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I never thought I'd see the day that Ratko Mladic was finally brought to justice.
I witnessed his Bosnian Serb underlings at their most cruel and barbaric, reporting in 1992 on the horrific detention centers in which Bosnian Muslims were incarcerated – bringing back memories of Nazi concentration camps in scenes we thought we would never again witness in Europe.
The sheer terror in the faces and voices of those herded behind the wire is something I will never forget.
Over the years, I have kept in touch with many of those who survived the camps. Dr. Idriz Merdzanic, a doctor in one of the camps I reported from, is one of the bravest men I have ever met.
He took photographs of some of the appalling injuries he had to treat in the Trnopolje concentration camp in northern Bosnia and, in the face of enormous personal danger, gave the film to my ITN colleague Penny Marshall to smuggle out.
He's now in Germany, where he started a new life. He still sends me Christmas cards, asking about my family. He says he'd like to return one day, but the scars from that period will take a long time to heal.
The television reports from Marshall and I were the first to expose the horror of the camps set up by the Bosnian Serbs. (Click on the video link above to see the original 1992 report).
Kevin Coombs / Reuters file
International forensic experts examine dozens of bodies, believed to be some of the 8,000 missing persons who fled Srebrenica in July 1995, in a mass grave in the Serb entity of Pilicer, Bosnia in a September 18, 1996 file photo.
I still recall roaming around the camp, trying to interview the terrified prisoners. They desperately wanted to talk, to expose what was happening there, but they – and I – knew that for them to speak too openly was a death sentence, as their guards watched and listened. So they spoke in coded English, only hinting at the horrors they faced.
I worried terribly afterward that I might somehow have made things worse for them, but have been enormously grateful over the years for all the letters from former inmates saying how things improved after the worldwide outrage that followed our reports – that our reports helped save lives.
I never met Mladic, I just saw his handiwork.
The Bosnian Serb wartime army commander is facing international war crimes charges, including some stemming from the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. After 16 years on the run, he was arrested Thursday in a northern Serbian village. A Belgrade court ruled on Friday that he will be extradited to a U.N. tribunal at the Hague.
Over the years, I also met many of those who had tried to track him down. In Iraq I came across a group of British special forces who had been tasked with grabbing Europe's most wanted man in the mid-‘90s. They described weeks of undercover work in Serbia, which culminated in their grabbing the wrong man – an innocent farmer, whom they quickly released after arranging some quick compensation for the rattled Mladic lookalike.
Those I have kept in touch with had largely given up hope that Mladic would ever be found. His capture probably reflects the changing political situation in Serbia. It’s hard to imagine that his whereabouts were not known over the years. His capture will never erase the appalling memories of those who suffered and lost loved ones at the hands of his thugs, but it will bring some relief that he is at last to face justice.
Related links:
See a Channel 4 report on Ian Williams' reporting on the concentration camps in 1992: Ratko Mladic arrest: life-saving journalism
Opportunity lost: How U.S. backed off in hunt for Mladic
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No one talks about why they killed the Muslims. Do you really think they did it just because? Look and see what was done to their families by Muslims before.
NO.
There is NEVER an excuse for genocide.
Christians doing the work of the devil.
@Chris Henry , I am sure you have a good excuse for Hitler too ... you're pathetic! You need to call wrong when you see one, where is your humanity?!
It was a purely ethnic cleansing is why they killed them. I fled from that war to the U.S. and have seen much that no child should witness. This demon deserves to be put to rest.
For Mladic's victims, justice is long overdue.
Amen and Amen.
Hate buries humanity...exactly what happened in Nazi Germany!
Justice will be done. I remember well some of the reports which are not mentioned now about how some of the 8,000 boys and men were roped together in very large groups, doused with gasoline and set afire. In addition, he was responsible for the mass rapes & slaughter of many more thousands of civilians by his troops acting on his orders. I hope this monster meets the everlasting fires in his next life
An aside. I don't know why I was given Gunny-2501762 as my name. I registered as
Gunny4peace and the name was available. I don't see why there should be censorship of a name on this site.
I'm an old Marine Gunnery sergeant, my nickname has been Gunny for years like many retired Gunnery sergeants.
And through my war experiences I would choose peace except when absolutely necessary to do otherwise, hence, Gunny4peace. Thanks for your patience in allowing me to vent a personal matter.
Venting is good and healthy.
But most importantly- Thank You for your service to our country.
War is at best theft. War is murder most of the time. During wars, mass murders, murder of prisoners, and murder of civilians is all too common. During peace, murder still labors on at a low level. Seems like nobody can wait for natural processes or accident to rid the planet of their enemies.
What makes one murderer a war criminal and the others heroes? Politic of the victor. Bomber Harris was controversial during WWII. He was such an embarrassment to their civility, the British tried to erase him from history. Sherman and Sheridan were a bit rough on the inhabitants of the areas where they traveled. Although Pol Pot, Hitler, and Attila the Hun are all considered evil, Chairman Mao and Stalin each got to sit with US Presidents. What about Putin? How much blood is on his hands?
All these efforts to herd and control people on the planet are very insincere attempts at protecting someone from something, the great liberal goal and reason for government. Let the people be and let them protect themselves. No more armed government gangs.
Caught the top guy - but - authorities should take a look at those who carried out his orders. Many were all too willing to kill boys and men - and - in some horrific ways.
