Date: 1997-07-30
Speaker: SAMUEL R. BERGER (republican)
Chamber: S

Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. National Security Council. Washington. DC. DEAR. MR. BERGER: I am writing in connection with the lack of progress in implementing the civilian aspects of the Dayton peace accords. particularly the problem of war criminals. I am deeply disturbed about the failure of the Bosnian parties. particularly the Republika Srpska. to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law as required by Article IX of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recent press reports regarding the influence of former Bosnian Serb president and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic. establish that his and his partys control of all Bosnian Serb media. particularly Bosnian television. consistently presents a distorted picture as to the cause of the Republics isolation and poverty. Until the Bosnian people. particularly the Bosnian Serbs. are able to receive television broadcasts that depict the true reasons for their isolation and- poor standing in the international community. it is doubtful that any meaningful progress will be made in the implementation of the civilian aspects of the Dayton accords. I am concerned that the local medias distorted reporting is inflaming the situation in Republika Srpska and encouraging the Bosnian Serbs to take reprisal action against personnel of the Stabilization Force (SPOR). the International Police Task Force (IPTF). and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). It seems to me that those actions and other less dramatic. but improper. actions by the Bosnian Serbs and their political leadership are impeding the ability of the SFOR Commander to protect the SFOR and to carry out its responsibilities under the accords. Paragraph 5 of Article VI of the Agreement on the Military Aspects of the Peace Settlement gives the SFOR Commander the authority to do all that he judges necessary and proper to protect the SFOR and to carry out its responsibilities. I believe that it would be appropriate for the SFOR Coinmander to determine that the presentation of distorted reports about SFOR. the inflaming of emotion. and the encouragement of reprisal action by the Bosnian Serb media controlled by Karadzic and the ruling Serb Democratic Party. are impeding his ability to protect SFOR and to carry out SFORs responsibilities. The U.S. military has the capability through the EC130E Commando Solo aircraft to broadcast television and radio messages to the Bosnian people. I strongly recommend that. once the SFOR Commander makes the above determination. he be authorized to utilize Commando Solo to conduct television and radio broadcasts in Republika Srpska to inform the Bosnian Serbs of the true facts. It may also be necessary to take similar action with respect to the other Bosnian parties. I fear that without such action war criminals will not be brought to justice. reconciliation will not take place. and the human and material investment of the United States and its allies will have been in vain. I am sending a similar letter to the Secretary of Defense. Sincerely.