Srebrenica: Europe's shame !

[Bosnian_realistiK]

Europe Faces up to its Shame as Srebrenica Buries Dead

[Sergey]

Srebrenica" has become the symbol of evil, and specifically Serb evil. It is commonly described as "a horror without parallel in the history of Europe since the Second World War" in which there was a cold-blooded execution "of at least 8,000 Muslim men and boys. You had deportation, selection, random killings, executions, organized burial, peacekeepers thwarted - in a small area, in a week.

You could find qutes given below in the publications of the Hague trubunal. Let's hear the procecutor MR. HARMON (each string is numbered)

13 March 2000

3 Our evidence will show that a minimum number
4 of 7.574 persons from Srebrenica are missing and
5 presumed dead as a result of the events that I've been
6 describing. Both members of the Bosnian army who were
7 armed and unarmed civilians within the column that was
8 fleeing in the direction of Tuzla were killed by Serb
9 gunners as the column advanced and fought its way
10 through Serb occupied territory. We don't know how
11 many people in this column were killed. The exact
12 number of those killed will never be known to us.
13 These people who were in the column and
14 killed as it advanced towards Tuzla are not, in the
15 legal sense, the victims of the crimes alleged in the
16 indictment. Our indictment, instead, focuses on the
17 fate of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys who
18 were separated in Potocari and were captured by or
19 surrendered to the VRS after they fled from the enclave
20 on the 11th of July.

So 7574 persons missed. No doubt that the number of killed due to gun fire was huge. So even theoretically possible number of 'massacred' is apparently far below 8000 mark. I hope you agree with it.

Also I would like to repeat that Bosnian Serb forces had serious reasons to capture Srebrenica.

7 However, the Bosnian Muslims reorganised
8 themselves and took initiatives to reclaim the town of
9 Srebrenica. In May 1992, they succeeded in this
10 endeavour and continued to attempt to expand control of
11 the territory around Srebrenica and were eventually
12 able to link up with Zepa, a town to the south of
13 Srebrenica. During this period of the conflict,
14 Bosnian Serb civilians suffered. Many were killed,
15 many were driven from their homes, and Bosnian Serb
16 homes were destroyed. On the 7th of January, 1993,
17 Serbian Orthodox Christmas, the village of Kravica was
18 attacked by elements from Srebrenica, and according to
19 Serb sources, many civilians were killed.
20 The events at Kravica galvanised the Bosnian
21 Serb military resolve to extinguish the military threat
22 that was in the enclave, and a Bosnian Serb
23 counter-offensive ensued.

It was a civil war brutal from both sides.

22 Two days later, the 18th of April, 1993, an
23 agreement was signed between the commander of the
24 Bosnian Serb forces, General Ratko Mladic, and the
25 commander of the Bosnia government forces, General

1 Halilovic. Under the terms of this agreement,
2 Srebrenica was to be demilitarised and UNPROFOR troops
3 were permitted to be deployed into the area. On the
4 8th of May, a more comprehensive agreement was signed
5 by these two Generals covering both the Srebrenica
6 enclave and the Zepa enclave.
...
25 Following these resolutions and agreements,

1 an uneasy calm came over the Srebrenica enclave.
2 However, the enclave itself was never fully
3 demilitarised, and an armed unit of the army of
4 Bosnia-Herzegovina remained in it, making forays out of
5 the enclave and attacking Serb targets in order to
6 acquire food and ammunition. Because of the military
7 threat that was posed by the presence of an armed unit
8 within the heart of the Republika Srpska, valuable
9 military assets of the VRS that were needed elsewhere
10 in the war were frozen around the enclave in order to
11 contain the perceived threat that was within the
12 enclave.
13 By 1995, the tide of war had changed, it had
14 shifted against the VRS, and the valuable military
15 assets that were frozen around this enclave were needed
16 elsewhere. Therefore, a decision was taken at the
17 highest political and military levels within the
18 Republika Srpska to attack the safe areas.

So I guess (and I hope that you agree with me) the capture of Srebrenica was not a war crime itself. It was a military operation.

[Sergey]

Let's look into the documents of the tribunal further

17 A. My name is Jene-Rene Ruez, R-u-e-z.
18 Q. Mr. Ruez, what is your current occupation?
19 A. I'm an investigation team leader at the ICTY
...
21 Once they arrived in the area here which is
22 the south-west of Zvornik, ambushes were set to block
23 this column, but these ambushes were not successful.
24 In fact, the column punched through these Serbs
25 positions, managed to capture equipment, anti-aircraft

1 guns, mortars, and even managed to capture Serb
2 prisoners.

It doesn't look as cold-blooded 'massacre' of defenceless Muslims by the Serbs. By the way what is the fate of captured Serbian fighters? Were they freed or exacuted? It is unclear.

7 16th July 1995, it shows how the column managed to
8 break through the lines. In fact, there was some
9 agreement initially to let the column go through, but
10 very quickly this agreement also was breached and
11 combat had to take place in order for that column to
12 pass the Bosnian Serb lines. The date of that event is
13 marked on it. It's the 16th July 1995.

Western mass media prefer to repeat endlessly 8000, 8000, 8000... As for the results of the investigation then public is in fact unaware about them.

[Hmmm]

11 July to be declared as a Day of Commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide

[Steven]

11 July to be declared as a Day of Commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide

You mean it was officially declared to be a Day of Commemoration of the Srebrinica Genocide or you want it to be?

[Hmmm]

I mean declared, my bad writing

[Terry]

you can find here details about how the commemoration day will be organized
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cafeturco.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/duty-of-memory-european-parliament-declares-11-july-day-of-comemoration-of-the-srebrenica-genocide-to-be-celebrated-in-all-eu-countries/">http://cafeturco.wordpress.com/2009/01/ ... countries/</a><!-- m -->

[EurophileAmerican]

I just want to hear opinion of European people about this topic ?!

You could call it a shame to Europe, but this "shame" (including in Kosovo) is viewed as one of the things that lead to the Europeans devolpment of security and defense policy. Europe is now quite capable of deploying its battle groups at the request of the UN Security Council.

Where Srebrenica is a shame is where the Ducth government is abusing its real shame in an anti-Serb policy to keep Serbia out of its rightful place in the European Union.

If Ratko Mladic is a Bosnian Serb in Bosnia, and Serbia is another country - then why the hell is Serbia being asked to "arrest Mladic" if he is in another country?
:quoi