Letter to the Editor of the Globe and Mail by Dr. Mladen Vranić:
The "real story" behind the writing of General Lewis MacKenzie (Globe and Mail July 14th, 2005, page A17) The Economist on July 7, 2005, published a extensive article about the massacre of Srebrenica. To quote: "There is a small flowerbed, a simple open pavilion toped by tiny Islamic crescent and a plain stone slab inscribed with an invocation, may revenge be turned into justice, may mother's tears be turned into prayers, that there should be no more Srebrenicas. Dignitaries from all over the world marked, on July 11th, the tenth anniversary of Europe's worst mass killing since the second world war: the murder of up to eight thousand Muslim men and boys by Bosnian-Serb forces." General MacKenzie describes this sad occasion "with much fanfare ceremonies focused on this massacre." What does he mean by this word "fanfare?" Even the government of Republika Srpska recently officially reported that between seven to eight thousand men and boys were murdered in a few days following the fall of Srebrenica. General MacKenzie doubts this figure. This reminds me of so many attempts to diminish the crime of the Holocaust, an issue which I’m particularly sensitive about. How can General MacKenzie even imply the crimes committed by the Bosnian General Naser Oric's troops raids against Serbs in the Bratunac region caused the onslaught on Srebrenica? To compare the Srebrenica massacre with the number of Serbs killed by Oric troops seems partisan, preposterous, and certainly uncompassionate. Most of these raids, for which Naser Oric is tried in the Hague, were committed more than 2 years before the Srebrenica massacre. General MacKenzie forgot the context of the aggression of the Bosnian-Serbian army with the essentially defenceless Muslim population. The Tribunal in Hague condemned the massacre as genocide. I'm concerned the Tribunal in Hague will have problems with their statement because General MacKenzie indicated that only men and young boys, and no women , were killed. As a proud Canadian, and non-Bosnian, I would try to express my disappointment on behalf of so many of my colleagues and friends, that the Globe and Mail published this article. I would urge the editors to write an editorial responding to the article of General MacKenzie to provide, at least, minimum justice to those effected. To quote again the Economist: "In this place every other women lost a husband, a father, and often several sons." Mladen Vranic, M.D, D.Sc., FRCP(C), FRSC, professor and former chair of the department of physiology, and professor of medicine.
|