To: newsonline@bbc.co.uk
Cc: talkingpoint@bbc.co.uk
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003

Subject: Glenny article "Croatia's dance with the EU

Dear Editor:

Misha Glenny has written another of his unflattering articles aboutCroatia "Croatia's dance with the EU". It should not come as a surprise,since Serbophile Mr. Glenny already exhibited his anti-Croatian bias inthe past. Unfortunately, he and his ilk of journalists always seem tofind a very receptive media - indoctrinated, no doubt, by decades ofSerb propaganda.

In this article he is parroting the Serb propaganda lie about theCroatians' "violent nationalism that was visited upon its minoritySerbs....". Wonder why Glenny did not precede his statement by writingabout these same minority Serbs expelling several hundred thousand Croatsfrom their homes with only the clothes on their backs, while looting andburning their properties? Why he did not mention the thousands of Croatsthese Serbs killed with the help of their paramilitary and the Yugoslavarmy? Or the many mass graves of the hundreds of massacred Croatians,from the very young to the very old. Even after the truth about the war and Serb aggression is coming out at The Hague's ICTY trials of Milosevicand his henchmen, Misha Glenny still parrots the Serb lies andexaggerations.

Glenny made statements that have no foundation in reality, such as theabsurdity that Croatia's late president Tudjman was, in Glenny's opinion,a friend of Milosevic! Tudjman had his faults, but that was not one ofthem! Glenny also made the false statement that Croatia's generalGotovina is indicted by the ICTY for "murder and disappearance of hundreds of Serb civilians". GeneralGotovina is being accused of "command responsibility" - while he neithercommanded nor approved the isolated instances of revenge-killings byCroatians, who were not even necessarily soldiers. Neither was it thepolicy of the Croatian Government. A number of people were tried in Croatia for these war crimes.

Yes, general Gotovina is a hero in Croatians' eyes because he led thearmy that finally liberated Croatia's rebel-held territories. It shouldbe noted that the war with Serbia/Yugoslavia ended by Jan.1992, yet allpeaceful means of reintegration of Serb-held Croatian territories werefruitless and the military action in Aug. 1995 was the only alternative.

Sincerely,
Hilda M. Foley
National Federation of Croatian Americans
13272 Orange Knoll