Over
a decade and a half after the event Srebrenica continues to be engulfed
in heavy fog. Messages about Srebrenica can be divided in two
categories. The first a myth about three days on July 1995, a simplistic
story line for the broad masses, not overly concerned with facts and
arguments, and certainly not encouraging critical analysis. It is based
on the repetition of emotional platitudes such as “genocide” and “eight
thousand executed men and boys”. The second category projects a
propaganda line geared to a more select and influential public. It is
based on the pseudo-history of the Yugoslav conflict promoted by the
Hague Tribunal and the political apparatus which sustains it. To point out the many questionable aspects of the official narrative about what happened there, The Srebrenica Historical Project has created a presentation Srebrenica The guide for the perplexed a concise exposition of basic facts.
8000 executed men and boys
How
could an allegation of the execution of 8,000 individuals be made and
then widely accepted if the only hard evidence in The Hague Tribunal’s
possession that points to summary execution involves the remains of 442
persons that were found with blindfolds and ligatures? Indeed, where are
the bodies to support the claim of 8,000 execution victims?
In
ICTY procedure in Hague the number of Srebrenica victims has varieted
from trial to trial. First the standard estimate of executed victims in
Srebrenica was 7,000 to 8,000. In the recent Tolimir trial judgment,
however, that figure was put at 4,970. Similarly, in all previous
Srebrenica trials dealing with Branjevo farm executions, victim
estimates were based on the claims of ”Starwittness Erdemovic, one of
the perpetrators who made a plea bargain with the Prosecution. The
accepted figure was 1,200 victims, notwithstanding the fact that the
number of bodies exhumed at the crime scene was 115.
The
laughable reason given for insisting on the photos’ confidentiality is
that showing publicly them might compromise intelligence gathering
methods. That rationale is an insult to the intelligence of the public
because the methods used in 1995 are long obsolete.
DNA?
The
forensic evidence (DNA) is more unhelpful than helpful to the
Prosecution’s claim that there were about 8,000 execution victims in
Srebrenica. Ten years later, there was no trace of even the 4,805 bodies
that in its trial judgment the Krstic court gullibly stated had been
“detected” in unexhumed Srebrenica mass graves.Body
counting and forensic analysis in the classical sense had reached an
embarrassing dead end. The standard forensic approach which is based on
autopsies may not have generated the hoped for 8,000 victims, but in a
situation of this nature it generates at least some legally useful
evidence. The standard approach did yield 947 potential execution
victims (442 with blindfolds and ligatures, plus 505 with bullet
injuries).
How
can it be asserted that the human remains exhumed so far prove summary
executions on a large scale when in their autopsy reports ICTY
Prosecution forensic experts conceded that out of 3,568 exhumed “cases”
1,583 or 44.4 %, consisted only of body parts, and that in 1,462 or 92.4
% of them no conclusion could be drawn regarding the cause of death?
DNA
is currently presented as undeniable proof of “genocide”. However, DNA
findings cannot establish key elements of a murder case, the cause and
time of death, which is important given the possibility of many combat
deaths as well as natural deaths and burials in the Srebrenica area
prior to July 1995.
Combat casualties instead of genocide
“If you want to use a word “genocide” (for Srebrenica) – then OK, but we need a new word to replace the old “genocide” word…” (Noam Chomsky)
The
status of the 12,000 to 15,000 strong military/civilian, mostly male
column which left Srebrenica enclave on foot late on July 11, 1995,
headed for Muslim-controlled territory in Tuzla, is a key factor in the
controversy over what happened. ICTY Prosecution military expert Richard
Butler conceded the mixed character of the column, which under
international law makes it a legitimate military target.Testifying in
the Popovic case, Butler reiterated that position. The legal character
of the column and the extent of its casualties are of the utmost
importance because in an effort to reach the magic figure of 8,000,
combat losses inflicted on the column are conflated with execution
victims.These casualties were estimated by prosecution military expert
Richard Butler, when testifying in the Popovic trial, to have been 1,000
to 2,000 for the period of July 12 to 18, 1995, and raised to between
2,000 and 4,000 at a subsequent trial. Given the severe dearth of
incontestable execution victims, the presence of thousands of these
legitimate Srebrenica casualties is at worst an embarrassment, but at
best an opportunity. The opportunity is to blend them in with execution
victims, thus eliminating the problem and at the same time helpfully
raising the victims’ total, even if it still remains short of the target
figure of 8,000.
