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PEACEKEEPERS ONLY PROTECT YOU WHEN THERE IS PEACE - OPED
By Lawrence S. Schneiderman
Eurasia Review
http://www.eurasiareview.com/10072012-peacekeepers-only-protect-you-when-there-is-peace-oped/
July 10 2012
This month marks the seventeenth anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre
in Bosnia during the Yugoslavian War. Its significance lies in both
what it is as much as what it is not.
Srebrenica was not Genocide. However, the Western Mainstream Media
(WMM) and the liberal intelligentsia would like you to think it was.
They preferred to shine a bright light on Srebrenica and label it
genocide. But the salient point is that genocide was not committed.
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington,
DC, Genocide is:
"It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes committed
against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group."
Genocide is a specific and horrendous act that should not be
trivialized. Equally, it is wrong to apply its use incorrectly for
political gain or correctness. For anyone who has forgotten - here
is a short recap of actual genocides in the 20th century.
The Armenian Genocide was implement in 1915 and lasted until the end
of World War I. In the end, the Ottoman Turks had murdered 1.5 million
Armenian men, women, and children. The means of extermination were
methodically planned, with the intention of destroying the existence
of the Armenian people in Turkey. They used some of the same methods
we associate with Nazi Germany, such as death marches, starvation,
extermination camps, use of poison gases, drowning children, and mass
burnings. Their intent from the start was to wipe out the Armenian
people, with the ultimate end game resulting in the systematic
eradication of the Armenian population from Turkey. The fact that
modern day Turkey, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
denies that it was genocide is laughable.
The Jewish Holocaust of World War II is understood and accepted today
as the definition of Genocide, in most of the world. The exception
is the world's Islamic nations. Nazi Germany and their Quisling
collaborators exterminated 6 million Jews, two-thirds of the Jewish
population of Europe, in a systematic state planned program, i.e.,
The Final Solution. The methods and means of history's most horrific
genocide are well documented.
Yet, what is not as well known is what happened in the Balkans during
this same period. The Nazis and their Croatian Ustase collaborators
killed 581,000 Serbs. German forces, under direct orders from Adolf
Hitler, fought with a special vengeance against the Serbs, who
like Jews and Romas, were considered untermensch (sub-human). It is
estimated that 300,000 Serbs were murdered in the Croatian operated
Jasenovac concentration camp. Large numbers of Serbs were also killed
at the hands of Albanians, who allied themselves to the Nazis. It is
estimated that Albanians killed 40,000 to 60,000 Serbs.
The Rwandan Genocide began and ended in 1994. It is estimated that
750,000 ethnic Tutsi were murdered in 100 days. This genocidal act
occurred under the protection of a United Nation's Peacekeeping Force,
under the direction of Mr. Kofi Annan, Head of the UN Peacekeeping
Department. Hutu tribesman who comprised 80% of the population of
Rwanda attempted to destroy the existence of all Tutsi in the country.
In the Balkans, during the Yugoslavian War (1991 - 1995) and the
Kosovo War (1999), there was war and there were war crimes. Everyone
in the Balkans has blood on his hands; war crimes were committed by
all of the major warring factions. The greatest of these war crimes
was the now infamous Srebrenica Massacre.i
In 1995, from July 12 through July 16, Bosnian Serbs killed 7,079
Muslim men, the majority of whom were unarmed. This was a war crime.
Much as the American massacre at My Lai was in 1968 during the
Vietnam War.ii What made Srebrenica unique were not the number of
people killed, although significant, but rather the international
community's role in the crime, and the subsequent portrayal of this
event as genocide.
United Nation's Peacekeepers, under the direction of Mr. Kofi Annan,
the ongoing Head of the UN's Peacekeeping Department, had disarmed
Muslim fighters and guaranteed their protection in the designated
"safe area."iii As someone who experienced the terrain of Srebrenica
firsthand, it was abundantly clear that you could not select a more
disadvantageous place to ensure anyone's safety. Srebrenica is a small
town with a single north - south thoroughfare situated in a hollow
with steep treed hills on both sides. One could defend the town,
much as Texans defended the Alamo. But no one should have mistaken Mr.
