The War in Bosnia: How to Succeed at Genocide

By Muhamed Borogovac

Boston, November 5, 1995

The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina is an unheard-of tragedy. Before the eyes of the entire world, a state is being destroyed, and the people (population) of a nation are suffering the genocide and ethnic cleansing. All the principles of humanity, morals, and international rules have been trampled. The question most often asked is, how could that happen today when the genocide committed during World War II is so well known (the Holocaust) and when the international community had the will and the means to protect the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina? The international community has shown that it is not the enemy of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that it accepts this state into its membership when it recognized the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on April 7, 1992. With that act, the international community stood up against the Serbian nationalism, which only started to bloody its hands in Bosnia and Herzegovina. So how come that in the fall of 1995, after the innumerable atrocities committed by the Serbs revolted the world, the international community crossed over to the side of the war criminals, giving them 49 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina with its Dayton peace proposals? Who was the mastermind who succeeded to change the world opinion and what methods did he use? This book answers some of those questions.

The reading of this book has to be approached with having faith in no one but a common sense. Besides that, from the reader who comprehends what is truly happening in Bosnia, it is expected that he/she spreads the truth. The ultimate goal is to help in the fight against the forces of betrayal and the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Wishing to arm the Bosnian patriots as soon as possible with the knowledge of what is really happening, this book is being written in a hurry. I still hope that this book will reach Bosnians and friends of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina all over the world before it is too late and while it is still possible to say no to the division of a member of the United Nations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524560096

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Copyright © 2017 by Muhamed Borogovac.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016919126