In his latest book titled “Srebrenica — The History of Salon Racism” (Srebrenica — die Geschichte eines salonfahigen Rassismus)
published 2010 in Berlin, Alexander Dorin focuses on manipulations with
the number of Muslims who lost their lives in Srebrenica. “It is
perfectly clear that Muslim organizations listed as Srebrenica victims
all the Muslim fighters who were killed in the fights after the fall of
Srebrenica,” the Swiss researcher said. Dorin explained that director of
the Belgrade Center for Investigation of War Crimes Milivoje Ivanišević
analyzed the lists of alleged Srebrenica victims. Ivanišević discovered
that, a year after the fall of Srebrenica, some 3,000 Muslim men who
were supposedly killed in 1995, were voting in the Bosnian Muslim
elections. It asserted that no more than 2,000 Bosnian Muslims had died
at Srebrenica – all armed soldiers, not civilians – and that 1,600 of
them had died in combat or while trying to escape the enclave. In
addition, at least 1,000 of the alleged 1995 “Srebrenica massacre
victims” have been dead long before or after Bosnian Serb Army took the
town over.
- Map of military operations during the Srebrenica massacre, July 1995
Planning the narrative – two years before
The “Srebrenica massacre” is the greatest triumph of propaganda to emerge from the Balkan wars.(Edward Herman)
There
is also many arguments about political PR game behind exaggerated death
numbers, misrepresentation of early reports and manipulated pictures.
Indeed President Izetbegovic according mentioned UNSG Report told in
1993 that he had learned that a NATO intervention in Bosnia and
Herzegovina was possible, but could only occur if the Serbs were to
break into Srebrenica, killing at least 5,000 of its people.” So from
here are the numbers originating – two years before events in
Srebrenica. (Source: UN report Memorandum on war crimes and crimes and genocide in eastern Bosnia )
The authenticity and the implications of this shocking scheme are extensively explored by Ola Flyum in his documentary film Srebrenica: A town betrayed.
Bosnian Muslim violence against Bosnian Serbs from UN protected safe zone
If
Srebrenica was indeed a UN protected demilitarized safe zone, how was
it possible for it to be used as a training ground and launching pad by
Muslim army forces inside it against Serbian civilian villages and
military positions outside?
There
was also a long history of atrocious Bosnian Muslim violence and
treachery perpetrated against Bosnian Serbs leading up to the events of
1995.The
most cruel crimes were committed by the 3rd Corps 7th Muslim Mountain
Brigade, to which were subordinated foreign Muslim fighters, also known
as mujahedeen, who came from Islamic countries through Osama bin Laden’s
terrorist network. “Demilitarized safe area of Srebrenica” served as
the safe haven to this brigade lead by Bosnian Muslim leader of
Srebrenica forces Naser Oric. From there the brigade went to implement
series of atrocious attacks on the near-by Serbian areas.
An
important issue pertaining to Srebrenica that is almost never talked
about are the Serbian victims. The trick of excluding them is performed
by simply narrowing down the relevant Srebrenica chronology to three
days in July of 1995, while completely ignoring events during the
preceding three years. In the three-year period before the massacre of
Muslims in 1995, According to the Dutch Institute for War Documentation (NIOD),
these attacks “…followed a certain pattern. Initially, Serbs were
driven out of ethnically mixed towns. Then Serbian hamlets surrounded by
Muslim towns were attacked and finally the remaining Serbian
settlements were overrun. The residents were murdered, their homes were
plundered and burnt down or blown up.” As a consequence, “it is
estimated that between 1,000 and 1,200 Serbs died in these attacks,
while about 3,000 of them were wounded. Ultimately, of the 9,390 Serbian
inhabitants of the Srebrenica district, only 860 remained…”
First
of all, because this is precisely what generated the “accumulated
hatred” that was clearly sensed by the UNPROFOR commander in Bosnia,
General Philippe Morillon, which he referred to as the consequence of
these “terrible massacres.”Second, perhaps because these pogroms created
a motive for taking revenge on the perceived malefactors when that
became possible in July of 1995. The latter point clearly upsets the
genocide applecart because it posits a compelling alternative
explanation of the motive.
One aspect which keeps the official narrative about Srebrenica alive is that the case is the fundamental element of R2P (Responsibility to Protect) concept. The Srebrenica narrative serves as the cornerstone of this important new doctrine in international relations and since Bosnia been used with many conflicts around the globe as tool of western interventions.
First, as former US ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith recently revealed, in terms of the Bosnian conflict “endgame” Croatia’s Operation Storm in 1995 against Serb-held areas in the Krajina would not have been feasible had not “Srebrenica” prepared the ground for it, morally and psychologically. The Srebrenica narrative and the outrage it produced served as a convenient veil to shield atrocities committed during the Croatian offensive in August of 1995 from substantial public examination or criticism.
As
Bill Clinton, the U.S. President who had stood by in Bosnia, wavered
again, Mr Blair warned that Kosovo was a test of whether civilised
nations acted before it was too late. “This is not a battle for
territory; this is a battle for humanity. It is a just cause, it is a
rightful cause,” he argued.
