PressInfo #222 - Srebrenica Muslims Remembered,The Rest Silenced

And ignored is the relation between the then Bosniak political and military leadership on the one hand and Al Queda and Islamist networks on the other. Are we really to believe that the West has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi Muslims the last 14 years, but have such passion for and solidarity with Bosnian Muslims? Hardly, it’s more likely that they have to still demonize Serbs because any other attitude and an open recognition of Balkan complexities would place in doubt the simplified black-and-white image of the conflict on which that international community has operated in ex- Yugoslavia since 1991.

Thus, the complicity of the United States and European countries in making the massacre possible politically and militarily is ignored – because it has to be ignored. The rampant violations of the UN arms embargo and the secret arming of the Muslims by the U.S. is another aspect conveniently left unmentioned when covering Srebrenica. See the Dutch government report in the link collection below.

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The only guilty ones mentioned – and condemnned – by the media is Karadzic, Mladic and Milosevic – none of whom have been convicted yet. There is no reason to assume that they are innocent, but isn’t it the norm that anyone shall be considered innocent until proven guilty?

Richard Holbrooke, Pierre-Richard Prosper and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour as well as everybody talking about it in Swedish radio and television know that Karadzic and Mladic is in Serbia-Montenegro and should be handed out by Belgrade. But how come they know that while NATO – the world’s strongest military alliance with most highly developed intelligence-gathering network – has not been able to find these two men over the last 3650 days? And are they unaware that Serbia has accepted that FBI and CIA people have searched them for several months in Serbia without, so far, being able to find them there?

 

Not the failure of “the UN” but of its member states and the Clinton administration

As usual we are told that it was the failure of the “United Nations”. No, it wasn’t that simple. It was the failure of each and all of the member states of the UN. Why? Because instead of making available the 30.000+ troops required to make the designated Safe Areas safe, only Turkey delivered – and only 1.300. And some – the Clinton administration in particular – let these safe areas be filled with soldiers, weapons and ammunition of the Bosnian army. Thus, while protected by refugess all around them inside the ‘safe’ areas, the Muslims could shoot out on Serb villages and soldiers while they were supposed to not respond in kind.

This is not to say that the media coverage about Srebrenica up to July 11 is false or only propaganda. A horrendous crime was done by Serb forces and they must be brought to justice. But we do need some other views both to understand history and promote reconciliation.

 

There is a broader picture and it is available to those who care

There is a broader picture. One less black-and-white and not simplified beyond recognition. One that does not cover up Western peace prevention in the Balkans. One that is broad enough to help us understand how future Srebrenicas can be avoided.

I believe that every human life – not just the life of some – is sacred. To remember Srebrenica is morally right; to forget and to silence other suffering individuals and nations is wrong. To lay the blame collectively on only one party in an extremely complex multi-dimensional civil war that was massively related to international interests is indecent and unfair.

And let’s remember too, today, that politicised and fragmented media-manufactured “truths” easily turn into half lies that serve whatever purposes but human compassion, solidarity and solidarity.

If you are interested in knowing more about Srebrenica than the mainstream media and the international so-called “community” let you know, I suggest you visit some of the links below. They are only a small selection of what is available – by the way also to journalists who care to investigate and seek objective, complex knowledge. Some offer a Serb viewpoint, most don’t. Some are government reports, some are the UN and some are invididual eyewitness reports. The only truth there is is the one we put together ourselves by using as many and as different sources we can. And apply sound judgement in the face of the – ongoing – media war.

 

Answers.com & Wikipedia
History of the Balkans

Wikipedia
The Srebrenica Massacre

Answers.com
Srebrenica Massacre

TFF Feature – Lewis MacKenzie, The Globe & Mail, Thursday July 14, 2005
The Real Story Behind Srebrenica
Two wrongs never made a right, but those moments in history that shame us all because of our indifference should not be viewed in isolation without the context that created them.” A devastating blow to the mainstream media’s biased coverage of the anniversary of the massacre – by a man who was there and knew the wider picture.

Edward S. Herman
The Politics of the Srebrenica Massacre

Richard Aldrich, The Guardian
America Used Islamists to Arms the Bosnian Muslims:
The Srebrenica Report Reveals the Pentagon’s Role in a Dirty War

The Dutch Government’s Srebrenica Report
Srebrenica. A ‘Safe’ Area

IWPR
Srebrenica Report “Lets West Off the Hook”

Mark Danner, The New York Review of Books
Bosnia – The Great Betrayal

The United Nations
The Fall of Srebrenica: Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution 53/55 (1999)

Republika Srpska’s Secretariat for Relations with the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague
Various documents – including “Islamic Fundamentalist’s Global Network-modus operandi-Model Bosnia.”

The Srebrenica Research Group
Report “Srebrenica and the Politics of War Crimes”

www.slobodan-milosevic.org
The Forbidden Srebrenica Report +
U.S. Official Implicated with Bosnian High Representaitve Ashdown in Attempting to Force Fabricated Report on Srebrenica

ICTY, the Hague
The indictment of Karadzic and Mladic

ICTY, the Hague
The indictment of Naser Oric

Answers.com
Alija Izetbegovic (1925-2003) – former president of Bosnia

ICTY, the Hague 2003
UN Official Says No Evidence Connecting Milosevic to Srebrenica Massacre

Carlos Martins Branco, UN political officer
Analysis of the fall of Srebrenica

Carl Bildt on July 6, 2005
The Story of the Fall of Srebrenica

IWPR
Srebrenica: Anatomy of a massacre

 

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