       ISBN:     Hardcover      978-1-5245-6011-9

                       Softcover       978-1-5245-6010-2

                       eBook            978-1-5245-6009-6

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Rev. date: 10/30/2019

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CONTENTS

Abbreviations

Important Names and Concepts

Preface

Introduction to the English Edition

Introduction to the First Issue

PART I

1. Ethnic Structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina

1.1. The Serbs

1.2. The Croats

1.3. The Bosniaks

2. Bosnia and Herzegovina within Yugoslavia

2.1. Bosnia-Herzegovina before the Agrokomerc Affair

2.2. The Serbian Academy Fights for Izetbegović’s Freedom

2.3. The Agrokomerc Affair

2.4. Izetbegović’s Party of Democratic Action—SDA

2.5. The First Congress of the SDA

3. Yugoslavia Ceased to Exist by Legal Dissolution

3.1 The Yugoslav Fédération

3.2 The Yugoslav People’s Army and the Territorial Defense

3.3 The Assembly, Presidency, and the Government of Yugoslavia

4. The War

4.1 The War in Slovenia

4.2 The War in Croatia

4.3 What Tuđman Considers Logical Borders

5. The New World Order

6. The War in the Tuzla Region

6.1 The Patriotic League in Tuzla

6.2 The Attack on the SDA Headquarters in Tuzla

6.3. Tuzla before the Serbian Attack

6.4. The Liberation of Tuzla

6.5. First Negotiations about Territories

7. The SDA Cadre Politics during the War

7.1. The Influx of New Members in SDA

7.2. Izetbegović’s Envoy Armin Pohara Arrives in Tuzla

8. The Negotiations

8.1. The Second Conversation with Izetbegović

8.2 The International Law or the Negotiations

8.3. The Decision to Negotiate

8.4. The Decision to Accept Karadžić to be a Partner in the Negotiations

8.5. Consenting to Negotiate the Constitution of the Republic Bosnian and Herzegovina

9. The Consequences of Negotiations on the Bosnian Constitution

9.1. Questioning the Recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina

9.2. Destroying the Motivation for the Struggle

9.3. The Demilitarization of Sarajevo—Betrayal of Goražde

10. Controversies over Some of Izetbegović’s Statements

11. The Bosnian Congress

11.1. Balog’s and Sendijarević’s Correspondence with Izetbegović

11.2. The Accusation by Bosnian Congress against Izetbegović for High Treason

11.3. Who Are Indeed the Young Muslims—Izetbegović and Šaćirbey

11.4. Why the American Arms Embargo to Bosnia Was Never Lifted

11.5. The Activities of the Bosnian Congress

12. The End of the War

12.1. The Betrayal of Bihać

12.2. The Fall of Srebrenica

12.3. The Betrayal of Žepa

12.4. Political Consequences of the Fall of Srebrenica and Žepa

12.5. The Serbs Are Defeated on the Battlefield

12.6. The Methodology of Deceit

12.7. Army and Politics

PART II

Appendix

13. The Dayton Agreement

14. The USA’s Role in the Partition of Bosnia

14.1 Clinton’s Bosnian Storm

14.2 Requiem for a Nation

15. Post-Dayton Elections

15.1 Petition against Elections in Bosnia

15.2 The Correspondence between European Authorities (OSCE) and Bosnian Refugees

16. His Holiness, the Pope in Bosnia

17. Legal Suit against Dayton Agreement

18. Legal Suit against Yugoslavia for Genocide

19. Bosnian Declaration of Independence

20. The Declaration of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina

To the heroic army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

We are going all the way to Drina River.

—Captain Hajro Mešić,

Commander, Defenses of Teočak and Zvornik

(Referring to pushing the Serbian aggressors back to the traditional border between Bosnia and Serbia.)

The war will end when Lilies fly over Banja Luka and Grude.

—Sefer Halilović,

Ex–Supreme Commander, Bosnian Army

(Referring to the Bosnian flag flying over the territories currently occupied by the Chetniks and HVO.)

Bosnia doesn’t need peace, Bosnia needs freedom.

—Zaim Imamović

Commander, Goražde

The safe heavens are those where the Bosnian Army is in control.

—Atif Dudaković

Commander, Fifth Core

We (Bosnian Army) are going to have a parade in Banja Luka.

—Mehmed Alagić

Commander, Seventh Core

(Referring to the final liberation of the occupied territories.)

Abbreviations

AVNOJ. Anti-fašističko Vijeće Narodnog Oslobođenja Jugoslavije – Antifascist Council of the People’s Liberation of Yugoslavia.

(Refers to the historic meeting in 1943 of anti-fascists of all ethnic backgrounds on the territory of the future Yugoslav federation, when Yugoslav Federation was established and historic borders of the republics that joined federation were confirmed.)

B&H. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

EU. European Union.

EC. European Community.

HDZ. Hrvatska Demokratska Zejednica - Croats party under control of Franjo Tuđman.

HVO. Hrvatsko Vijeće Odbrane - Rebel Croat units in B&H.

JNA. Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija -Yugoslav Peoples’ Army.

KOS. Kontra Obavještajna Služba - JNA counterintelligence service.

PL. Patriotic League, Bosniaks’ volonitiers’ units.

RS. Republika Srpska - The Serbian Republic in Bosnia constituted in Dayton.

R B&H. Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

SDA. Stranka Demokrateske Akcije - Party of Democratic Action (Muslim party founded by Alija Izetbegović)

SDS. Srpska Demokratska Stranka - Serbian Democratic Party.

SKJ. Savez Komunista Jugoslavije - League of Communists of Yugoslavia.

TO. Teritorijalna Odbrana - Territorial Defense Force.

UDBA. Unutrašnja Državna Bezbjednost - Yugoslav secret police, Yugoslav version of KGB.

UN. United Nations.

UNPROFOR. United Nations Protection Force.

ZAVNOBIH. Zasjedanje Antifašističkog Vijeća Narodnog Oslobođenja BIH - An assembly of Bosnian antifascists established during the World War II. They made the decision to recreate Bosna and Herzegovina (which was divided between Serbs and Croats in 1939) as a state in its historic borders, recognized by European countries in the 1912 Berlin Congress. Later, in AVNOJ 1943, they made the decision to join Yugoslav federation as a member state.

