(E) Wolfgang Petrisch's article in NYT - John Kraljic's response
Wolfgang Petrsich had a piece in today's NY Times Op-Ed page. This is my response.
John Kraljic
To the Editor:
Wolfgang Petrisch's claims concerning the recovery of Bosnia and
Herzegovina reflect the Potemkin village like quality of his tenure as
High Representative. Contrary to Mr. Petrisch's beliefs, his role
should not be to promote a multiethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina but a
democratic, law-abiding society where the rights of the three
constituent nations comprising Bosnia and Herzegovina are respected.
This has certainly not been the case when it comes to the Croats
of that country. Mr. Petrisch denied them their rights to elect their
own representatives by engineering the elections to candidates more
favorable to him. His decision to employ armed forces to allegedly stem
corruption at a local Croat-owned bank while indicted Serb war criminals
such as Radovan Karadzic remain free within the country reflects the
OHR's skewed priorities.
That Mr. Petrisch's actions as OHR favor certain ethnic groups
over others is reflected upon an analysis of the very same refugee
returns which Mr. Petrisch touts which show that most returns continue
to occur in the Muslim-Croat Federation. Hundreds of thousands of
Muslim and Croat refugees can only dream that possibly within their
lifetimes they may travel back to their homes in ethnically cleansed
Republika Srpska.
Very truly yours,
John Peter Kraljic
President,
National Federation of Croatian Americans
op-ed NEW YORK TIMES To e-mail a letter to the editor, write to letters@nytimes.com You may also send your letter to: Letters to the Editor The New York Times 229 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 fax: (212) 556-3622 distributed by CROWN (Croatian World Net) - CroworldNet@aol.com
