BOSNIA'S "OTHER" TRAGEDY

Despite many thousands of American and other Western soldiers there, the world knows very little about Bosnia's "second" great tragedy. Most of the civilized and informed world knows of genocide and the "ethnic cleansing" that the Serbs have committed against the Bosnia's Muslims. But with the exception of the British TV series "Yugoslavia, Death of a Nation" (and the book by the same name), no one in the "West" (or any other point on the compass) has ever looked in to or explored the possibility that Bosnia's tragedy was an event orchestrated and conspired long before the war started and the term "ethnic cleansing" was introduced by the Serbs. But not only were the Serbs scheming with some other Christian neighbors on how to divide Bosnia among themselves (according to "Yugoslavia, Death of a Nation"), It was the leadership of Bosnia that was a major contributor to Bosnia's dissolution.

There is an ever increasing number of Bosnian organizations and individuals who are beginning to realize that as brutal and bloodthirsty as the Serbs were, their progress at the negotiating table was only possible with the collaboration of Bosnia's President and his associates. Of course that sounds preposterous, but that is the tragedy of it. No one in the West would even consider such possibility, yet it did happen. In the simplest terms possible, no division or legal framework for Bosnia's partition would have been possible had it not been for the eagerness of Bosnian President Izetbegovic to allow the Serbs to keep the areas they would eventually occupy and "ethnically cleanse."

What the Western journalist have missed is that once the Serbs realized that they will get to keep most of Bosnia they succeed in ethnically cleansing, that knowledge itself encouraged them to commit such horrible acts. They were told in Lisbon by the Bosnian President, Alija Izetbegovic (in early 1992, before the war ever started) that Bosnia could be partitioned along ethnic lines. But, since Bosnia had no ethnic lines prior to the Serb onslaught but was a quite a homogenous state, with different religions living side by side throughout Bosnia, the Serbs decided to "take care of that little problem." By killing hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslims (and some Catholics), the Serbs created ethnic lines where they never existed before. What happened in Bosnia isn't much different that if the U.S. were divided in to several smaller countries along the religious lines. And just how many geographical-religious lines are the U.S. divisible by today? Although much smaller (of course), Bosnia was just as homogenous prior to "ethnic cleansing" as the United States are today.

As a matter of fact, the U.N. already recognized Bosnia as a sovereign, multi ethnic state before the war started. The treasonous behavior by the Bosnian President does not exonerate of pardon the genocide that the Serbs have committed, but without Izetbegovic, Bosnia might have still been one united country, at least on paper. With the Dayton agreement, which is nothing more than a face saving attempt by the West to sweep that tragedy "under the rug," Bosnia ceases to exist as a sovereign state. Today's chest beating by the U.S. and some of the other NATO powers regarding the capture of the Serbian (and other) war criminals is more of a distraction ploy to divert from the real problem, which is that Bosnia died in Dayton. Of course it would be imperative to capture and punish all of the war criminals (and not just a few leaders), but that still wouldn't change the fact that Bosnia as a unified country no longer exists, and that is the other real tragedy.

The very first Bosnian organization formed several years ago with that very message as the "reason for its existence," is the Bosnian Congress. It is an organization formed by Bosnian patriots and friends of Bosnia, both Muslim and Christian, whose goal was (and still is) the struggle for a unified Bosnian state, but also to communicate to the Bosnian people that they were betrayed by their own leaders. Only recently has there been an awakening by many Bosnians to the fact that there is no more Bosnia, and that especially in the case of Muslims, they have been betrayed, abandoned and deceived not only by the Western powers in whose sense of honesty and fair-play they placed their futures and their very lives on, but also by their own president.

Several of the leaders of the Bosnian Congress, people whose life has become the relentless struggle for the truth about Bosnia are now living in the United States. All those wishing to learn more about what really happened, and is still happening in Bosnia, should contact one of these gentlemen. Things really aren't what they seem in Bosnia. The truth might not change the sad outcome and the destiny of the Bosnian people, but never the less, the truth must be told.

Stjepan Balog President, Bosnian Relief Committee
Member of the Bosnian Congress - USA
Warren, Michigan (USA)