HINA Croatian News Agency 20 May 2007
Galbraith: Croatian forces were involved in crimes after Operation Storm
ZAGREB, May 20 (Hina) - The former US ambassador to Croatia, Peter
Galbraith,
has said that the Croatian forces were responsible for crimes committed
after
Operation Storm in the summer of 1995 and that he believes the Croatian
authorities were involved, but declined to say whether it was a joint
criminal
enterprise aimed at driving the Serb population out of Croatia, as alleged
by
prosecutors at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
No one can deny that crimes were committed after Operation Storm, including
steps aimed at preventing the Serbs from returning, Galbraith said on a
Croatian Television show on Sunday afternoon.
In the case of Operation Storm, it was the Croatian forces that looted,
burnt
and killed. I was here at the time of the operation. It was clear that the
Croatian army was in full control and that people who were going in, were
doing
so with the permission of the Croatian army and police, he said.
Galbraith stressed that people from the US Embassy had seen Croatian
soldiers
burning houses.
I think that the involvement of the Croatian authorities in what was going
on
was very clear in that case. It remains to be seen at what level, but the
involvement existed, the former ambassador said.
Galbraith declined to answer the question whether Operation Storm was a
joint
criminal enterprise aimed at driving the Serbs out of the areas of Croatia
that were under Serb occupation at the time, saying that the answer should
be
left to the Hague tribunal, which would make a judgement based on evidence.
Asked about arms shipments from Iran via Croatia to Bosnia-Herzegovina
during
the war in that country despite the international arms embargo that was in
force at the time, Galbraith said that the US administration was aware of
those
shipments, but did not oppose them.
When the then president of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, asked him about the US
position on the arms shipments, Galbraith said he did not have instructions
from Washington regarding that issue.
Speaking of the late Croatian president, Galbraith said that Tudjman was a
great historical figure, a good leader, strict and authoritarian, but that
his actions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and his undemocratic tendencies cost
Croatia dearly.
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Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