Important Names and Concepts

Abdić, Fikret. A member of the Bosnian presidency who rebelled against BH in order to keep power in his municipality, Velika Kladusa.

Akashi, Yasushi. Senior UN envoy in the Bosnian peace negotiations. He was fired by Izetbegović after the fall of Srebrenica. However, Akashi was fired only so that the fault for the fall of Srebrenica falls on only one person, and thus Izetbegović has the excuse to retain UNPROFOR. By removing Akashi, Izetbegović released the UN from any culpability related to the loss of safe havens," and this kept the UNPROFOR in BH, even though the UN no longer brought food to or protected the Bosnians. Izetbegović needed the UN to stay in Bosnia; otherwise, if they left, the American arms embargo against Bosnia would have been lifted. The American condition to arm Bosnians was the departure of UNPROFOR from Bosnia, see Chapter 11.4 for details.

Andrić, Ivo. A very important man for understanding the Serbian people. Ivo Andrić was a famous in the area as a Serbian writer whose historic novels spread hatred against Bosnian Muslims. He described Bosnian medieval heroes as either stupid, homosexuals, or maniacs who mistreated the Serbs. He described Bosniaks as an evil people. His historical novels were exploited in the Yugoslav school system, starting from as early as Elementary school, in order to destroy any dignity of Bosniak students. The students were never taught the truth about events described in his novels, and so his twisted anti-Turks imagination became a historic truth in the Yugoslav school system. Ivo Andrić won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960. His novels were both literature and politics, but unlike Solzhenitsyn, he did not target a political regime but the Bosnian people. He was the man who signed the alliance between the Serbs and Nazi-Germany in 1941. It seems that awarding him the Nobel Prize was purely a political act.

Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution. The movement of Serbian crowds in Yugoslavia during 1988-1989 who illegally, under the pressure of demonstrations, removed uncooperative leaders of non-Serb ethnic groups from power.

Badinter, Robert. A French Constitutional judge, chairman of the EC Arbitration Committee on Yugoslavia (1991). That committee concluded that according to Yugoslav Constitution, Bosnia-Herzegovina has a legal right to declare independence if 50 percent plus one citizen voted for freedom on the referendum of all citizens of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The referendum took place on March 1, 1992, and 64 percent of all citizens voted for independence. Then the European Union, the USA, and the UN recognized Bosnia as a sovereign nation, member of UN, c.f. UN Res. 755, dated May 20, 1992.

Bajramović, Sejdo. Illegally appointed Kosovo representative instead of Rizza Sapunxhiu to the Yugoslav presidency in 1991—loyal to Milošević instead of to Kosovo Albanians. It was possible to be done during the Milošević’s dictatorship. Such Milošević’s (Serbian) behavior triggered requests for independence in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, and, later, Kosovo—and finally Montenegro.

Bijedić Džemal. Bosnian patriot, a supporter of the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974 that decentralized Yugoslavia. Allegedly killed by JNA generals in an airplane accident in 1977 when he was president of the Yugoslav government.

Boban, Mate. Rebel Bosnian Croat leader. Declared separate Croat state in Bosnia, the so-called Herceg-Bosna. It was later proven that he was an agent of the secret Yugoslav police (which was dominated by Serbs) during the Yugoslavia rule.

Boutros Ghali. UN Secretary General, the man whose duty was to implement the UN Charter. Americans vetoed his reelection for the UN Secretary General in 1996 because of many violations of the UN Charter. Many of his violations of the UN Charter were against Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was strongly sided with the Serbs.

