Posted on 09/03/2002 10:15:20 AM PDT by Destro
Bosnian Serb government report downplays number of victims in Srebrenica massacre, draws outrage of international community
Tue Sep 3,11:50 AM ET
By IRENA GAJIC, Associated Press Writer
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Challenging both the U.N. war crimes tribunal and world opinion, the Bosnian Serb government said in a report issued Tuesday that far fewer Muslims were killed at Srebrenica than the 8,000 commonly reported.
The government paper — which also disputed findings that most of the victims were civilians — was denounced by the top international official in Bosnia as a "callous and irresponsible" attempt to rewrite Europe's worst massacre since World War II.
The report, issued two months before local and national elections in the Bosnian Serb part of the republic and the other half, run by Muslims and Croats, appeared to reflect continued strength by hard-liners loyal to Radovan Karadzic. Although on the run, the fugitive ( news - Y! TV) war time leader of the country's Serbs sought by the U.N. war crimes tribunal, still commands the loyalties of many of Bosnia's 1.2 million Serbs.
The July 1995 massacre came toward the end of the 3 1/2 year Bosnian war, after Bosnian Serbs took the Muslim enclave. As outmanned and ill-advised U.N. peacekeepers stood by, the Bosnian Serb army deported most of the women and girls and started on a days-long campaign of killing Srebrenica's older Muslim boys and men.
The remains of more than 5,000 of the Srebrenica massacre victims have been found in many of the hundreds mass graves unearthed in the eastern Bosnian region since the war's end. Most have been unearthed by forensic experts of the U.N. war crimes tribunal now trying former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ( news - web sites) for alleged responsibility in the Bosnian war and other Balkan bloodshed.
Still, Tuesday's report from the government running the Serb half of Bosnia claimed that no more than 2,000 to 2,500 people were killed — and of those, 1,800 were soldiers of the Muslim army. Previous numbers issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations were "manipulated" and "fabricated" the report said.
The office of Paddy Ashdown, the top international official overseeing Bosnia's postwar development, denounced the report as a "callous and irresponsible attempt to misguide voters and exploit the trauma of those who survived or were bereaved by the massacre."
"History cannot be rewritten in this way," said Mario Brkic, Ashdown's spokesman.
In a separate statement, Ashdown said that — although he had not yet personally read the report — it appears to be "so far from the truth as to be almost not worth dignifying with a response."
Calling the figures "outrageous," U.N. tribunal spokesman Refik Hodzic, said the Bosnian Serb report "flies in the face" of tribunal efforts to establish the truth about the massacre, including trials of those convicted of involvement in the killings.
Drazen Erdemovic, a Bosnian Serb soldier, confessed to participating in the massacres during his tribunal trial, and was sentenced to five years prison. Tuesday's Bosnian Serb report declared him "mentally ill."
The tribunal also sentenced Bosnian Serb General Radislav Krstic last year to 46 years in prison for ordering the attack on Srebrenica and the slaughter that followed the fall of the enclave. Hodzic said that his trial established that at Srebrenica, "many thousands of Bosnian men were killed, most probably 7,000 to 8,000."
"The fact that this mass execution took place was not disputed by General Krstic in his statement or by his defense in the appeals brief which they lodged," said Hodzic. "So, any such claim ... that there were just 2000 victims is simply outrageous."
Along with Karadzic, the Bosnian Serbs wartime leader, Karadzic's top general, Ratko Mladic, remains at large. Like Karadzic, he is indicted by the tribunal for his alleged role in the Srebrenica massacres and other atrocities.
Women with sons, husbands and other male relatives killed in Srebrenica denounced the report.
"I have not invented my son, (and) I lost my husband too," said Kada Hotic, 58. "I'm still missing all of my brothers and my husband's brothers.
"The Serbs know very well that they are lying to themselves and to the rest of the world."
Munira Subasic, 64, challenged the Bosnian Serb government to return the thousands of men still missing, if "only" 2,000 people were killed.
"I have one message for them," she said. "Their lies are making us stronger."
You can feign outrage all you want till you turn as blue as your helmets.
mbut of course we'll never know exactly what happened until the UN releases the full forensic reports. One really needs to question why the forensic reports are still kept under wraps.
Finally the major difficulty with making any hard conclusions is that less than 100 of the bodies have been identified. This is in stark contrast to other mass graves in the region in which 75-80% of the bodies are quickly id'd.
One simply has to question the orginal line we were fed about the event.
Was is the worst massacre since WWII in Europe? Czech slaughter of 266,000 Sudetten sounds more like it. Was Srebrenica demilitarized zone? If it was, what 9000 armed Bosnian Muslim troops were doing in Srebrenica?
It is often said "8000 Bosnian men and boys". How many were the "boys" i.e. males under military age? If "8000 " are 'massacred" why ICTY indictment cite number "1200"?
There is too many officials in Western capitals whose careers would go down the drain to let the truth come out.
Tha't not all. In a fortcoming movie 9-11 One frame, Bosnian Muslim Director equates NYC and Srebrenica and Serbs and Bin Laden. O tempora o mores.
