From: malenovi@plains.NoDak.edu (Malenovic Nikola V.)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Alija Izetbegovic, Desperado ( VREME NDA 15 Sep 1992 )
Date: 15 Sep 92 22:01:36 GMT
Article-I.D.: plains.20372
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network


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     "Vreme" News Digest Agency                  No. 51, September 14, 1992
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    Alija Izetbegovic, Desperado
    ----------------------------


                          THE VICTIM OF RULES OF WAR


           Izetbegovic  doesn't  need  the  peacekeeping troops any
           more  and it  may be  true that  the attack  on them was
           "planned  and premeditated".  He is  probably under  the
           impression that the world has sacrificed the Muslims and
                              Bosnia consciously

    The world  can finally breathe  a sigh of  relief. The unbearable  moral
    pressure caused by the war in  Bosnia has been lifted abruptly after two
    Frenchmen were killed near the Sarajevo  airport. If the affair over the
    downing of the Italian jet is  still unclear, this time nearly everybody
    agrees that the  crime was committed by the Muslims.  So far, the number
    one culprits  and aggressors have been  the Serbs and the  Croats, while
    the  Muslims have  generally been  looked upon  as innocent victims. The
    world  which recognized  Bosnia and  accepted Alija  Izetbegovic as  its
    president, didn't want to, or couldn't help him efficiently, while those
    who  were called  to take  care of  the world  order didn't  know how to
    defend themselves from accusations at home.

    Western  press  and  TV  practically  managed  to  extract  the military
    intervention so hated by politicians  and generals. The Muslim crime has
    now become  the key argument  for those who  advocated humanitarian help
    only, as nobody is innocent  any longer, and since Izetbegovic's initial
    moral  advantage can  now be  played down,  the intervention  has become
    senseless and unjustified. If the blue helmets are shot at by the Muslim
    side as well, then there is nobody left to be helped.

    This  atmosphere  was  felt  at  the  London  Conference, before the two
    Frenchmen  had  been  killed.  The  diplomatic  option  which eventually
    prevailed,  no  doubt,  disillusioned  Izetbegovic  and  made  him  lose
    confidence in  world justice. He knows  that none of those  at the round
    table can bring  back what he has lost  in the field and that  his whole
    strategy  has gone  up in  smoke.  To  all effects,  the Conference  has
    significantly changed the  behavior of his army. Not  only has it turned
    out that waiting for  foreign help was a waste of time,  but it has also
    turned  the  peacekeeping  troops  into  a  symbol  of  injustice and an
    obstacle to waging war after no other solution was left.

    Izetbegovic's policy  was not in favor  of war; he never  wanted the war
    nor believed  in it, which  is clear  from  the fact that  it caught him
    unprepared.  He spoke  of a  united Bosnia  as a  state of  citizens and
    probably believed in it, which, of course, sounded reasonable but turned
    out to  be unrealistic. Karadzic's  party wouldn't agree  to the option,
    and HDZ  (Croatian Democratic Union) waited  for the Serbs to  come into
    conflict with Muslims first.

    The Bosnians who rejected all national parties and who, even today, from
    their  cellars or  emigration still  believe that  their beloved  Bosnia
    cannot be destroyed, were ready to admit Izetbegovic a certain advantage
    over  Serbian and  Croatian leaders.   Izetbegovic had  to be  a greater
    Bosnian than they were, because  Muslims from Bosnia have no alternative
    country. That distinction was being made  until the beginning of the war
    and even later, at least in Sarajevo, where for quite a while there were
    only two  kinds of people: those  who were attacking the  city and those
    who were defending it.

    Karadzic,  however,  could  easily  have  won  a  bet,  that the Bosnian
    president would,  during the course of  the war, become a  Muslim leader
    only. His political ideal of Bosnia as a citizens' state will have to be
    followed  by somebody  else, once  this blood  bath is over. Izetbegovic
    sacrificed  his  moral  advantage  which  didn't  bring him much, except
    sympathy and favor  with the world public. Immediately  after his return
    from London he  announced that freedom and not peace  would be his prime
    goal from now on, which meant that the war would be fought to the bloody
    end. Izetbegovic  doesn't need the  peacekeeping troops any  more and it
    may  be true  that the  attack on  them was  "planned and premeditated".
    Izetbegovic  is  probably  under  the  impression  that  the  world  has
    sacrificed the Muslims and Bosnia consciously.

