October 23, 2003
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m-col.html
The Real Izetbegovic
Laying to Rest a Mythical Autocrat
by Nebojsa Malic
Sometime in the morning of October 19, Alija Izetbegovic passed away in a
Sarajevo hospital, marking the end of an era for Bosnia. The treatment of
his death spoke volumes about his actions in life. While Muslims mourned the
"father of the nation" and Western press and leaders sang him praises, over
half of Bosnia's population - Croats and Serbs - either continued to ignore
him, or rejoiced at the word of his passing.
Such sentiments are understandable. Izetbegovic had a major impact on all
their lives and destinies, and the manner in which this was the case
dictates to a large extent the feeling about him. But beneath the paeans and
scoffs persists a myth of an Izetbegovic who never was - a public relations
construct for political consumption, markedly different from the old man who
shed his mortal coil Sunday morning.
Brave Savior?
Agence France-Presses described Izetbegovic as a "hero of Muslim
resistance.who led his country to independence," who "won worldwide sympathy
by running the government from sandbagged buildings during the . siege of
Sarajevo," and "walked to his office through the bombardment. under constant
threat from [Serb] artillery and sniper attacks."
But Bosnia became only a ruined protectorate, and Izetbegovic's alleged
heroics were a media ploy. In reality, Izetbegovic ordered thousands of
Sarajevo residents to work and live under constant threat, allowing only
those with special government permits to leave the city, while his family
was sent to safety and he himself retreated into a bunker. If the city was
the Serbs' hostage, its residents were Izetbegovic's.
Man of Tolerance?
BBC's obituary makes Izetbegovic into a victim of Communist repression
(which he may have been) and an activist for religious freedom (which he was
not). His 1983 trial may have been a farce, but he was a member of a Muslim
youth organization that recruited for the Waffen SS during World War Two,
and he did write the "Islamic Declaration" in 1970, in which he argued that:
"The exhaustive definition of the Islamic Order is: the unity of religion
and law, education and force, ideals and interests, spiritual society and
State.the Muslim does not exist at all as an independent individual. [.] It
is not in fact possible for there to be any peace or coexistence between
'the Islamic Religion' and non-Islamic social and political institutions."
This is as explicit as Islamic fundamentalism gets. Oh, there is also the
matter of Muslim soldiers killed in the Bosnian War being called shahaad,
"martyr for the faith," indicating theirs was a Muslim holy war (jihad), not
a struggle for some fictitious multi-ethnic utopia. Izetbegovic requested to
be buried at the main shahaad cemetery in Sarajevo, next to the holy
warriors who died for his vision.
Yet most obituaries dismiss the charge of fundamentalism as something
maliciously concocted by Serbs and Croats, who were "sharpening their
knives, preparing to carve up Bosnia" (BBC) even as Izetbegovic "worked
desperately to preserve [Yugoslavia]" - another bit of contemporary fiction.
Man of Peace?
The Reuters obituary paints Izetbegovic as a peacemaker: "Many observers say
Izetbegovic never wanted war as the price of Bosnia's independence."
Yet here is Izetbegovic, on February 7, 1991: "I would sacrifice peace for a
sovereign Bosnia-Herzegovina. but for that peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina I
would not sacrifice sovereignty." (quoted in Richard Holbrooke, To End A
War, Chapter 2, p. 32)
Holbrooke, a self-confessed and proven admirer of Izetbegovic and his cause,
offers several descriptions of Izetbegovic's prevarication that frustrated
peace efforts. He would know; he and his associates bent over backwards
negotiating on Izetbegovic's behalf at Dayton, while "Grandpa" (as some of
his people called him) constantly frustrated their efforts by rejecting
painfully crafted compromises and always asking for more.
The British Independent went so far as to claim that Izetbegovic's "moment
of triumph" came at the signing of the Dayton Agreement, which "confirmed
the independence and the multi-ethnic character of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
populated by Muslims, Serbs and Croats." Dayton did no such thing, and
Izetbegovic is reported to have signed the agreement in total silence. It
was not a triumph, but a defeat.