Bosniaks. The official name of the most numerous ethnic group in Bosnia-Herzegovina since September 28, 1993, when an assembly of the Bosniak people returned their historic name. Before September 1993, the official name was Bosnian Muslims. Hence, Bosnian Muslim is a name of the ethnic group rather than the religious group. Bosniaks were not recognized as a separate ethnic group, and their historic name Bosniak was forbidden during Yugoslav (Serbian) rule over Bosnia for the purpose of assimilation of Bosniaks into Serbs. Many Bosniaks were assimilated into Serbs, including Alija Izetbegović, who declared himself as a Serb until the census in 1971. His affiliation with Serbs explains many strange decisions that helped the Serbs during the war while Izetbegović was Bosnian president.

brotherhood and unity. A way of living, promoted by Tito, based on tolerance among various ethnic groups in the diverse Yugoslav society.

Cetniks or Chetniks. Name used by Serb nationalists for their soldiers, who committed genocide against Bosniaks in WW II and in the Bosnian War of 1992–1995.

Christopher, Warren. US Secretary of State from 1992 to 1997.

Delimustafić, Alija. Bosnian Minister of the Interior (1991–92) and a proven Serbian agent.

Dizdarević, Raif. Bosnia’s representative in the Yugoslav presidency. Even though he was of Bosniak background, he was known as a Serbian supporter and the man who introduced the unconstitutional Serbian dictatorship in the Kosovo province on February 28, 1989. At that time, he was president of the Yugoslav Presidency.

Doko, Jerko. Croat, Bosnian Defense Minister (1991). A supporter of the unified Bosnia. Removed by Izetbegović on the request of rebel Croats.

Drnovšek, Janez. Slovenia’s representative in the Yugoslav presidency before the dissolution of the Yugoslavia.

Duraković, Nijaz. Bosnia’s Socialist Party leader, and later a member of Bosnia’s presidency. He was a supporter of the 1974 Bosnian Constitution.

Eagleburger, Lawrence. Acting US Secretary of State in 1992.

Festić, Ibrahim. Professor of the constitutional law and a Bosnian patriot. He was in the Constitutional Commission that created the 1974 Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia Herzegovina. He was one of the patriots who stopped the division of Bosnia called the Union of three Bosnian Republics. That plan adopted by Izetbegović, Milošević, and Tuđman was rejected by the Bosniak Assembly in 1993, an ad hoc assembly established by Izetbegović to backstab the legitimate Parliament of the Republic Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bosnian patriots used this assembly to return the historic name of the Bosniak people.

Filipović, Muhamed. Representative in several Bosnian negotiating teams.

Ganić, Ejub. Yugoslav representative to the Bosnian presidency. He was a citizen of Serbia and educated in Serbia. Before the war, he came to Bosnia to replace the retired commander of JNA Institute of the Technology, Colonel Obradović. It is well known that only the people of the highest clearance among the Serbs could work in that type of position. Before the war, he was the founder of the pro-Serbian Yugoslav Party among the Bosniaks. When that party collapsed, Dr. Ganić was accepted for a leading position in SDA, to be handy to Izetbegović.

Gligorov, Kiro. The Communist veteran who guided Macedonia to independence as its president since 1991.

Halilović Sefer. First commander of the Bosnian Army, the supporter of the Bosnian Constitution 1974. He was removed by Izetbegović after he confronted Izetbegović for accepting a division of Bosnia during the peace process. He was the mastermind of the action of Bosnian Army that defeated HVO in the southern Bosnia and eased the siege of Sarajevo.

Holbrooke, Richard. Assistant US Secretary of State, mediator in Dayton.

Izetbegović, Alija. Bosnian president of the Presidency during the war in Bosnia.

Karadžić, Radovan. Rebel Serb, negotiator with Izetbegović, accused of war crimes by George H. Bush’s administration in December 1992, indicted as a war criminal in 1995. As a war criminal, he was the main burden to the recognition of his creation, Republika Srpska—a Serbian state constituted on 49 percent of Bosnia in Dayton. Bosnians call his indictment laundry of his masterpiece, the graveyard state Republika Srpska.

