| What Else, Why and What Next? Part III, Florence Hartmann, Sylvie Matton, Ambassador Sacirbey Speak Aconvenientgenocide.com )
"I had instructions to Sacrifice Srebrenica, Zepa, Gorazde."
Sylvie Matton: Ambassador Holbrooke was saying something that I had suspected for some time: "I had instructions to sacrifice Srebrenica, Gorazde and Zepa." The video tape was sent to me by Mo Sacirbey, who had seen it after it had been almost forgotten for a year. It had been played originally on Hayat Television, but as the host, Senad Hadzifeizovic said, it seems that most of Bosnia's political leadership did not understand or want to understand the betrayal in these words.
Ambassador Sacirbey: No one dared ask Ambassador Holbrooke the questions that Sylvie Matton asked. That is no one, who has the legal authority and responsibility in BiH.
Sylvie Matton: Following is my email exchange with Mr. Holbrooke: -----Sylvie Matton: "Who gave you those instructions, "(to sacrifice Srebrenica, Gorazde, Zepa")?" -----Richard Holbrooke: "Tony Lake, (US National Security Adviser under President Clinton from 92-96). I rejected them immediately." -----Sylvie Matton: "Were the initial instructions you opposed related only to the territories, or both to the territories and the population?" -----Richard Holbrooke: "Both." -----Sylvie Matton: "When did you receive the initial instructions and how did you oppose them?" -----Richard Holbrooke: "In my written instructions in August 1995." -----Sylvie Matton: "And who finally implemented them?" -----Richard Holbrook: "No One." Ambassador Sacirbey: Ambassador Holbrooke's answers are inconsistent. First, Srebrenica and Zepa were in fact sacrificed regardless of whether he received such instructions or when. "You Must Give Up Gorazde"
Ambassador Sacirbey: Second, Ambassador Holbrooke in early August in fact did try to pressure us, me to "sacrifice" Gorazde. Ambassador Holbrooke was to fly into Sarajevo with his delegation. Instead, due to apparent security considerations, Ambassador Holbrooke's delegation flew into Split, Croatia. I was directed by President Izetbegovic, as RBiH's Foreign Minister, to meet Holbrooke and delegation in Split. So instead of the US State Department landing in Sarajevo, I and my security had to risk traveling Mt. Igman during the day. When I arrived there in the early evening, Holbrooke was concluding his meeting with President Tudjman. We felt that the most secure place to hold discussions was on the State Department plane committed by then Secretary of State Warren Christopher to the American initiative for peace in BiH, as it was then labeled.
On the plane, Holbrook from the outset began to pressure that we abandon or trade Gorazde. It struck me as rather strange at that time why Holbrooke had placed the emphasis of this conversation on "us" giving up Gorazde, the first hour of a 90 minute conversation. Of course, it becomes more apparent if he was trying to deliver on his "deal," spoken or implicit to give Gorazde as well as Srebrenica and Zepa to Milosevic, Mladic and Karadzic. There were pressures on Sarajevo throughout the spring of 1995 for us to abandon or "trade" the three eastern enclaves. The Serbian side had rejected the so called "Final Contact Group Map" presented to all parties in the summer of 1994. Since it was the "final map," the Contact Group, US, UK, France, Russia and Germany, did not want to be openly seen as giving in to Belgrade. They wanted us to do it for them. As we continually refused the trade for principled, strategic and tactical reasons, they finally would give Milosevic, Mladic and Karadzic the yellow or green light to change the map with new facts on the ground, which would be acceptable to Belgrade and Pale. If Holbrooke Rejected the "Instructions," Nonetheless, They. Including Carl Bildt, Have Done a Consistent Job of Implementing Them ... Have Resisted All Efforts to Reverse the Consequences of Such "Instructions."
Sylvie Matton: What is also inconsistent in Holbrooke's denial is that Srebrenica and Zepa had already been abandoned to Mladic and Republika Srpska. How can Holbrooke claim that he rejected instructions if they already were implemented?
