Editorial
Hague And Devil
by Sejo OMERAGIC
Ljiljan, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, November 12, 2001
First, we should finally clear up some things regarding the arrest of Milosevic. The new Serbian authorities did not know what to do with him. Does anyone really today believes that that man could be allowed to stay free? No one is that crazy. Djindjic had no other choice but to put such a beast in the cage in the Hague. They simply had to get rid of such a guy and the only appropriate place was the prison in Scheveningen.
Therefore, that was no concession. That can also be seen in the Hague, while those ridiculous trials go on. If it goes on like this, even the Hague tribunal will try to get rid of him. Perhaps they will send him back to Djindjic and Kostunica. Who knows. Anyway, we again had a chance to watch tense Carla Del Ponte arguing and bickering with Milosevic. It is easy for Del Ponte to argue with the Leader surrounded by policemen, now that his military and police have abandoned him.
Del Ponte should take a stand regarding some issues, since Serb media correspondents from the Hague, as well as some employees of her office, claim that she has promised to Kostunica and Djindjic to issue an indictment against Izetbegovic, probably overjoyed that the two of them were going to deliver her the beast on a leash. Even if this is true, then she probably was not aware how the beast would behave in the Hague. Today, when the beast, even on a leash, makes mockery of the institution that horrifies even children and housewives in the Balkans, she probably has a different opinion about the gift received from the Serbian authorities.
Therefore, instead of paying the price of the aggression and genocide to this massacred people, FR Yugoslavia and Kostunica, instead of money they expected, got a promised indictment of the Bosniak leader. Putting aside that no one can point out any Izetbegovic's statement that is not humane, in the Tribunal even the lazy journalists make fun of the arrest of the one on whose orders genocide was based. Obviously, the leader of the butchered and raped people would come handy at the time of total vilification of Muslims everywhere on this planet. Although most of the court employees respond to similar assertions by saying that Del Ponte doesn't have a shred of evidence against Izetbegovic, obviously, all of that is a problem of the Hague, which does not only have the Leader behind its back.
Witnesses claim that the investigator Patrick Torres Lopez, who worked on the Cerkez case and did not do a great job, is, in his free time, making enquiries about Mr Izetbegovic's health and his advanced age.
Today, we need answers regarding some weaknesses demonstrated by the tribunal. Why did prosecutor, a Canadian, Louise Arbour, leave the Tribunal? Why did American Gabriela Kirk McDonald, chair of the court, leave the tribunal together with her? Why did John Ralstone, an Australian, chief of all investigations, also leave? Why was the tribunal abandoned by the chief of the Sarajevo office, Asela Dasanaike from Sri Lanka, where did the best prosecutors Brenda Hollis and Greg Cohen from the US disappear? How come the Tribunal has translators, allegedly from Western Europe, who actually come from Belgrade or Zagreb? Am I mistaken to believe that these two countries have been accused by the Tribunal of aggression and genocide against Bosnia-Hercegovina? How come important officials of the Tribunal have family ties with Belgrade and Zagreb?
What is today happening with this institution, so that it even fails to officially react to horrors such as rumors about Izetbegovic's guilt after the horrendous slaughter and genocide of Bosniaks?
Therefore, why is all that happening to the tribunal from which Bosniaks expect justice and punishment of crimes, instead of hypocrisy and lies? How can the tribunal, after issuing verdicts about aggression and genocide, arrest three generals of the defensive Army of Bosnia-Hercegovina?
The tribunal increasingly resembles politics that is tying a noose around Bosnia-Hercegovina and wants to divide the state as soon as possible.
The best we can hope for is that no one will dare tell us that to our face.
Chronicle of Hamburgers
Bosnian Beirut
About SDP's blaming of the former authorities for its own mistakes - About Stalinist control of the opposition opinion - About Alliance's persecution of political opponents - About new lies of the Serb wartime propaganda - About mad attempt to change Serb history by killing Southern Slavic Muslims - About murders of Bosniak returnees - About Petritsch's contribution to the escalation of violence in Zepce
by Fatmir ALISPAHIC
Ljiljan, Sarajevo, Federation Bosnia-Hercegovina, B-H, November 12, 2001
Since cracks have appeared in the Alliance, the SDP has initiated a series of party debates in municipalities with Bosniak majority. Of course, where else? In Zenica we had an opportunity to witness a demagogic show of SDP's officials. Lagumdzija made such silly statements that his rhetoric resembled the communist demagoguery: "Bosnia-Hercegovina has political forces that can successfully deal with all problems. Such forces are gathered around the Alliance for changes". The leader of the SDP is obviously convinced that he is so smart that that implies that we are so stupid and would swallow anything he serves us. We would have an easier time believing that storks bring babies than that there are successful political forces in Bosnia-Hercegovina. It is obvious by now that there is no difference between the tri-partite coalition of national parties from 1990 and the current mix in democratic wrapping. The only difference is that now in the areas with Bosniak majority the SDP-Alliance is in power instead of the SDA. While the apartheid-style fortification of occupied 76 percent of the territory goes on, here property and looting laws [sic] that harm Bosniaks are being implemented. In comparison with the SDA rule, economic and social conditions are catastrophic indeed. The Tuzla canton is an obvious example. Even from the point of view of democratic rights and freedoms, the SDP has pushed us into the state of defenselessness before the assault of the ideological police and judicial apparatus. Today they can wiretap your phone conversations, then publish your personal correspondence, they can charge you with anything at all, and when, facing such criminal acts, you request protection from the Police and judiciary, you encounter dead silence. Just like in totalitarian regimes! Repressive measures of the police state are protecting imposed authorities from the criticism or changes. It is totally appropriate for our closed and unfree society that Lagumdzija at this public forum blamed the former authorities for current difficult situation. Of course, he did not blame himself, did he? But, how come situation is difficult when we have political forces that are successfully dealing with all the problems? It must be that success is measured by how well you blame others for your own failures. Anyway, that was a silly attempt because the former authorities did better than the current ones as far as the economy is concerned. The fact that the SDP is building our future on the accusations of the former authorities, is the best proof of incompetence, helplessness and confusion of the new authorities. We need authorities that will work, instead of complaining.
