic into social and economic chaos , Bosnian ties to Islam wer

e tenuous at best . Today 's 2 million Bosnian Muslims are descended from Serbs 

, Croats and a schismatic Christian sect known as the Bogomils who were represse

d by both Catholic and Orthodox Slavs . Their forebears acquiesced to the Turkis

h conquerors ' religion and mores , creating a culture through half a millennium

 distinct from that of the Serbs and Croats . The Muslims , or Bosnjaks , as mos

t preferred to be called , identifying themselves with the territory rather than

 religion , were ruled by the Turks until the Serbs threw off the Ottoman yoke l

ate in the 19th century . While Serbia retained its independence , Bosnia was sw

allowed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire , providing the friction that led to Worl

d War I and the eventual creation of Yugoslavia . The years between the two worl

d wars subjected the Muslims to crude assimilation attempts by both Serbs and Cr

oats , until Communist partisan leader Marshal Tito led the country to victory o

ver Nazi Germany . During his 35-year rule arguably Eastern Europe 's most benev

olent dictatorship Tito imposed peace among the fractious Balkan ethnic groups t

hrough a delicate balance of force and personality . In recognition of their div

ergent lifestyle , Tito conferred the status of a nationality on Bosnian Muslims

 in 1970 . ( End optional trim ) In the twisted rationale of propagandized Serb 

nationalists , the Muslims have `` stolen '' Serb land by taking on a separate i

dentity . The current war in Bosnia is , in the eyes of the rebels , a campaign 

to recover territory lost when Serbian and other Slavic owners converted from Ch

ristianity . To justify their rebellion to the outside world , Bosnian Serb rebe

l leader Radovan Karadzic has repeatedly warned that the presence of Muslims her

e poses a risk of fundamentalist Islam establishing a foothold in Europe . The M

uslim-led government that gained power after 1990 elections has always rejected 

that claim as a cynical scare tactic aimed at defusing Western concern over the 

civilian slaughter and expulsion of Muslims by Serbs as they take territory for 

a Greater Serbia . Serb accusations that other Balkan ethnic groups threaten the

m have been a cornerstone of the expansion plan drafted and executed by strongma

n Slobodan Milosevic . Exaggerated claims that Serb lives were at risk if Croati

a seceded became fact after Milosevic sent the Yugoslav Peoples Army to seize la

nd coveted by the Serbs and to expel Croats , creating a climate of hostility an

d a desire for revenge against the Serbs . Serbian propaganda has for seven year

s accused the Albanian majority in Kosovo province of plotting secession and ann

exation to neighboring Albania . The claim was ludicrous when Albania endured th

e most brutal Stalinist regime in Europe . But two years of democratic reform in

 Albania has coincided with ever-intensifying repression of Kosovo Albanians by 

Serb security forces , making union with Albania genuinely attractive for the Ko

sovo majority . Bosnian government and social leaders insist theirs could never 

become an officially Islamic state . But some concede the stronger ties to Islam

ic countries emerging as a consequence of abandonment by the West play into the 

hands of propagandists in Belgrade . `` We Muslims have never sought to live sep

arately and we still believe the best solution for Bosnia is a country that unit

es all three nations , '' said Husajn Smajic , the mufti of Sarajevo . Smajic de

scribes Bosnia 's Islamic community as unique and more heavily influenced by Eur

ope than other countries with which it shares the faith . War horrors and disapp

ointment in Western indifference to the human rights violations committed agains

t them has driven more Muslims to turn to their religion in this time of crisis