It is evident that whatever the instructions may have been issued, the deal to abandon Srebrenica, Gorazde and Zepa was made in late May of 1995, as I wrote after my research in my book, "Srebrenica, an Announced Genocide." Follows is my exchange with Carl Bildt, on December 8, 2004 in the The Hague where he was holding a lecture on "International Security Cooperation in an Age of Terrorism:" -----Sylvie Matton: When you were in Belgrade, with Milosevic, on July 7th, 1995, were you talking about "state building" or "state collapsing"?" -----Carl Bildt: "Of state building...As I was just saying, the bond between the economy... -----Sylvie Matton: "Were you talking about Republika Srpska?" -----Carl Bildt: "No, Republika Srpska had been dealt long before." -----Sylvie Matton: "When?" -----Carl Bildt: "End of May." -----Sylvie Matton: "Where?" -----Carl Bildt: "In Belgrade. Ambassador Sacirbey: We were also told in August and Dayton that the peace initiative could not proceed if we insisted upon Srebrenica and Zepa being restored. If Srebrenica and Zepa were not sacrificed by Ambassador Holbrooke then I"m not certain of the meaning of that word. Ambassador Holbrooke can claim to have rejected some instructions, but he made a heck of a good job of implementing the substance. He may also wish that the genocide did not occur, but it did. This does not absolve him of responsibility of having given Milosevic, Mladic and Karadzic the green or yellow light to attack the eastern "safe areas" and territory because he did not anticipate the measure of the massacre. Most telling now, when it comes to the future of these territories, neither Ambassador Holbrooke nor the Euro-Atlantic powers have acted to restore Srebrenica or Zepa to the authority of their citizens. Rather, every effort to declare Srebrenica or Zepa "special districts" or outside of the political authority of Republika Srpska and in whose name the genocide was committed in 1995, has been met with an absolute no, even intimidation of the victims. It seems that the so called instructions of 1995 to "sacrifice" are still being followed; at least as such apply to Srebrenica and Zepa. Florence Hartmann: As written in my book, the big powers have effectively rewarded those who, a couple of weeks earlier, systematically deported and killed the Muslim population of Srebrenica, and allowed the repopulation of the area as to modify its ethnic structure. Concealing that Srebrenica, a UN protected area, has been abandoned to the Serb side in order to get their signature to the peace plan is a real possible motive for avoiding the arrest of Mladic and Karadzic. It is also a motive in concealing documents that, (as I again reveal in my book, "Peace & Punishment" : "Strikingly show the subordination of the Croatian and Bosnian Serbs, and their respective armed forces, to Belgrade. They, (these documents), unveil the existence, so far unknown, of two different services within the military leadership in Belgrade; established in November 1993 by a secret decree, each of them supervise the staff and funds made available to the armies of Croatia and Bosnian Serbs." To Conceal Responsibility and Revise History
Sylvie Matton: I had asked Richard Holbrooke several more questions:
-----Sylvie Matton: "You answered that NO ONE finally implemented Tony Lake"s purported instructions. But Srebrenica and Zepa did fall, and the men were slaughtered...So someone must have implemented them. Could it have been decided to proceed, but you not being informed." Holbrooke apparently does not respond. -----Sylvie Matton: "When and who decided among the Permanents, (The P-5 of the UN Security Council), that the population of Srebrenica would not be evacuated in UN vehicles, but that they would be transferred by Mladic"s forces? Hadn"t Milosevic given his word as for the faith of the population? And isn"t it because the tragedy did occur- a much more systematic, planned and organized extermination than any other scenario - that Gorazde would finally not be sacrificed? -----Richard Holbrooke: "To some extent, yes. Srebrenica finally woke everyone up." Ambassador Sacirbey: Ambassador Holbrooke was the State Department figure who took charge of US policy in late summer of 1994, after Ambassador Chuck Redmond"s withdrawal. It is impossible to conceive that decisions would go around him, but it could be possible that Holbrooke was the architect rather than recipient of instructions. General Wesley Clark once told me: "You should see when the 'principles,' (key advisers), meet with President Clinton on the Balkans. Dick, (Holbrooke) behaves as if he is the President and treats Bill Clinton like the underling." Cover Up
Ambassador Sacirbey: Regardless of how the policy to betray Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde came about, the cover up of such is now at the core of the most powerful Euro-Atlantic states" course of action toward BiH. It is a non-progressive, but also rotten foundation. It accuses others in order to defend itself and dares no critical review of its own mistakes. Simply put, the past carries such accountability for gross actions, misdeeds, mistakes from the past that it requires political authority far above the rank of any OHR or ambassador in Sarajevo to admit and correct. The betrayal of Srebrenica is seen in Sarajevo as genocide of thousands, but you also must understand it from the perspective in New York and Brussels. Srebrenica was a betrayal of the United Nations and NATO, and NATO partners like the Netherlands, which was left holding the bag. That has enormous institutional consequences for multilateralism and within the Euro-Atlantic defense alliance. For some, it is more expedient to ignore the smell than point to the powers and representatives responsible. A High Rep or Washington ambassador in Sarajevo is well below the political rank of a Holbrooke, who molded his own more than life size statue upon the myth of Dayton. However, such OHR and ambassadors can wield immense power in Sarajevo political, judicial and intelligence services, and with no real oversight from any US Congress or European Parliament.
