How Britain and the US decided to abandon Srebrenica to its fate

[unhappycamper]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/04/how-britain-and-us-abandoned-srebrenica-massacre-1995

How Britain and the US decided to abandon Srebrenica to its fate
Florence Hartmann and Ed Vulliamy
Saturday 4 July 2015 16.09 EDT

They will fill the VIP stands at Srebrenica next weekend to mark the 20th anniversary of the worst massacre on European soil since the Third Reich; heads of state, politicians, the great and good.

There will be speeches and tributes at the town’s memorial site, Potocari, but the least likely homily would be one that answered the question: how did Srebrenica happen? Why were Bosnian Serb death squads able, unfettered, to murder more than 8,000 men and boys in a few days, under the noses of United Nations troops legally bound to protect the victims? Who delivered the UN-declared “safe area” of Srebrenica to the death squads, and why?

Over two decades, 14 of the murderers have been convicted at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. The Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadžic and his military counterpart, General Ratko Mladic, await verdicts in trials for genocide. Blame among the “international community”charged with protecting Srebrenica has piled, not without reason, on the head of UN forces in the area, General Bernard Janvier, for opposing intervention – notably air strikes – that might have repelled the Serb advance, and Dutch soldiers who not only failed in their duty to protect Srebrenica but evicted terrified civilians seeking shelter in their headquarters, and watched the Serbs separate women and young children from their male quarry.

~snip~

Not a single politician, diplomat or senior soldier saw fit to resign over the betrayal of Srebrenica. It will be interesting to see if anything approaching an apology – let alone a reckoning – by Britain, America or France is spoken next weekend. Most of those involved were promoted or moved on to lucrative positions. After he had left the government, the former British foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd, who had chastised attempts at intervention to help Bosnia, along with Neville-Jones, famously beat a path to Belgrade to engage Miloševic – just before he was indicted for genocide – on behalf of the NatWest markets bank.

[Telcontar]

1. Bullshit. Bullshit bullshit and more bullshit

I was there. Responsibility rests solely with the Dutch for being the moral cowards they are. Their observation post had a clear line of sight to the soccer field. Their excuse not to engage was they didn't feel they could sustain a Serbian assault. More bullshit, there was an aircraft carrier in the eastern Med at the time. Fast movers would have been overhead within minutes.

Fuck whoever made this bullshit accusation. Let me know when they were there and involved in policing up the bodies. We can compare notes.