• NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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What Karadzic Did to Bosnia

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is on trial, but whatever the outcome, the pain of war will remain.

BY JORDANA TIMERMAN | NOVEMBER 11, 2009

ALEXA STANKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

Busted: Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is being tried on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, during which 150,000 to 200,000 people, mostly Muslims, died. He is accused of ethnic cleansing in eastern Bosnia, driving hundreds of thousands from their homes; a 44-month siege of the capital, Sarajevo, which left 10,000 dead; a massacre at Srebrenica, where about 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed; and the hostage-taking of 200 U.N. peacekeepers. Even as the trial proceeds, Bosnians and others in the region continue to struggle with his legacy. Above, a woman walks past a fallen bust of Karadzic in Belgrade on Oct. 26.

ALEXA STANKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

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Jordana Timerman is a researcher at Foreign Policy.

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SPORTMEN

9:50 PM ET

November 11, 2009

sportsmen

Much information in this article is false.
1. Not died 150-200k but 99k according to Read Cross published list of died people. Percent died is almost as ethnic groups percentage in former Bosnia and Herzegovina.
How many people really died in Srebrenica? 6000, 7000 or 8000 thousand. Different newspaper, different number.
It was not capital siege. All lend around of Sarajevo belong Serbian farmers. NOBODY come from outside.....etc.

Ordinary Muslim propaganda.

  REPLY
 

LOKOS1998

11:26 AM ET

November 12, 2009

Insane...

The most recent research places the number of killed people at around 100,000–110,000 and 1.8 million displaced (see Casualties). The research from June 2007 has shown that most of the 97,207 documented casualties (civilians and soldiers) during Bosnian War were Bosniaks (66%), with Serbs in second (25%) and Croats (8%) in third place.[10] However, 83 percent of civilian victims were Bosniaks, 10 percent were Serbs and more than 5 percent were Croats, followed by a small number of others such as Albanians or Romani people.

The Preliminary List of People Missing or Killed in Srebrenica compiled by the Bosnian Federal Commission of Missing Persons contains 8,372 names, of whom some 500 were under 18, and includes several dozen women and girls... As of July 2009, 6186 genocide victims have been identified through DNA analysis of body parts recovered from mass graves and 3,647 victims have been buried at the Memorial Centre of Poto?ari.

Sarajevo siege... The Siege of Sarajevo was the longest siege in the history of modern warfare, conducted by the Serb forces of self-proclaimed Republika Srpska and Yugoslav People's Army (later transformed to the Army of Serbia and Montenegro), lasting from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996. It is estimated that of the more than 12,000 people who were killed and the 50,000 who were wounded during the siege, 85% of the casualties were civilians.

  REPLY
 

AMARITA

3:21 AM ET

November 12, 2009

What Karadzic did to Bosnia

Actually, the number of those killed in the Bosnian war is 97,207 and includes victims from ALL three ethnic groups, both civilians and combatants. I am not sure whether the error is simply the result of carelessness, or a deliberate attempt to inflate Serbian crimes.

  REPLY
 

LOKOS1998

4:12 PM ET

November 12, 2009

How to recognize "Serb Propaganda" regarding Bosnia

If you are a Serb...
1. Make sure to call it "folk or civil" war, instead of Muslim genocide or military aggression
2. Make sure to call all casualties "war victims", instead of muslim ethnic cleansing
3. Make sure to equalize dead, instead of 81% of civilians killed are Muslims
4. Ignore genocide in Srebrenica, do not mention other towns like: Žepa, Sarajevo, Goražde, Biha?, Tuzla, Prijedor, Bjeljina, Višegrad, Fo?a, Vlasenica, Kozarac...
5. Say Bosnian war started because Bosniaks wanted Islamic state, instead of not wanting to be part of Independent Bosnia and Herzegovina
6. Call Miloševi?, Karadži?, Mladi? "Folk Hero's", instead of war criminals
7. De-Legitimatize War Crimes Tribunal, instead of demonizing 166 Serb war criminals indicted so far
8. De-Legitimatize United Nations and EU, instead of joining EU
9. Talk about Muslim Safety Centers, instead of 677 Muslim detention centers and concentration camps
10. Talk about defense killings, instead of hundreds of Muslim mass graves
11. Talk about accidental Bomb shelling, instead of 1100 destroyed Islamic cultural objects
12. Talk about freewill relocation, instead forced displacement of 1-2 Million Muslims
13. Be proud of JNA's (Yugoslav Folk Army), instead decry involvement in the Genocide
14. Show support for Greater Serbia, instead of Serbia's involvement in the Genocide
15. Dispute numbers just to stall conversation, like it matters if 2001 or 3001 people killed makes a difference
16. Do not mention the results from genocide and ethnic cleansing, like more Serb seats in local government fields (police, education, medical, electric/water distribution...) or public offices, Republic of Srpska
17. Inflame imposed ethnic divisions, use terms such as Terrorists, Islamist, Radicals, Muslim State

URGENT: Please be sane enough to realize this is just sarcasm, and be prepared of mixing of the above topics.

  REPLY
 

COMPASSIONFORBOTHSIDES

4:45 PM ET

November 12, 2009

Disgusting to be arguing over numbers

I suppose if "only" 97,207 people died then it isn't a big deal, huh? And Foreign Policy magazine has a pro-Muslim agenda?
It's not about being pro-Serbian or anti-Serbian, it's about human life which is why it is a crime against HUMANITY not a crime against simply Bosnians or Serbs or Croats.

Whether Karadzic is guilty of massacring 5000 or 8000 is not likely to make a difference in his sentencing if he is found guilty. Or do you think there is an acceptable amount of genocide that we in the world should stand by and accept in the name of nationalism?

Do you really think the ICC or mainstream news outlets like the BBC have a pro-Muslim agenda? I suppose the giant coffers of Bosnia are bribing the world against Serbian heroes like Karadzic, as part of a global conspiracy to make Serbians look bad. If your argument is that not enough Bosnians and others were prosecuted, then say so, but to deny these atrocities over petty technicalities is shameful. Karadzic is on trial here, not Serbia.

  REPLY
 

MUSICMASTER

4:22 PM ET

November 14, 2009

Disappointing overview

I found this a very disappointing overview - not what I expect from a serious magazine:
- the Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo has done excellent research on the casualties of the Bosnian war and came at about 100,000.
- I think that Karadzic is right that 1 million pages is much too much. The ICTY is using the tactic of throwing a lot of dirt and hoping that some will stick. This is not the way justice should be applied.
- Not a word about the dubious way in which Bosnia became independent, nor about the dubious role of the West in the break-up of Yugoslavia.

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