A Favorable Rewrite of History
Florence Hartmann: The Military Analyst Team, (MAT), has been both a necessary for the ICTY but too often politicized group. Citing from my book, "Peace & Punishment:"
"Taking orders from their governments, the MAT have shaped the understanding of the situation, and prevented the Tribunal from revealing the cowardice of the big powers during the war, as it, (the ICTY), had been initially established to mark their political impotence to stop the crimes by more appropriate means. "Americans and British hastened to provide this highly qualified staff, which enabled them to remotely control the prosecutorial strategies. Coming from the best intelligence services and remaining loyal to their governments, the military analysts were among the most competent staff at the ICTY, but became its blinkers. Throughout the years, they dissuaded all attempt to investigate the actual master minders of the ethnic cleansing, and propagated within the OTP the belief that Karadzic and Mladic acted on their own. "During ten years, the MAT has concealed the fact that all officers of the Bosnian Serb forces involved in the take-over of Srebrenica, had been detached from the headquarters of the Belgrade Army, and continued to be paid by Belgrade. The USA and the UK provided only part of their information and intelligence, manipulating the Tribunal as they deemed fit. " "The USA never made available the intercepts proving the involvement of Belgrade in the Srebrenica events. The Chief of Staff of the Yugoslav Army, Momcilo Perisic, stood in close contact with Ratko Mladic all throughout the operations, and kept Slobodan Milosevic informed of the situation: and that Milosevic himself spoke to Mladic at the time of the crimes." Even material received from third countries was screened by these powers. As I already have given one example, the materials examined beforehand by western intelligence agencies would reach the OTP altered or truncated. (See Part II of "Speak1") Ambassador Sacirbey: The effort to conceal blame or cast doubt upon others almost started from the day even before the last of the Srebrenica victims was being executed. As I already relayed in (Part II of "Speak!"), rumors were almost immediately spread that the RBiH Government was part of some deal. Preserving Gorazde, Lying to History Also telling was my meeting with Holbrooke in early August of 1995 in Split on the State department plane, which I already described in part. After not having succeeded in pressuring me to agree to Gorazde"s abandonment, he took me by the arm as we were about to walk off the plane and speak with the small throng of media. He had already arranged the media entourage that he sought to write his place into glory and the Nobel Peace Prize. As we walked out of the plane, Holbrooke solicited that I tell the reporters that he, "Had not asked me to trade Gorazde." Obviously this was not true, but the demand even struck me unusual at that time. Nonetheless, I saw then what I thought was an opportunity to pull Gorazde off any future bargaining table, and this did occur by slightly supplementing Holbrooke's demand. I told the reporters: "Ambassador Holbrooke has asked me to tell you that the United States is not asking us to give-up Gorazde." Immediately I felt contented that Gorazde had been saved. However, this demand from Holbrooke continued to raise my curiosity. Now, in hindsight and in the context of the overall deal with Milosevic to betray Srebrenica, Zepa and Gorazde, it is clear that this was an effort to cover up the tracks. The "instructions" that Ambassador Holbrooke speaks of in his video interview in 1995 during Dayton commemorations were in fact executed and he still was trying to deliver Gorazde to Milosevic in August of 1995, after Srebrenica and Zepa were already cleansed. After he could not pressure us to deliver Gorazde, he then tried to cover his tracks. Fear of Being Exposed
Hiding the tracks, this has been, from that summer of 1995 to currently, ever more the driving, hidden factor of US and Euro policy with respect to BiH. There is no love for the RS, as maybe prejudice towards the Muslims of BiH. Still, correcting the situation in BiH today necessitates an acknowledgement of past mistakes, even misdeeds.