In communist Yugoslavia, Bosnian Muslims got away with WWII murder. They believe that they repeat it with the events about 1990's.
There is a Balkan saying "nobody's candle will burn forever"
Fact: Drazen Erdemovic is a Croat. He fought in all three Armies in Bosnian conflict. Today he walks free.
They REALLY mean New World Order media-manipulated opinion and muslim-manufactured statistics!!!!
I have two words for the muslim/NWO fabricators who manufactured the "Srebrenica massacre": Nasir Oric!!!!
A quote by that director, from your link, mentions that 9,000 soldiers were killed. Does he know what he's talking about? They can't decide on the numbers and jump back and forth by a thousand or two, maybe more.
Also, I read earlier reports on the filming of the movie, and it was mentioned that some of the filming was done in Mostar - which was devastated in the Croat-Muslim war, and said by visitors to be far worse appearing than Sarajevo. Is the devastation of Mostar going to be passed off or implied as being Sarajevo's, or the damage there in Mostar wrongly presented as the Serbs' fault?
Mr. Hodzic conveniently dropped what was also established:
There was a fighting between BSA and Muslim forces, as per Krstic indictment:
9. Bosnian Serb forces supported by armoured personnel carriers, tanks, anti-aircraft guns and artillery, positioned themselves along the Bratunac-Milici road in an attempt to intercept the column. Some of the armed members of the retreating column of Bosnian Muslims engaged in combat with the Bosnian Serb forces. Thousands of Bosnian Muslims from the retreating column were captured by, or surrendered to, Bosnian Serb military forces under the command and control of Ratko Mladic and RADISLAV KRSTIC.
"The Trial Chamber heard credible and largely uncontested evidence of a consistent refusal by the Bosnian Muslims to abide by the agreement to demilitarise the “safe area”.37 Bosnian Muslim helicopters flew in violation of the no-fly zone;38 the ABiH opened fire toward Bosnian Serb lines and moved through the “safe area”;39 the 28th Division was continuously arming itself40 ; and at least some humanitarian aid coming into the enclave was appropriated by the ABiH.41 To the Bosnian Serbs it appeared that Bosnian Muslim forces in Srebrenica were using the “safe area” as a convenient base from which to launch offensives against the VRS and that UNPROFOR was failing to take any action to prevent it.42 General Halilovic admitted that Bosnian Muslim helicopters had flown in violation of the no-fly zone and that he had personally dispatched eight helicopters with ammunition for the 28th Division. In moral terms, he did not see it as a violation of the “safe area” agreement given that the Bosnian Muslims were so poorly armed to begin with.
So, why anyone should believe Moslem side? Only because they say so?
"Srebrenica genocide" is the biggest Hoax since Piltdown Man aimed to dilute the meaning of the term genocide.
Joan, the point is that Tanovic admits that those killed were SOLDIERS, not "men and boys" i.e. civilians
this hambone will slide a fiddy your way, word...
regardless what "proof" the Serbs present, we will never be recognized as a "good guy"...
"As thousands of them attempted to flee the area, they were taken prisoner, detained in brutal conditions and then executed. More than 7,000 people were never seen again.">
They were seen again, they fought against Serbs in other Bosnian Army units and they even voted on OSCE monitored elections in post-war Bosnia.
For posterity ICTY tribunal will have the same meaning as Hitler's Volksrat and Stalin's Moscow and Prague processes have for us today. Totalitarian showtrials. With a difference. ICTY is accepted out of free will, not out of fear like Stalin's and Hitler's "courts"
As vooch notes (#4), the bodies found are about 2000 instead of "more than 5000" that the article claims. As of March 2001 (and the numbers cannot be much higher now), David Rohde (Mr. Srebrenica massacre himself) writes in a NY Times article:
"There are 1,895 full bodies in the bags. Beyond that, the exact number of victims is unknown: 1,799 bags hold the body parts of a single person; 694 hold the body parts of two or more people. Thirty-two bags have not been autopsied. Only 81 of the victims have been identified. Most of the corpses are so badly decomposed or maimed as to be unrecognizable."
vooch, are there official numbers and names of Serbs still missing from the area who may be among the recovered bodies and currently counted as Muslims? Proponents of Serbian guilt claim that virtually all of the Serb victims have been accounted for.
The malignant role of ICTY in fabricating history is exemplified by its spokesman Refik Hodjic (Hodjic, apparently himself a Bosnian Muslim speaks for the court ! - what a travesty of justice). He cites the failure of Krstic to dispute numbers as "proof" that the 2000 number is "outrageous". The tragic fact with regard to history is that such claims have assumed the importance of legal precedents despite the absurdity underlying them. That's why a direct, forceful official challenge to ICTY's pseudo-conclusions is extremely important.
All those who fanatically defend Izetbegovic propaganda are doing it to save save their own hide. could easily end up on $1 Trillion lawsuit list for abbeting Osama Bin Laden's network.
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