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It was clear in the spring of 1993 that it was regarded as crucial in Washington that places like Sebrenica, Zepa etc. were not recaptured. That is in Washington. We must ask why there was so much panic in Washington. Meanwhile in Europe it was clear that the leading EEC. countries plus the UN. wanted towns to "protect" as part of "peacekeeping". But this would not work out too well, there was nothing to protect the inhabitants from the Islamic fundamentalist paramilitaries controlling them, people would not be allowed to leave, there would be food shortages, being terrorised etc. But equalling they would be used for propaganda purposes, towns under siege, "protected" by the West through the UN. etc. A massive propaganda campaign was launched using General Mendellin, a French general, and Canadian troops, Britain applying maximum pressure by moving helicopters to Tulsa airport and demanding various ways of "helping" the inhabitants. Sebrenica was about to fall in the spring of 1993, when the French government intervened still further, with agonising news announcements. At this point the Russians - "if we here about Sebrenica any more the whole world will explode" - pressurised the Jugoslavs to negotiate with the UN. Swedish commander. Canadian troops would enter Sebrenica for 24 hours, to disarm the the islamic fundamentalists. They failed to leave, ( or do any disarming ). However, we now know that it was being used for paramilitary and guerrilla raids into the surrounding region with the most horrific attrocities by any standard. Amazingly the "protecting" UN. troops were unable to prevent further such raids in 1995. This does not cover the aspect of Madeleine Albright needing an "trocity" in late spring of 1995 to get her Euro-allies to go along with open attacks by them. --- mart-remote <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK > --------------------------- > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gregory Elich [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 7:36 AM > To: Jim Yarker > Subject: Srebrenica > > Hi Jim, > Ken Freeland asked me about Srebrenica (what > happened?) > Thought you might be interested in my response. > Greg > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gregory Elich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Ken Freeland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 7:31 AM > Subject: Srebrenica > > > > As you know, Srebrenica has been the subject of > one of the most > relentless propaganda campaigns. Unfortunately, it > is not so easy to > separate fact from propaganda in this case, as there > has been very > little independent research. I have quite a bit of > material, and have made a real ffort > to determine as best I can what happened, but even I > can't say > for ure exactly what happened. I do have some > general ideas, even if I > lack exact details in some aspects. > > First, to understand what happened in Srebrenica, > one must look at > the context. That is, in 1993, Bosnian Muslim > troops based in Srebrenica launched > raids on Serbian villages in the surrounding area. > Muslim troops, led by their commander, > Naser Oric, burned down many Serbian > villages, slaughtering the inhabitants. The > villagers were murdered in quite > horrific ways: beheaded, tortured and severely > mutilated. In the late spring of 1993, > counter-attacking Bosnian Serb forces took back the > burned > villages, and discovered several mass graves. > > As the graves were unearthed, it was obvious that > the Serbian civilians had been mutilated > before being killed. Bosnian Serb forces were > determined in 1993 to take Srebrenica > and put in end to these sort of war crimes. > > I have several articles detailing the condition of > the corpses from these mass graves, and I can > ensure you that what was done to those civilians was > horrible beyond imagining. > > In all, over 1,300 murdered Serbian civilians were > unearthed from these mass graves, victims we never > hear about. I also have interview articles with > Zoran > Stankovich, the head of the war crimes committee we > visited in Belgrade > (he was out of town the day we visited). I really > wanted to ask the > committee about this as well as other sites that > Zoran Stankovich had worked on in Bosnia. > > There is also a Washington Post article in which > Naser Oric > bragged to the reporter about slaughtering Serb > civilians, and played > him a video of beheaded and mutilated Serb > civilians. Entertainment, I > suppose. > > Anyway, as Serb forces closed in on Srebrenica, > there was panic in > Washington. Immediately, NATO threatened to bomb > Bosnian Serb > territory if the Serb forces continued their > offensive against Srebrenica. > > This threat stopped the Serb offensive. Some time > later, the UN declared Srebrenica a "safe area," > which would be immune from attack and would be > provided with aid. There were other "safe areas" as > well. What they all had in common was > that Bosnian Muslim forces within the safe areas > could keep their weapons and carry out > offensive actions, but Bosnian Serb forces were > required to refrain from action against these areas. > > During the "safe area" period, Naser Oric ran > Srebrenica as his personal fiefdom. > Humanitarian aid was confiscated by him and sold on > the black > market. He made huge sums of money. I also have an > interview with a > Bosnian Muslim woman from this period, in which she > talks about how she and many other > Muslim women were forced into prostitution by Oric's > men. Again, another profitable venture. > Dissent was also severely punished > by Oric, as he essentially terrorized his own > civilians. > > In the spring and early summer of 1995, Oric > again launched raids on > surround In the spring and early summer of 1995, > Naser Oric once again > launched raids on surrounding Serbian villages, > burning them to the ground and murdering > the inhabitants. This was too much, and Bosnian > Serb forces > pushed Oric's forces back into Srebrenica. Some > prominent Bosnian > Muslim politicians later accused Bosnian Muslim > president Alija Izetbegovich > of intentionally giving up Srebrenica knowing that > there would be > retribution, and that executions would make > excellent propaganda. > > I cannot say for sure whether or not Izetbegovich > ordered that Srebrenica be abandoned, although there > are indications. What we do know is that there were > skirmishes along the outskirts of the town, and that > one night Naser Oric, his officers, and most of his > troops slipped out of the town. The next day, a > small > force of 200 Bosnian Serb forces found that the town > lay open before them. > > There are reports that there was a battle within > Srebrenica between those > Muslim troops which wanted to surrender and those > which did not. It seems > there was such a battle, but I have not been able to > determine the scale of > death. So some deaths resulted from this battle, > although probably the scale > was small. > > Anway, the force of 200 Bosnian Serb troops entered > and took Srebrenica virtually without a fight. > Soon, another 500 Serb troops joined them. > Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic offered the > remaining Muslim leadership their choice of > staying in Srebrenica or staying there. > They chose departure, probably fearing for their > safety. Transportation by > busses was arranged for the women and children, > while the men were > taken for questioning, to determine whether each had > been involved in massacres. Dutch troops based > in Srebrenica directly witnessed 3 executions > and indirectly an apparent 8 further executions. > Apparently things were > pretty quiet that first day, and Serb troops were > handing out candy to Muslim > children. There was gunfire that evening, though. > > I do know that Arkan's paramilitary Tigers arrived > later in the area, and I assume that much of > the gunfire may have come from them. Like many > paramilitary groups, Arkan's Tigers had no > compunction about killing civilians. Most Bosnian > Muslim troops, though, escaped, and there were > running gun battles in the forests as the > Bosnian Muslim troops worked their way, and > fought their way to safety. > > It appears to me that most of the Bosnian Muslim > deaths resulted from these running gun battles. > A large group of Bosnian Muslim soldiers actually > made their way to Yugoslavia (Serbia), where > they were given food and shelter (another thing one > never hears about), and allowed to return home in > safety. > > In the three days following the capture of > Srebrenica there were > some executions. I cannot judge the scale at all, > because here the > propaganda dwarfs the evidence. I assume that > several hundred were executed. > > A Bosnian Croat who was in the Bosnian Serb army > later gave himself up to > the Hague Tribunal, and claimed that he was involved > in the execution of (I > forget exact amount) perhaps a couple of hundred or > so. Later excavations > at the site brought up less than he claimed, but > still === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better http://health.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
