Soldiers hailed for 1993 heroics

WINNIPEG—The Canadian peacekeepers who fought valiantly in the battle nicknamed "the forgotten firefight" were finally remembered with full honours yesterday.

The 900 Canadian soldiers who risked their lives at Medak in the former Yugoslavia received special awards from Gov.-Gen Adrienne Clarkson. "Defying intimidation and direct fire, you showed what it was to perform armed and determined peacekeeping," Clarkson told the 286 soldiers from across Canada who attended the ceremony.

The 2,000 observers in the stands of Winnipeg Arena stood in ovation as the soldiers paraded to stirring march music by the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Band and received the Commander-in-Chief's Unit Commendation for bravery.

They were honoured for saving hundreds of Serbian civilian lives from "ethnic cleansing" in southern Croatia in 1993.

The Canadian forces endured 15 hours of heavy shelling and machine-gun fire to protect innocent Serbs. Four Canadians were wounded.

Although Medak was the most severe action Canadian troops have been involved in since the Korean War, their exploits were given little publicity back home.

"The simple fact remains that very few of us as Canadians know what you did in 1993," Clarkson said. "Your actions were nothing less than heroic, and yet your country didn't recognize it at the time."

As part of a United Nations-brokered ceasefire between Serbs and Croats in September, 1993, the Croats agreed to withdraw from the Medak Pocket, near the Serbian town of Medak. The Canadian peacekeepers, reinforced by French troops, were ordered to move between the belligerents and create a buffer zone.

As the Canadians moved in on the afternoon of Sept. 15, 1993, the Croats began shooting. A battle raged for 15 hours before the Croats surrendered.

Yes," conveniently forgotten". CTV - Canadian Television was busy telling us of a "100,000 buried in mass graves"- all put there by "ethnic cleansing" Serbs. (Their Anchors used this phrase over and over).

Anyway, not to spoil the belated first class recognition of the Princess Pats with too much carping. The Montreal Gazette quoth. The action almost passed unnoticed in Canada.

Orwell feared the media if it was controlled by government. He whole heartedly endorsed the use of it to defeat Hitler. After his experiences though, it occured to him that if governments designated anything or anybody, they could use the techniques that BBC used, to this end.

No hesitation is saying that CTV was a disgrace in this matter. Still nothing virtually, about the down side of those who defeated the Serbs- no pathetic down trodden peoples they.

The New York Times of 3 December reported that Croatia is refusing to turn over their war criminal, General Janko Bobetko who is charged with crimes against humanity for acts committed from 1991 to 1995.

Croatia cannot afford to prosecute its war criminals because to do so would also indict former President William Jefferson Clinton and his merry bunch of bandits as co-conspirators in the slaughtering of Serbs very early in the war. Had the American people been told from the beginning that Serbs were also the victims, instead of the biased, one-sided anti-Serb rhetoric coming from a collaboring national media, perhaps the American people's decision to go along with Clinton's con job would have taken a different turn. Syndicated columnist Charlie Reese wrote a commentary titled, "The Serbs Are Victims of Propaganda."

Furthermore, without U.S. military aid and technology, Croatia couldn't have punched its way out of a paper bag.

The Washington Times of 5 September 1995, and The Guardian of 1 September 1995 reported that Croatian soldiers were given heroin or cocaine twice daily in order to help them face up to the horrors of war in reference to the explulsion of Croatian Serbs from Krajina. A Croatian soldier, identified only as Davor, stated, "To attack villages, to cut throats and to kill in cold blood you need a strong anesthetic - a shot of heroin or cocaine was ideal." What kind of a government would do that to their sons?

Columnist A.M. Rosenthal wrote, "In World War II Hitler had no executioners more willing, no ally more passionate, than the facists of Croatia. They are returning, 50 years later, from what should have been their eternal grave, the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Western Allies who dug that grave with the bodies of their servicemen have the power to stop them, but do not."

The Washington Times of 29 December 1995: "Croats will 'kill people for the color of their skin'." [U.S. Colonel Fontenot, Commander of NATO forces in northeastern Bosnia].

While sanctions are placed against the Serbs at the drop of a hat for anything the West (read, the U.S.) perceives as a violation, Croatia does not face any of the same punishments that is imposed on the Serbs

Is there a link to McLeans' Weekly Magazine on this?

The curious part of the entire Balkan quagmire is the willingness of the media to suppress atrocities against the Serbs. Was it because of their admiration for Clinton? We must remember that it all started with Bush senior.

James Baker writes in his book, "The politics of diplomacy: Revolution, war and peace, 1989 - 1992," (Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons,) " . . . After the meeting, I had Larry Eagleburger take Silajdzic [Bosnia's Foreign Minister] to see the EC troika political directors (who happened to be visiting the Department) and asked Margaret Tutwiler to talk to the Foreign Minister about the importance of using Western mass media to build support in Europe and North America for the Bosnian cause. I also had her talk to her contacts at the four television networks, the 'Washington Post,' and the 'New York Times' to try to get more attention focused on the story . . . " (Pages 643-644)

The Serbs never had a chance.

Thanks for your inputs.

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