Even some German soldiers found ways to NOT to kill Jews during the Russian campaign - they didn't want to kill men, women and certainly not children - those who were not soldiers.
Prosecutions after WWII set the precedent for arrest and punishment for those who carry out illegal orders.
Isn't it interesting to compare the American and European approaches to alleged mass murderers. Mladic was worse than bin Laden, and yet the poor old man deserves justice, EU fashion.
“In the West, the popular mythology about 7,000-8,000 Muslim men being executed in Srebrenica in 1995 is still alive and well, but independent research shows some 2,000 Bosnian Muslim fighters were killed in battle for Srebrenica and that is the number of bodies Hague investigators were able to find”, said Swiss researcher Alexander Dorin, who has been investigating Srebrenica events for the past 14 years.
In his latest book titled “Srebrenica — The History of Salon Racism” (Srebrenica — die Geschichte eines salonfahigen Rassismus) published this month in Berlin, Dorin focuses on manipulations with the number of Muslims who lost their lives in Srebrenica.
“Regarding the events in Srebrenica in 1995, the media manipulations still reign in the West, claiming that after the town fell to Serbian hands some 7,000 to 8,000 of Muslim fighters and male civilians were killed. However, the researchers around the world have shown this bears no relation to the truth,” Dorin told Srna News Agency.
According to data he had gathered, Dorin discovered that at least 2,000 Muslim fighters were killed in battle for Srebrenica. He added the facts are showing that neither civilian nor military leadership of Republic of Srpska (Serb Republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina) ever ordered execution of the Muslim fighters and POWs.
“2,000 is approximately the number of bodies Hague investigators were able to find up to this day. To that number the Muslim side added several hundred Muslim fighters, most of whom came from abroad, who were killed in battle few years before the fall of Srebrenica, in Han Pijesak and Konjević Polje,” Dorin said, adding that this is evidenced even by the Muslim documents captured by the Bosnian Serb Army.
Bosnian Serb Army Fought Against Orić’s Cutthroats, Not Against Muslim Civilians
“Prior to the fall of Srebrenica, Naser Orić’s troops withdrew from this small town, leaving 25,000 civilians behind, although a certain number of civilians, some of whom were armed, was withdrawing together with Orić’s fighters,” Dorin said.
He said that Bosnian Serb Army “did not kill a single Muslim civilian of those who remained in Srebrenica or Potocari, while it did engage Orić’s column, which was breaking through to Tuzla in several groups, in fierce fighting.”
“There is no way the Serb Army could have captured seven or eight thousand Muslim fighters and male civilians and execute them somewhere, partly because that was technically impossible,” Dorin said. He explained that, among else, there was never enough Serb soldiers who could carry out a crime on such scale.
In his research, Dorin was using various sources, including statements by the Muslim fighters and commanders, as well as testimonies given by Dutch UNPROFOR troops who were stationed in Srebrenica at the time.
He pointed to a very interesting investigation carried out by the Bulgarian reporter and author Germinal Civikov, who wrote a book about the case of Croat Dražen Erdemović, former member of the Bosnian Serb Army, whose testimony represents the key Hague “evidence” of “Srebrenica massacre”, who claimed that his commander Milorad Pelemiš “ordered him and few other soldiers to execute some 1,000-1,200 Muslim POWs”.
But the analysis of that case, said Dorin, proves Erdemović invented most, if not all of that story.
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.
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.
“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.
According to Dorin, some Western reporters wrote back in 1995 that part of Srebrenica Muslim population, after the town’s takeover, migrated to other countries. This includes an American journalist who wrote that around 800 Srebrenica Muslims went abroad — from Serbia.
“It was not possible to conduct an in-depth investigation, since no one can search the entire world to pinpoint each and every name [from the lists of alleged Srebrenica victims]. Still, the available evidence already shows there were immense manipulations at play,” Dorin said.
A number of photos of Muslim fighters taken during their breakthrough to Tuzla, which Dorin obtained from the Muslim sources, show Izetbegović’s fighters in uniforms, with many of them wounded.
“On these photos one can see a number of wounded fighters who survived the battle against the Serb Army. Muslim side is now presenting its fighters who did not recover from their wounds as the victims of an execution”, said Dorin.
He pointed out that some Muslims have admitted at least 2,000 of their Srebrenica-based fighters were killed in the battle.
Dorin also reminded of the statements by the Muslim politicians given to media about an “offer” American president Bill Clinton made to Bosnian Muslim war leader Alija Izetbegović back in April 1993, to have “the Chetnik [Serb] forces enter Srebrenica and massacre 5,000 Muslims, which would result in the [US-led NATO] military intervention” against Bosnian Serbs.
At the same time, Dutch UNPROFOR troops testified that Serb Army treated Muslim civilians in an entirely correct manner, while Srebrenica Muslim warlord Naser Orić with his fighters was massacring Serb civilians in the most monstrous fashion for years in Srebrenica municipality, and pillaging and destroying their property all the while.
Mr. Williams, just curious how many Mujahadeen camps did you visit during your stay stay in Bosnia? Maybe if you did, you saw firsthand the creation of the "The Base" in Bosnia? Did you ever visit any of Nasir Oric's victims? Or was Bosnia your Spain, and your then aspiring but now nonexistent literary fame took precedence over fact?
How can you tell when a
Muslimis telling a lie? (a) His lips are moving.All Muslims...insert the word "Christian"