A
couple of more examples: “We prevented a new Srebrenica in Libya”
(Hilary Clinton) Recently U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on
world powers to urgently unite to end the bloodshed in Syria, recalling the inertia of the United Nations in 1995 as genocide occurred in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
My view
Was
Srebrenica – a hoax or massacre? I would say both; a hoax due the well
planned and implemented PR campaign, a massacre when the Serbs went to
trap and used brutal force also against civilians.(Ari Rusila)
From
my point of view the myth of 8,000 executed men and boys is busted. It
was planed well before to get U.S.involvement with war against Serbs. An
essential part of narrative was the death toll of 8,000 and that the
victims were civilians. However the figures after decade and half
intensive bodycount don't match. Besides numbers it has came clear that
most of the military-age men from Srebrenica assembled in the village of
Susnjari and from there under-took a 60 kilometer trek through
minefields and Serbian ambushes to Tuzla as they were affraid Serb
revenge due their atrocities against Serbs during preceding two years.
As for the women, children, and elderly, they were left behind and
deposited at the UN compound in Potocari. Quite possibly that was done
as a convenient bait to the Serbs to perpetrate the anticipated
massacre, but whatever the ultimate motive behind it may have been, on
the whole nothing sinister occurred. The 20,000 or so enclave residents
dumped in Potocari were put by the Serbs on buses and evacuated safely
to Muslim territory.
One
can claim that Srebrenica was not a genocide and definition ethnic
cleansing is weak too, instead it was a partly war crime provoked by
crimes on the other side. Partly as mostly the deads in Srebrenica on
July 1995 happened when 28. Muslim Division tried to escape from town to
Muslim held territory knowing the amount of hatred among local Serbs
and lost their life during this operation. Saying this I'd like to point
out that sure there was civilian casualties, innocent victims as well
executions which can be seen as war crimes and crimes against humanity
etc.
An excerpt from project’s mission statement:
Our
broad purpose is to collect information on Srebrenica during the last
conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, defined not as July 1995, but more
broadly as 1992 to 1995. That means that we shall be creating a
comprehensive and contextual, as opposed to a selective, record of the
violence between the communities in that area during the conflict. We
shall focus also on crimes committed against the Serb civilians not
because we favor them but because so far they have been ignored. We wish
to redress that balance, but we will not work under any ideological
limitations. A corollary goal will be to launch something along the
lines of the South African Truth and Reconciliation commission, with
emphasis on truth as logically coming before and as a precondition to
reconciliation. That is another reason we wish to do a great deal of
empirical work on the neglected crimes against the Serbian population.
We shall then proceed to explore reconciliations strategies. The
fundamental objective of our project is to rise above politics and
propaganda and to create a contextual record of the Srebrenica tragedy
of July 1995 which can serve as a corrective to the distortions of the
last decade and a half and as a genuine contribution to future peace.
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My previous articles:
“Srebrenica: A Town Betrayed” – Finally a Critical Documentary about Srebrenica Tragedy
Media War of Yugoslav Secession continues
NIOD Report on Srebrenica
Srebrenica again – Hoax or Massacre?
And here is a small selection of articles, documents and analysis, which are also telling the other side of story:
Media War: The Use and Mis-Use of the Visual Image in News Coverage and Propaganda . A study of the visual media war against the Serbs.
Demonizing the Serbs by Marjaleena Repo June 15, 1999 in Counterpunch
One view about issue in video Bosnia and Media Manipulation
Srebrenica: The Star Witness by Prof Edward S. Herman
The Star Witness by Germinal Civikov (translated from German by John Lauchland),Belgrade 2010,
“Srebrenica: Deconstruction of a Virtual Genocide” by Stephen Karganovic and Ljubica Simic (Belgrade 2010)
“Analysis of Muslim Column Losses Due to Minefields and Combat Activity” by Stephen Karganovic: .Proceedings of the International Symposium on ICTY and Srebrenica (Belgrade-Moscow 2010)
Was Srebrenica a Hoax? Eye-Witness Account of a Former United Nations Military Observer in Bosnia by Carlos Martins BrancoMedia Disinformation Frenzy on Srebrenica: The Lynching of Ratko Mladic by Nebojsa Malic
Media Fabrications: The “Srebrenica Massacre” is a Western Myth
What Happened at Srebrenica? Examination of the Forensic Evidence by Stephen Karganovic
Using War as an Excuse for More War: Srebrenica Revisited by Diana Johnstone
The Srebrenica Massacre: Evidence, Context, Politics by Edward S. Herman and Phillip Corwin
NIOD (Netherlands Institute for War Documentation)/Srebrenica investigationreport
INTELWIRE.com has published over 2.000 pages of of declassified U.S. State Dept. Cables about Srebrenica
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