Posted on 11/24/2004 8:24:24 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
EAGLE BASE, Bosnia (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Wednesday ended a 9-year peacekeeping role in Bosnia but kept on a small contingent to hunt down top war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
"Those are the two guys we want to get," said Brigadier General Timothy Wright, commander of the outgoing 700-strong peace contingent, at a ceremony to end Task Force Eagle.
Bosnian Serb fugitives Karadzic and Mladic will be the "primary focus" of some 150 soldiers who will stay on in Eagle Base in northern Bosnia, he said.
About 100 more will remain at a new NATO headquarters in Sarajevo under Brigadier General Steven Schook, commander of the outgoing Stabilization Force (SFOR).
U.S. soldiers made up a third of NATO's original force of 60,000 which was deployed in Bosnia in December 1995 under the Dayton peace treaty and became the Stabilization Force (SFOR).
SFOR shrank over the years to under 10,000 and will be replaced next week by a European Union Force (EUFOR) of 7,000.
Bosnian Serb wartime leader Karadzic and his military chief Mladic have been indicted for genocide by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica and for the siege of Sarajevo during the 1992-95 war.
Failure to capture them is seen as an embarrassment for NATO, which has arrested 28 suspects in Bosnia since 1997. But the Americans insist they are not giving up.
GUN SALUTE
Three 105mm howitzers fired a salute in the chilly autumn morning before a short ceremony marking the end of the mission which in total involved about 100,000 Americans soldiers over the years from several active and reserve divisions.
U.S. peacekeepers covered the north-eastern part of Bosnia, with Nordic and European troops under their wing, working among other things to secure the return of Muslim refugees expelled by Serbs from eastern Bosnia early in the war.
They arrested several war crimes suspects but encountered only one seriously hostile situation in 1997, when a Bosnian Serb mob attacked them for helping moderates take over a police station in the town of Brcko from hard-liners.
"This has not been an easy mission," said Gen. B.B. Bell, Commander of U.S. Army Europe, after soldiers of the 38th Infantry Division of Indiana's National Guard folded up the task force flag.
"But it demonstrated what can be accomplished when peoples, nations and militaries work together for a common cause."
The downsizing of U.S. forces here is part of a general shift of U.S. forces worldwide, as Bosnia stabilizes.
Bosnian Muslim leaders oppose a wholesale withdrawal, however. They see the U.S. military presence as a guarantee of Washington's continued involvement in the country.
No more protection for the MUSLIMS!!!
trists.= trysts...
I totally agree. BLAME CLINTON!!!
They where saying "they are coming soon to a theater near near you."
Nobody was listening.
So we shot the messenger.
Even after 9/11 a lot of people still aren't.
However, Kosovo role for KFOR should shift with joint patrol of Serbian and KFOR military. The Serbian Army patrol the Northern Kosovo region of Leposavic and the tranquility and crime-free sector is black and white to the Albanian-dominated regions of Kosovo.
It does not serve anyones interest if you look long-term, only short-term vision is being utilized by the empowered KFOR and UNMIK. Unfortunatley, it is UNMIK and their Coca-Cola Police corruptness that creates and promotes instability within Kosovo.
They certainly did a great service to some people in the region, I'll give you that much...
There would have been much greater stability if someone without the Paddy Ashdown syndrome wasnt as polarizing as he is to the Serbs. Construction is finally happening in the Serb entity compared to the previous years. Lets just say that their is greater harmony among the people now then previously. The only troublemakers are the ones protecting their pocketbook and need turmoil to further and protect their own agenda.
A total waste of US tax money and troops to prop up a Muslim bunch of pro-Nazis. This is another huge black mark on the Klintoon legacy, as if he needeed more. Old Milo probably will walk from the International Court a free man. Whatta thought!
bmp
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