Unfortunately such coming to terms with their sins, lack of will and mistakes requires courage from bureaucrats. They can preach in BiH but dare not speak in their own capitals. They have become complicit after the fact to the original betrayal and are active in the cover-up, whether they would like to recognize it or not. Many do not necessarily have personal knowledge, but the cover-up, the betrayal are becoming the Grand Canyon of their policy, unable to see above its rims as their river of influence only further imbeds the course. Coming to terms with this flawed policy will require political will. Such political will must be actively encouraged in Washington, Brussels and other capitals, but in the political forums that have real authority. Unfortunately, BiH has been taken of the top list of political priorities in most such capitals, for lack of interest or for the motive of further burying the skeleton of failed policy inside our homes in BiH. In some ways it has been allowed to become worse. BiH is viewed through prejudice or as threat rather than potential asset. That means addressing it through secret services on one hand, and the lowest common denominator on the other. "9/11" and the Shame of Srebrenica Florence Hartmann: Concealing the betrayal of Srebrenica is one motive. The other is the prejudice, but also a devaluation of the principles of international justice in post 09-11 policy. Too many examples of disparate agendas. Munir Albabic, then head of Bosnian intelligence, was our best ally within Bosnia in the hunt for Karadzic as he contributed locating him. After having just received some funds from the OTP to facilitate his work, the then High Representative in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, fired him accusing Alibabic of "destabilizing Bosnia" and "working for French intelligence and refusing to cooperate with British intelligence." So when the OTP found a way to locate Karadzic by itself, the big powers instead of acting for the arrest, took instead measures paralyzing the hunt. The deal between Del Ponte and Alibabic was secret but was leaked to Americans and British from within the ICTY. What Next?
Ambassador Sacirbey: It"s clear that the Bosnians and Herzegovinians manage little for themselves, but are chosen to manage for the masters. The RS police are now defended because they have sold themselves as soldiers in someone else"s holly war against jihadists.
Terrorism co-opting and abusing Islam"s name is an enemy of Muslims first. We, Muslims of BiH have to be partners in challenging those from within who co-opt Islam and changing through the political process of what is not just or progressive in our societies. "The Tail That Wags the Dog" The tail to this story, which wags the future of BiH, is the deals and/or sabotage regarding the non-arrest of indicted war criminals. This leads to the story of the betrayal of Srebrenica and Zepa, but it also calls for all, including the western powers, to come to terms with a new approach based on integrity and commitment to principles of justice and an open society. Write Comments to This Story, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, Write to the Appropriate Legal and Political Authorities Demanding an Investigation: Demand an investigation from: Your Representatives before the Parliament of BiH, the Presidency of BiH, the Court of BiH and the Prosecutor"s Office of BiH. Demand the same from the OHR, because there is no one else to hold them accountable and they ultimately must be responsible to your demands and the integrity of our history. For us living in Europe, Canada and the United States, we will join you, AND we must also demand an investigation as to how such purported "deals" and/or sabotage are a violation of international, European, Canadian or US law. It would be indeed shameful and a final declaration of capitulation if the only investigation is conducted in Belgrade. Below is attached a draft letter to the US Congress, for your review. What is critical is that each one of you, as individuals, joins the institutions in expressing your will as voters and citizens. Our History Sits in Prison to Promote Someone Else"s Future It is not good to have the future held hostage by history. It is worse to have our history imprisoned in a dungeon for someone else"s future. Without the integrity of our history, there is no future for BiH. Only the truth will set Bosnia ... Herzegovina free to take charge of its future. Part 1, Part 2 available on site www.Aconvenientgenocide.com
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