Thursday, May 17, 2012

The truth about Srebrenica finally?

With the recent postponement of the trial of Ratko Mladic in the Hague I have been looking around the Internet to see if any new interesting documents about the so-called "Srebrenica genocide" had come out and I came across a most remarkable documentary which has been online since 2011 but which I only noticed today.  It is a truly remarkable piece of investigation which I urge everybody to watch and download (just in case it it pulled by YouTube).

As some of you know, during the war in Bosnia I had daily access to confidential UNPROFOR information about what was really going on in Bosnia and I would like to say the following about this documentary:

I can confirm many, though not all, of the facts presented here and all those which I cannot confirm are fully consistent with what I know.  In fact, this report is, by far, the best I have ever seen on this topic.

The parts which I cannot confirm are the negotiations and discussions happening inside the Muslim Bosnian military and political leadership.  The part which I can fully confirm is the chronology and details of the Bosnian-Serb entry into Srebrenica and the nature and circumstances of the killing of Bosnian-Muslims by Bosnian-Serb forces.  The figures given in the movie are exactly the ones I am aware of.

I would like to add three elements which are not mentioned in the movie:

a) The Dutch UNPROFOR battalion commander and the UN Secretary-General's Personal Representative Yasushi Akashi made *numerous* request for NATO airpower to stop the Bosnian-Serb forces from entering Srebrenica and all those request were denied by the NATO political leadership.

b) Not all the 5'000+ Bosnian-Muslim solider of the Oric Infantry Brigade (aka " ABiH 2nd Corps 28th Mountain Division") was killed by Bosnian-Serb forces.  Many made it through the mountains and arrived in refugee camps in Tuzla and other cities.

c) Some Bosnian-Muslim civilians who were fleeing with the Oric forces also made it to Tuzla and other areas.  Many disappeared later in the war and their names were added to the list of "victims of the Srebrenica genocide".

The truth is finally coming out, but so many years later does anybody care?

You tell me.

The Saker