in deze Balkan-serie: 1 2 3 4 5
Correspondent ontdekt:
Deze
privé-oorlog ging in tegen alle overeenkomsten met de Navo. 'Senior
European negotiators believe that with US backing the war could have ended
two years earlier, but US desire to see the Serbs punished meant that
they instead encouraged the Bosnian Government to continue fighting. The
price in human terms? Over 15,000 dead and nearly 600,000 refugees.
At
first arms were sent to Bosnia via Croatia, but the Croats were reluctant
to arm the Bosnian army with sophisticated weapons, so America took it
upon itself to deliver arms directly to the Bosnian Muslim Army - the
ABiH. [...] These covert air drops began at the start of 1995. The drops
contained vital, high value supplies: Anti-tank guided weapons to counter
Bosnian Serb armour, Stinger surface-to-air missiles to ward off helicopters,
night vision goggles and most importantly Motorola radio sets to allow
the ABiH to operate more efficiently in large scale offensive operations.
The air drops were only the tip of the iceberg. A team of retired US officers
planned the bloody Croatian "liberation" of the Kraijina and the subsequent
invasion of western Bosnia by the Croatian Army in the summer of 1995.'
De vluchten waren illegaal; 'Nato had been manipulated to allow the US
to conduct its own unilateral policy in the Balkans.'
The
US also provided intelligence to the Croats, flying unmanned reconnaissance
drones off the Adriatic island of Brac. More significantly the US launched
a huge signals and electronic intelligence gathering operation in Croatia
to provide targeting information not for Nato or the UN, but for Croatia
alone. American intelligence-gathering in the region was conducted on
a huge scale. [...] intelligence was passed directly on to the Bosnian
Government. This information was often used to ratchet up the pressure
on UN commanders to launch punitive air strikes on the Serbs.
In
the end the US lift and strike policy succeeded - but at a cost. The Croatian
Army broke the Serbs in the west, Nato aircraft destroyed Bosnian Serb
logistics and command facilities whilst UN artillery on Mount Igman dominated
the Serb guns that had held Sarajevo under siege for so long. The warring
parties were then bullied into the Dayton Agreement that underpins the
shaky peace in Bosnia today.
Correspondent
plakt aan deze feiten een interessante theorie: 'Europe feels it can
no longer rely on the US in times of crisis. Instead, it has begun to
hedge its bets, first with the Anglo-French St Malo Agreement and now
with the so-called "Euro army".
Allies
and lies: Correspondent, Sunday 24th June at 1915 on BBC 2.
Reporter:
Sheena McDonald DaanSpeak |