Totalitarian Democracy
A comparison of the program of the Croatian TV and the local TV stations lets us notice that there is a huge difference in the number of programs that involve dialogue or debate. Our TV stations do not provide space for opposition politicians. Just like in the good old times, under Tito and the Party, the TV shows only the authorities. Wherever you turn, there is Lagumdzija, Behmen, Filipovic... It must be that we are doing so well that independent TV-stations do not find it necessary to inform us about the views of the opposition politicians? Even if we were doing well, and we aren't, it would not make any sense to reduce the imperative of permanent democratic dialogue to a monologue. Only God has the right to monologue. And since we are a godless society, akin to that established by Enver Hoxha in Communist Albania, here politicians in power get the role of fake gods. But it wasn't always like that. Until the SDA was overthrown, the foreigners pushed TV debates. The opposition politicians could be seen on all TV-channels. Press conferences and press releases were regularly reported. Today only the official views of the SDP and statements of its officials are worthy of attention of TV stations. Judging by this media turnaround, there is no alternative to the SDP. They were given the right to govern permanently and without questioning. The fact that actually the SDP is rife with crime, criminals, that their rule has resulted in economic, social and safety break down, that hundreds of topics deserving public dialogue, so that best solutions can be found through critical thinking, is inconsequential. They are the most beautiful, the smartest and toughest, just like comrade Stalin. We must fight anyone convinced that he or she is irreplaceable.
Cooperative Beating
Communist practices perfected during their 45 years of totalitarian rule should not be an alibi for the behavior of national parties. Nor should the behavior of national parties serve as an alibi for the Alliance authorities. If they had written as fiercely against Tito and the Communist Party, as they criticized Alija [Izetbegovic] and the SDA, many would have ended up in Communist prisons. Some did, even though there was no evidence of their counter-revolutionary activities. Given the extent of the Bosniak trauma, it is a true miracle that there were no more drastic modes of attack on freedom of speech. Sporadic verbal scuffles with the critics were only an illustration that the SDA was not mature enough to be a party of democratic action. But, compared with the SDP rule, the SDA is a professor of democratic rights and freedom! Under the aegis of the SDP for months we've had a witchhunt on people who think differently, or have different religious beliefs. Hundreds of state officials have been fired and humiliated because of their party affiliation. According to some sources, in Sarajevo, almost a thousand of them have been dismissed. Today, as a pious Muslim, you are alien to the SDP. This is not true is you are a pious Catholic. As a Catholic, you can participate in the SPD, that is desirable and multicultural. Conditions are ripe for the setting up of a center for the collection of evidence about SDP's involvement in drastic violations of human rights and freedoms. That is our obligation towards the nurturing of democracy. However, in Bosnia, especially among Bosniaks, there is no one who could do that. We are a fearful and servile nation. Even when they hit us, we try to cooperate.
Suppressing Truth About Aggression on Bosnia-Hercegovina
Belgrade weekly Vreme has been publishing a serial about the downfall of the Army of Yugoslavia. Within the serial, they published an interview with General Milutin Kukanjac, the commander of the Second Army Sector in the early nineties. We recall his animal-like snout from the time of realization that the Yugoslav People's Army had been transformed into a Chetnik and fascist army. To the question about the arming of Serbs and setting up of artillery positions around Sarajevo, the general responds: "There can be no doubt that we did not arm Serbs. We defended them, because they were under attack". This is the construction on which the Serb understanding of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina is based. There is no truth. There is no logic. Those who care about the truth will easily find out that Bosniak victims make up more than 90 percent of all victims in Bosnia-Hercegovina, which clearly indicates who was a victim and who an aggressor. Logic allows us to easily prove that General Kukanjac is stupid like a log because he denies a less important charge, that the YPA armed Serbs, while admitting the most important charge, that the YPA participated in the aggression against Bosnia-Hercegovina. It is impossible to find a single proof that Serbs were being attacked. Where? When? How? On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence about Chetnik YPA attacks on unarmed Bosniak and Croat civilians. The only way to fight these pathological lies, whose goal is to become the truth through incessant repetition, is by consistently and persistently repeating the truth about the aggression on Bosnia-Hercegovina. But, we are not doing anything regarding that. We think that the truth is what we think is the truth. The truth is stronger than lies. The Bosnian truth is at the moment weaker than the Serb lie, and that is why the lie increasingly frequently sounds like the truth and the truth like a lie.
