Prominent Dutch minister says his government was responsible for Srebrenica genocide

AP ^ | 3/29/2002 | MARCEL VAN DE HOEF

[SKS Snajperi]

The mop-up was hellfire, pure and simple. End of story.

No matter how well planned, Gen M. never suspected that a few companies of RSA infantry(The Mladic Garde were there) could have rendered a full entrenched division into a mob of fleeing fighters. Gen. M. only wished to demilitarize the zone by making it impossible for the execution squads of the 28th BiH to operate.

Mladic wanted to wipe clean the eastern Bosna of Muslim controlled pockets. Once he cleared the "Safe Havens", his troops would not be thinned out. Why? He was pushing for the finale in the late summer. That was going to buy him a few months to negotiate the Muslims into surrendering. If the Muslims werent going to, then he had a month or two to seize more terroritory from the Muslims. The Serbs had 72% terroritory as of Feb 95. Serbs only wanted 64%, they were willing to give up 8% land.

There was one mistake he made and I tried to convey indirectly to HP2, but they went overboard. The UNPROFOR cant take a joke..:)

[wonders]

Hey, according to all parties to the conflict, UPROFOR was a joke. Why do you think they called us "stupid UNPROFORs"? Welcome back, MG(smile)

On a more serious note, the idea of "safe havens" was one of the most stupid the UN was ever sucked into. (Sorry about ending the sentence with a preposition... originally wrote it the proper way, but this way conveys the truth of what happened better.) Do the homework.

Doesn't excuse the UN, though. Just plain darn stupid.

[Gael]

Several questions for you. First, did the Muslims have universal male conscription, and would all men of fighting age in, say, Srebrenica have been in the military (at least in a reserve capacity)? Second, can you give a ballpark estimate of the size of the Muslim garrison in Srebrenica, both before and after Oric pulled out? Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

[SKS Snajperi]

The exact figure is not known, only guestimated. The number was approx. between 2-4,000. Oric took his shooters that had allegiance to him and his agenda. Not sure of the number in that entourage. He left the area largely unhindered from the Serbian side.

All males capable of fighting were "called up". It was chaos and there was fear within Srebrinica. Mass Propoganda was spewed from Orics camp and Sarajevo about what the Serbs "would do". Ham Operators were the worst, as they made up stories in the attempt to draw in NATO airstrikes.