Kljuić, Stjepan. Croat member of the Bosnian presidency. He advocated for unified Bosnia. He was illegally removed by Izetbegović in 1992 on the request of Mate Boban, the leader of Bosnian Croats established by the influence of the Croatian president Franjo Tuđman among B&H Croats. Kljujic was reinstated 1994 upon the request of the Bosnian Parliament.

Koljević, Nikola. Serbian member of the Bosnian presidency before the war.

Komšić, Ivo. Croat member of the Bosnian presidency. He was a supporter of the unified Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Krajišnik Momčilo. The closest of Karadžić’s partner. He was a member of the first post–Dayton Bosnian trilateral presidency, even though he was alleged, and later convicted, as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Krunić, Boško. Vojvodina representative in the Yugoslav presidency, ousted in the Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution in 1988.

Kučan, Milan. Slovene Communist Party leader who became the first president of the independent Slovenia.

Kukanjac, Milutin. General of the JNA; commander of Sarajevo.

Lagumdžija, Zlatko. Bosnian Communist leader. Together with Izetbegović, he was captured by the Serbs at the Sarajevo airport on May 2, 1992, and released on May 3, 1992.

McKenzie, Lewis. Canadian General, UN Commander in BH in 1992.

Mahmutčehajić, Rusmir. SDA leader and member of the Bosnian government in 1993. He miraculously succeeded in organizing the production of ammunition in the completely surrounded Bosnia during the war against both Serbs and Croats. He was removed from power by Izetbegović without any explanation.

Manolić, Josip. Croat patriot who insisted that Bosnia-Herzegovina should be supported instead of attacked by Croatia. Because of his willingness to fight against the Serbs for the liberation of Bosnia and Croatia, instead of fighting for the Serbs in Bosnia, he was removed from power by Tuđman.

Mesić, Stipe. Croatia’s representative in the Yugoslav presidency. He was removed from power by Tuđman for the same reason as Manolić.

Mikulić, Branko. High-ranking Croat politician in the prewar Bosnian government. A supporter of the Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted in 1974. (That constitution guaranteed the independence of the R B&H in the case of the dissolution of Yugoslavia.)

Milošević, Slobodan. President of Serbia, responsible for the genocide in Bosnia.

Mladić, Ratko. General of the JNA. He was commander of the Bosnian Serb Army since 1992.

Muhić, Fuad. Bosnian patriot, a supporter of the 1974 Bosnian Constitution, who best predicted what would happen to Bosnia if Izetbegović prevailed. Fuad Muhić was one of the few intellectuals brave enough to stand up against Serbs regarding the important political issues https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuad Muhić. Dr. Muhić died under mysterious circumstances at the beginning of the war in Bosnia.

Orić, Naser. Leader of the Srebrenica defenders from the beginning of the war. Before the fall of Srebrenica, Naser Orić was removed from Srebrenica, on Izetbegović’s command, to attend military school in Tuzla. That Izetbegović’s move left Srebrenica without its leaders, in disarray. That was the tragic mistake that cost eight thousand lives in Srebrenica.

Owen, David. EC mediator who removed (?!) Dr. Duraković and Dr. Filipović from the Bosnian negotiating team in Geneva in the fall of 1993, Bosniaks who did not accept the partition of the country and had the trust of the Bosnian Assembly and the Bosnian people.

Paraga, Dobroslav. Founder of the Croatian Party of Right. The main characteristic of that party is the doctrine that Croats should fight together with Bosniaks against the common enemy, the Serbs. That is why they were against Tuđman’s conspiracy with Serbs to divide Bosnia.

https://ba.boell.org/de/2019/03/25/karadordevo-und-die-territorial-ethnische-teilung-bosnien-und-herzegowinas.

Plavšić, Biljana. Vice president during Karadžić’s presidency of the Republika Srpska, when all the crimes were committed. She was a hard-liner in the Karadžić government. After Karadžić was indicted as a war criminal, she became the president of the Republika Srpska.