    However,  it will  soon turn  out that  Izetbegovic was  wrong and  that
    giving  up even  the useless  support  of  the word  public and  the few
    Bosnians  who have  not lost  their  faith  in a  renaissance of  a life
    together, was a  mistake. Because the agreement between  the Muslims and
    the Croats, whatever this may mean, cannot hold. For the same mysterious
    reasons that  no agreement made in  this former country in  the past few
    years has ever been kept.

    Sporadic  clashes between  Muslims and  Croats have  already started and
    there is no one capable of  persuading them that their leaders have made
    different agreements. True fundamentalists will inevitably show up among
    Muslims,  the  ones  mentioned  by  Serbian  propaganda  from  the  very
    beginning, but not because they have  always hidden behind the mask of a
    civilian  Bosnia,  but  because  war  steps  up  extremes, and seeks out
    primitive and  instinctual explanations, and because  it cannot be waged
    in the name of  a life together. Izetbegovic could not go  to war in the
    name of  three nations, and the  SDS (Serbian Democratic Party)  and HDZ
    can only  lead their nations. The  theory on the lifting  of masks leads
    directly into  an anti-civilization chaos  and nightmare, which  in fact
    proves that man  is an animal, and the rest  is just hypocrisy. Had life
    in the jungle been comfortable, we would not have left it.

    The world has  passed up the opportunity of getting  involved in the war
    at the very beginning when Serbian volunteers entered Bijeljina and when
    it became obvious  who was in the service  of the JNA and what  its role
    was. All  are slowly accepting  the Serbian version,  whereby this is  a
    religious, ethnic and  civil war, in other words, the  jungle. It is too
    late for intervention, and diplomacy had  an early start. The only thing
    which  could help  now, would  be to  spray the  whole of  Bosnia with a
    drowsiness which would bring out the contemplative, fatalist passiveness
    in  which the  country has  lived for  so many  centuries. Without  this
    spray, more time and blood will be used  up. In the end, which may be so
    far that it does not concern us, the spirit of the area and history will
    be set up once more, because this cannot be overcome by human effort.

    The fact that  Izetbegovic's desperate attempt at saving  Bosnia has met
    with  failure,  does  not  mean,  however,  that  any  other  option has
    succeeded or won the day. Bosnia has  not been saved but it has not been
    divided  either.  At  least  in  this  phase,  wherever  one  looks, the
    impression gained  is that of  defeat and that  there is no  solution in
    sight.  This holds  true for  the Serbs,  Croats, Muslims, Montenegrins,
    Albanians  and Macedonians.  None of  them have  solved their  problems,
    resolved the  border question, constituted  something stable or  created
    hope  for a  peaceful life.  Prosperity, democracy  or inclusion  in the
    world order do not even bear mentioning.

    All have,  however, given verbal assurances  of wishing to be  in accord
    with the  rest of the world;  with the exception of  the Serbian regime,
    which   rejects  such   a  possibility   in  principle   as  a  shameful
    capitulation. Should Panic's "capitulative"  policy win, things will not
    change  greatly  for  the  better,  because  the  problem  is  no longer
    dependent on individual will. The opposition in Belgrade and Zagreb seek
    democracy in  vain. With national and  minority problems and antagonisms
    such  as these,  there will  be no  democracy, regardless  of who  is in
    power.

    Yugoslavia  was  never  a  cradle  of  freedom,  but  its  spaces are so
    bewitched that with disintegration it  has become a collection of lesser
    Fascisms and, of  course, reverted to the jungle. It  is like six people
    trying to  put together a  Rubik cube simultaneously  and in two  moves,
    with  each  person  working  on  his  own  color.  The  Slovenians  have
    succeeded, but the others had to grab axes.

    It  remains  for   the  world  order  to  withdraw   and  conclude  that
    international norms  are observed everywhere  except where they  are not
    valid. Our case can serve as an example to the point and contribute to a
    lessening of civilizational ambitions. The world is not a global village
    and its civilized parts may find it harder to accept this truth, than it
    is for us  who are on the sidelines. This  is where the difference lies;
    they are more concerned for us than  we are. If they eventually give up,
    if they continue without  us, as we would if we were  in their place, in
    three years'  time we will no  longer remember how to  use a doorknob on
    London doors.
                                                              Stojan Cerovic


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     "Vreme" News Digest Agency                  No. 51, September 14, 1992
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