Annan and his UN Associates, for William Travis, James Bowie, or
Davy Crockett.
Since the Bosnian Serbs did not attempt to destroy the existence of
all Bosnian Muslims, Srebrenica was a war crime and not genocide.
Women and children were also living under UN protection in the
Srebrenica "safe area," and they were not killed. They were put on
buses and trucks and were transported out of the area. One may posit
that the aim of Bosnian Serbs was to ethnically cleanse Muslims from
eastern Bosnia, but it was not genocidal. In any war, combatants and
civilian populations are on the move - sometime by force and sometime
by choice.
So what have we learned? One lesson learned from Srebrenica was that
Europe and the United States did not have the will to defend and
protect the people who had put their lives in their hands. Moreover,
UN officials such as Mr. Annan, Mr. Yasushi Akashi (UN Special
Representative for the former Yugoslavia), and French General Bernard
Janvier (UN Force Commander in the former Yugoslavia), were either
incompetent and/or complicit. They have yet to be held accountable
for their part in this horrific war crime.
A second lesson is that Peacekeepers only protect you when there is
peace. In the past, a hostile force has used Peacekeepers as human
shields, and hostages and pawns in a negotiation. And in this case,
worst of all, the Peacekeepers gave the veneer of safety to those
whom they were tasked to defend; thus rendering them defenseless
and compliant. Survival would have been better achieved knowing
ones vulnerability and acting accordingly, rather than relying on a
quasi-military force under orders not to engage an opposing hostile
force.
The men of Srebrenica put their lives in the hands of the United
Nations, and were slaughtered as a result. Apologies and hand ringing
does not help the dead. And neither does inappropriately euphemistic
labeling. Progress may someday be made in the Balkans when broken
rhetoric is replaced with honest dialogue.
Author: Lawrence S. Schneiderman is an International Consultant and
Dr. of Public Policy, Vanderbilt University.
From: Baghdasarian
By Lawrence S. Schneiderman
Eurasia Review
http://www.eurasiareview.com/10072012-peacekeepers-only-protect-you-when-there-is-peace-oped/
July 10 2012
This month marks the seventeenth anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre
in Bosnia during the Yugoslavian War. Its significance lies in both
what it is as much as what it is not.
Srebrenica was not Genocide. However, the Western Mainstream Media
(WMM) and the liberal intelligentsia would like you to think it was.
They preferred to shine a bright light on Srebrenica and label it
genocide. But the salient point is that genocide was not committed.
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington,
DC, Genocide is:
"It is a very specific term, referring to violent crimes committed
against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group."
Genocide is a specific and horrendous act that should not be
trivialized. Equally, it is wrong to apply its use incorrectly for
political gain or correctness. For anyone who has forgotten - here
is a short recap of actual genocides in the 20th century.
The Armenian Genocide was implement in 1915 and lasted until the end
of World War I. In the end, the Ottoman Turks had murdered 1.5 million
Armenian men, women, and children. The means of extermination were
methodically planned, with the intention of destroying the existence
of the Armenian people in Turkey. They used some of the same methods
we associate with Nazi Germany, such as death marches, starvation,
extermination camps, use of poison gases, drowning children, and mass
burnings. Their intent from the start was to wipe out the Armenian
people, with the ultimate end game resulting in the systematic
eradication of the Armenian population from Turkey. The fact that
modern day Turkey, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
denies that it was genocide is laughable.
The Jewish Holocaust of World War II is understood and accepted today
as the definition of Genocide, in most of the world. The exception
is the world's Islamic nations. Nazi Germany and their Quisling
collaborators exterminated 6 million Jews, two-thirds of the Jewish
population of Europe, in a systematic state planned program, i.e.,
The Final Solution. The methods and means of history's most horrific
genocide are well documented.