Frying Muslims
Refugee from Zavidovici Saban Mujagic [a Roma man (Gypsy)] (36) was roasted on a spit in the center of Belgrade, suffering nearly fatal burns. He was accosted, beaten and put above a fire by three members of the heavenly people, who with this crime gave their contribution to the futile attempt to cleanse Serb blood of Turkish legacy. If this case involved ordinary morbid violence, it is more likely that an Eastern Orthodox man, rather than a Muslim, would have ended up above a fire, for the simple reason that Belgrade is full of Serbs. This is a typical Nazi torture, in which a human being, because if its religious affiliation, is used as a booster for patriotism. Men who held this Muslim above fire must be convinced that they did a great thing for Serbs. Because, Serb patriotism is based on torture of Muslims. The more morbid, cruel, and sick that torture, the better. Serbs are intellectually poor because of their self-inflicted punishment, the determination to construct their past and future on the lunatic attempt to win the Kosovo field battle, lost in 1389. Humiliation of 500 years of Turkish rule determines the genetic code of the Serb patriotism, in schizophrenic attempts to change the past. That does not work! This is the origin of all this desperate persecution of South Slavic Muslims, this is the origin of genocide and celebration of the results of crime. The critical mass of the Serb nation is proud of the acts that civilized nations consider for the worst of the worst, for utter dirt and madness. Serbs do not see anything bad in roasting men on fire in Belgrade. Even if, for the sake of the West, they have to condemn such horrors, they are actually, deep inside, happy that they continue their "ancestral legacy and customs". Simply, all Serb culture and tradition is based on the murder of Muslims.
If It Weren't For Bosniaks, There Would Be No Terror
The village of Hambarine near Prijedor has again returned to newspaper pages. Recently we wrote about a terrorist attack on the house of the returnee Vahid Imsirovic. Two Vahid's daughters, Samira (10) and Sabina (12), were in the house during the attack. A few days ago, the returnee Ibrahim Ramolic was killed in Hambarine. The Serb court of constituent nations in Bosnia-Hercegovina initiated an investigation. For starters they concluded that this was a murder. The Serb judiciary in Krajina has developed a habit of blaming victims for the murders of Bosniak returnees. For example, recently we've had a chance to learn that two Bosniak returnees cut their own throats. Since no one is reacting to terrorist post-Dayton aggression against Bosniaks, the reality is becoming more complicated. Vahid Imsirovic and his daughters were not killed, but Ibrahim Ramolic was. Since we are keeping silent, as if all of this is happening to someone else, rather than to us, the aggression will continue, with more élan and confidence, towards the final goal. Zlatko Lagumdzija is correct when he says that his authorities are successfully dealing with all the problems. Since the SDP never condemns terrorist attacks on Bosniaks, it is obvious that the Bosniak nation is the only problem in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Because, if we weren't here, there would be no need to kill us. There would be no bombs, no arson, no instability. Even as victims of terrorism, we are blamed for terrorism.
Petritsch's Kristallnacht
Thanks to the decision of Wolfgang Petritsch about a change in municipal borders of Zepce, Maglaj, and Zavidovici based on ethnicity, so that Zepce could become a municipality with ethnic Croat majority, Zepce becomes a veritable Bosnian Beirut! Before Petritsch made this scandalous decision, based on genocidal ethnic engineering, Zepce was a quiet town, almost all Bosniaks returned to their homes, there were no beatings, no bombs... Immediately after Petritsch's decision, which clearly confirmed to Croats that apartheid and extremism pay off, we had an escalation of violence in Zepce. The fact that the OHR confirmed that Zepce is a Croat, rather than also a Bosniak town, spurred somewhat flagging ambitions to totally Croatize the Zepce municipality. Immediately after Petritsch's decree Bosniak children were beaten up. Croats were encouraged and started mass protests against the fairness of the judiciary in the Zenica-Doboj canton, regarding the trials of Croats indicted for crimes committed in Zepce. Then, like terrorists, using bombs and firearms, they attacked two policemen from Zepce, Marko Marjanovic and Suad Dizdarevic. The events are too numerous to keep track of. Windows on the office of Narcis Drocic were smashed, just like Germans smashed windows of Jewish stores during the Kristallnacht, when the first European Holocaust started. Do those who sent us Wolfgang Petritsch know that their clerk is responsible for this escalation of Nazi violence?
Translated on June 10, 2002
