http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/28/AR2008072802517.html
LETTERS
Crimes That Need No Exaggeration
Tuesday, July 29, 2008; A16
Richard Holbrooke's July 23 op-ed, "The Face of Evil," sadly repeated
the caricature of Radovan Karadzic originally formed in Western media
in the 1990s. According to this account, Mr. Karadzic eagerly chose
war in Bosnia, ordered the massacre at Srebrenica and caused the death
of "nearly 300,000 people" -- but The Hague now will deliver justice
and closure.
The truth about Mr. Karadzic is bad enough, but the repetition of
these myths demands correction:
· Prior to the war in Bosnia, Mr. Karadzic actually favored and then
signed an E.U.-negotiated peace deal that would have averted war, but
this deal was rejected by Muslims and Croats. U.S. ambassador Warren
Zimmermann later acknowledged that the Karadzic-embraced peace offer
"wasn't bad at all."
· Mr. Karadzic did lead a government responsible for war crimes and
ethnic cleansing -- and therefore should be found guilty in The Hague
-- but there is zero evidence that he ordered, knew in advance of or
supported the massacre in Srebrenica, which was the doing of Ratko
Mladic.
· The death toll in Bosnia is now documented to the name, place and
date of each victim -- and it is several times lower than Mr.
Holbrooke's exaggerated figure, which repeated incorrect estimates
from the 1990s. The actual total is less than 100,000, which includes
39,684 civilians of all ethnicities, of whom 33,070 were Muslim.
· Finally, The Hague recently acquitted both the most notorious
accused Bosnian Muslim, Naser Oric, and the highest-ranked accused
Kosovo Albanian, Ramush Haradinaj, despite the killing of thousands of
Serb civilians. In this light, Mr. Karadzic's conviction, though fully
justified, will smack of "victor's justice" -- more likely to hinder
than to promote long-term reconciliation.
ALAN J. KUPERMAN
Austin
__._,_.___
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