The Man Who Never Was
More distortions of reality came from Imperial flunkies, like EU's foreign
policy czar Javier Solana, who called Izetbegovic "a very courageous leader
for his people" who "played an important role in ending the war in his
country." Solana's successor as NATO's Secretary-General, the boorish George
Robertson, claimed Izetbegovic "worked hard to preserve the unity and
independence of [Bosnia]." France's President Jacques Chirac praised the
"political courage he demonstrated in contributing to national
reconciliation." (AFP) And the Iranian government praised Izetbegovic for
"serious attempts to defend. the unity among the residents and various
ethnic races" of Bosnia.
Yet Izetbegovic never did any of these things - indeed, he did the exact
opposite.
Binder's Whitewash
But it is the maddening New York Times obituary where the "media
Izetbegovic" occludes the real man the most. Penned by David Binder, it
offers tantalizing glimpses of truth behind the veils of politically correct
drivel aimed to portray Izetbegovic as a tortured, honest, peace-loving,
spiritual man who fought for freedom by any means necessary, betrayed by
Western powers.
Izetbegovic was hardly honest. According to a famous statement of his, he
thought "one thing in the morning, and something else in the afternoon." He
had support of Western governments, if not always to the extent he wanted.
His relations with Islamic countries were voluntary and eagerly pursued, not
forced by circumstances. He fought for power, not freedom; the "Islamic
Declaration" makes it clear individual freedom meant nothing to him. To him,
peace meant not the absence of violence, but primacy of his violence over
that of others. And his faith, admired by people who have abandoned their
own, served to justify in his mind everything he'd said and done.
The Real 'Grandpa'
Alija Izetbegovic was a complex man: intelligent, cunning, calculated and
driven, yet projecting the image of a simpleton which led both his allies
and his enemies to gravely underestimate him. Journalists and diplomats
genuinely believed his professed reverence for democracy, human rights and
multi-ethnic multi-culturalism, even as all evidence indicated it was
feigned.
He was a man of strong convictions, and an even stronger desire to force
them upon others. Both the "Islamic Declaration" and Islam between the East
and the West, his 1970 pamphlet and 1980 book, reveal a philosophical view
of Islam not as a relationship between individuals and the divine, but as a
system in which society, religion and state become one. No equality, or
peaceful coexistence, was possible for non-believers in such a system, and
he said as much. Izetbegovic's vision of Bosnia was not a multi-ethnic
democracy, but a multi-caste hierarchy of the kind that existed under the
Ottoman Empire, the memories of which were still fresh at his birth in 1925.
Just as Islam dictated Izetbegovic's philosophy, so did his World War Two
experience shape his political relations with Bosnia's Christian majority,
the Serbs and Croats. Between 1941 and 1945, Bosnia was part of the
"Independent State of Croatia," in which Serbs were being persecuted as
fiercely as Jews in the Nazi Reich, among others by the Muslim Waffen SS and
irregulars, whom Izetbegovic supported.
Politically, Alija Izetbegovic was an autocrat. He muscled out the actual
founders of the SDA party before the 1990 election. After the vote, he
sidelined the most popular Muslim politician - Fikret Abdic - to become the
chairman of the executive Presidium, a function later dubbed the "President
of Bosnia." He used people with ease, purging them when they became too
ambitious or too independent. Those who ended up disgraced, beaten or
scarred were lucky. Several others were assassinated or executed.
His power was absolute. Izetbegovic was the Bosnian state. Those who served
the state served him personally, not the phantom Constitution, not the
makeshift flag, not the sham institutions of a non-existent government. This
was hardly the example western obituaries had in mind, but that is what he
really was.
A Legacy and a Choice
Bosnia's history is one of conflicts between its various ethnic and
religious communities, of which the latest was not the worst. But
Izetbegovic's duplicitous ethnic politics - masquerading as democracy,
tolerance and civil society - may have poisoned the well of Bosnian
coexistence for generations. His jihad-waging, multi-ethnic democratic
autocracy is as plausible today as it was in 1992, when Serbs, Croats and
not a few Muslims rejected it as nonsense.
The Great Leader of the Bosnian Muslims may have just died, but his ideas
are very much alive. Thing is, truly free people do not need Great Leaders,
or father figures, or "grandfathers." Those 150,000 people expected at
Izetbegovic's funeral Wednesday have not realized that yet. But if they ever
mean to free themselves from hatred and fear, and live in peace with their
non-Muslim neighbors, they will have to.
Izetbegovic has been laid to rest. His deadly legacy should be, too.
- Nebojsa Malic
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
