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The following letter, which I am circulating, was
submitted to The Washington Times on 29 September 2002 by Dr. Alex Dragnich.
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Letters Editor
The Washington Times
Jeffrey T. Kuhner, in two separate columns ("Hold The
Hague Accountable," Sept. 9; and "Is Clinton a War Criminal?," Sept. 22) commits
a serious factual error. It concerns the Krajina region of Croatia.
He says that the Serbs seized that area in 1991 and that in 1995 the Croats
"only restored Croatia's territorial integrity." In fact, Krajina was the
Serbs home for centuries, even before the United States existed.
When the Croats drove some 200,000 Serbs from the
Krajina, it was generally reported as the largest ethnic cleansing of all the
Yugoslav wars (Kuhner uses the figure of 150,000, while some insist that it was
at least 300,000.) Most of those who could not move (the ill and infirm)
were killed and in many cases their houses burned.
As Kuhner reports, Croatian General Ante Gotovina was
indicted by The Hague tribunal on charges that he exercised "command
responsibility" over that Croat operation. Because the United States
provided military and technical assistance to the Croats the question arises as
to whether President Clinton might also be indicted.
U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke has provided some
incriminating evidence in his book, To End the War. He reports a meeting
where the late American foreign service officer, Bob Frasure, handed him a note,
referring to the Croat action in Krajina which read in part: "Dick" We
'hired' these guys to be our junkyard dogs because we were desperate. We
need to try to 'control' them." (page 73.)
Later, just before the Dayton talks, when the Croats
were driving the Serbs, Holbrooke reports on a talk he had with Croat
Defense Minister, Gojko Susak, to whom he said: "We can't say this
publicly, but please take Sanski most, Prijedor, and Bosanski Novi. And do
it quickly, before the Serbs regroup." (page 166.)
I am convinced that your readers should know these
facts.
(signature)
Alex N. Dragnich
Professor Emritus
Vanderbilt University
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Title: Message