Pohara, Armin. Bosniak-Croat, who worked for Izetbegović, Tuđman, and Abdić as a special agent advocating among Bosniaks the division of Bosnia-Herzegovina along ethnic lines.

Pozderac, Hamdija. Bosnian leader before the Agrokomerc Affair. He categorically refused any possibility of changing the Bosnian Constitution. That is why the Serbian lobby set up the Agrokomerc Affair and removed Pozderac’s government.

Račan, Ivica. Croatian Communist leader. He led Croatian Communists when they walked out from the last SKJ Congress after the Slovenians.

Ražnjatović, Zeljko (Arkan). Commander of JNA special units from Nis, accused of war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia. Biljana Plavšić publicly kissed him after he committed the first crimes against humanity in Bijeljina in April 1992.

Rugova, Ibrahim. Leader of the Kosovo ethnic Albanians since 1989. He succeeded to keep Kosovo in peace until the Serbs finished the war in Bosnia. The Albanians had a better chance to fight for their freedom when the Serbs were in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia than in 1998, when the whole Serbian Army from Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia had moved in Kosovo. He played a similar role among Albanians in Kosovo as Izetbegović did among Bosniaks in Bosnia.

Šaćirbey, Muhamed. Bosnian foreign minister. His father, Nedžib Šaćirbegović, was Izetbegović’s best friend since the student days. They changed the family name to the Turkish version Šaćirbey, which indicates that they felt as Turks rather than Bosnians. Recall the Turks occupied Bosnia for 4.5 centuries, and many ethnic Bosnians were assimilated with the Turks. Muhamed Šaćirbegović will be remembered among Bosnians as the man who on Izetbegović’s request recognized Republika Srpska in Geneva on September 26, 1995 without the legitimate approval of the Bosnian Presidency. His anti-constitutional Geneva signature that recognized that 49 percent of Bosnia belongs exclusively to Serbs handed the necessary paperwork to Americans to legitimately stop the Bosnian Army at the moment when Serbs were in total disarray, losing one city a day.

Sapunxhiju, Rizza. Kosovo’s representative in the Yugoslav presidency; he was illegally fired by the Serbs in 1991.

Selimović, Mehmed (Mesha). A writer of Bosniaks background who considered himself a Serbian author.

Šešelj, Vojislav. Serbian radical who became known for fighting against the Bosnian government and for Izetbegović’s freedom in the 1980s. In the war, his units committed many crimes.

Silajdžić, Haris. One of Izetbegović’s closest friends and allies. He was an unknown person to the Bosnians before the war, when he was brought in by Izetbegović into his inner circle to assist him with leading the party. Silajdžić was educated in Muslim religious schools and fluent in Arabic and English. These were his credentials, which were supposed to make Bosnian Muslims trust him. But we have to remember that despite his education, Silajdžić’s previous career was in the Yugoslavian diplomatic corps, intelligence in Arabic countries. His many later actions to subvert and sabotage Bosnian interests show that he continued to be devoted to Yugoslav unity (i.e., greater Serbia).

Stonltenberg, Thorvald. UN envoy to the International Conference (1993–1995), replacing Cyrus Vance.

Tito, Josip Broz. The Leader of Yugoslavia from 1941 to 1980.

Tuđman, Franjo. Founding leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the first president of the independent Croatia. He was general of the Yugoslav People’s Army. In the seventies, he was prosecuted by Tito’s government for his opposition to the 1972 change of the Yugoslav Constitution, which gave more autonomy to the Yugoslav Republics.

Ustaše. Croatian nationalists who considered the Serbs as enemies and the Muslims as allies against the Serbs. They committed genocide against the Serbs in the WW II, and after the WW II, Ustasha became a pejorative name used by Serbs to refer to all Croats.

Zulfikarpašić, Adil. Bosnian immigrant and businessman in Switzerland who signed the