On this Memorial Day I’m remembering the victims of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Given the capture last week of Ratko Mladic, commander of Bosnian Serb forces during that time, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Croats, Bosnians, Kosovans, Slovenes and others whom Mladic and his crowd tortured, raped and murdered in their quest to build a greater Serbia.
Not a particular surprise: Mladic has denied any role in the massacre at Srebrenica in 1995, according to his son. And, also unsurprisingly, supporters of Mladic rioted in Belgrade Sunday, outraged at his apprehension and also proclaiming he did nothing criminal.
Were there no other reason to remember the victims of the late 20th Century Balkan wars, these grotesque denials would make it obligatory. Do a Google Image search on Srebrenica and look at the results, if you have the stomach. This is just one.
General Michael Rose led the UN forces there and I well recall seeing his face the day he turned over his command. He looked ill, pain emanating from his eyes—like like he’d just got back from Hell and wasn’t convinced it wasn’t coming with him. The UN “peacekeeping” mission there was nearly useless in the face of political restrictions and Serbian willingness to violate any convention of warfare.
I own Fighting for Peace, Rose’s account of that mission; but I haven’t had the strength to pick it up and read it. I know it’s going to be hard for even me to get through.
(Ditto General Romeo Dallaire’s Shake Hands with the Devil. Dallaire’s mission in Rwanda in the 90s was remarkably like that of Rose’s. But Rwanda is another post.)
As you go about your Monday holiday, thinking about the official start of summer, painting the garage or perhaps even decorating the grave of a loved one, have a care for those whose lives were ended or ruined by the Serb wars. And hope for justice yet.
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