Yet, what is not as well known is what happened in the Balkans during
this same period. The Nazis and their Croatian Ustase collaborators
killed 581,000 Serbs. German forces, under direct orders from Adolf
Hitler, fought with a special vengeance against the Serbs, who
like Jews and Romas, were considered untermensch (sub-human). It is
estimated that 300,000 Serbs were murdered in the Croatian operated
Jasenovac concentration camp. Large numbers of Serbs were also killed
at the hands of Albanians, who allied themselves to the Nazis. It is
estimated that Albanians killed 40,000 to 60,000 Serbs.
The Rwandan Genocide began and ended in 1994. It is estimated that
750,000 ethnic Tutsi were murdered in 100 days. This genocidal act
occurred under the protection of a United Nation's Peacekeeping Force,
under the direction of Mr. Kofi Annan, Head of the UN Peacekeeping
Department. Hutu tribesman who comprised 80% of the population of
Rwanda attempted to destroy the existence of all Tutsi in the country.
In the Balkans, during the Yugoslavian War (1991 - 1995) and the
Kosovo War (1999), there was war and there were war crimes. Everyone
in the Balkans has blood on his hands; war crimes were committed by
all of the major warring factions. The greatest of these war crimes
was the now infamous Srebrenica Massacre.i
In 1995, from July 12 through July 16, Bosnian Serbs killed 7,079
Muslim men, the majority of whom were unarmed. This was a war crime.
Much as the American massacre at My Lai was in 1968 during the
Vietnam War.ii What made Srebrenica unique were not the number of
people killed, although significant, but rather the international
community's role in the crime, and the subsequent portrayal of this
event as genocide.
United Nation's Peacekeepers, under the direction of Mr. Kofi Annan,
the ongoing Head of the UN's Peacekeeping Department, had disarmed
Muslim fighters and guaranteed their protection in the designated
"safe area."iii As someone who experienced the terrain of Srebrenica
firsthand, it was abundantly clear that you could not select a more
disadvantageous place to ensure anyone's safety. Srebrenica is a small
town with a single north - south thoroughfare situated in a hollow
with steep treed hills on both sides. One could defend the town,
much as Texans defended the Alamo. But no one should have mistaken Mr.
Annan and his UN Associates, for William Travis, James Bowie, or
Davy Crockett.
Since the Bosnian Serbs did not attempt to destroy the existence of
all Bosnian Muslims, Srebrenica was a war crime and not genocide.
Women and children were also living under UN protection in the
Srebrenica "safe area," and they were not killed. They were put on
buses and trucks and were transported out of the area. One may posit
that the aim of Bosnian Serbs was to ethnically cleanse Muslims from
eastern Bosnia, but it was not genocidal. In any war, combatants and
civilian populations are on the move - sometime by force and sometime
by choice.
So what have we learned? One lesson learned from Srebrenica was that
Europe and the United States did not have the will to defend and
protect the people who had put their lives in their hands. Moreover,
UN officials such as Mr. Annan, Mr. Yasushi Akashi (UN Special
Representative for the former Yugoslavia), and French General Bernard
Janvier (UN Force Commander in the former Yugoslavia), were either
incompetent and/or complicit. They have yet to be held accountable
for their part in this horrific war crime.
A second lesson is that Peacekeepers only protect you when there is
peace. In the past, a hostile force has used Peacekeepers as human
shields, and hostages and pawns in a negotiation. And in this case,
worst of all, the Peacekeepers gave the veneer of safety to those
whom they were tasked to defend; thus rendering them defenseless
and compliant. Survival would have been better achieved knowing
ones vulnerability and acting accordingly, rather than relying on a
quasi-military force under orders not to engage an opposing hostile
force.
The men of Srebrenica put their lives in the hands of the United
Nations, and were slaughtered as a result. Apologies and hand ringing
does not help the dead. And neither does inappropriately euphemistic
labeling. Progress may someday be made in the Balkans when broken
rhetoric is replaced with honest dialogue.
Author: Lawrence S. Schneiderman is an International Consultant and
Dr. of Public Policy, Vanderbilt University.
From: Baghdasarian