Sunday, March 26, 2006

Counting Bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina

It turns out that, not just once, but at least twice over the past three months, in late December and then again in early March, the U.S. Department of State’s Review of European Security Issues has recognized that the “official death toll” from the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ca. 1992 - 1995, is dramatically lower than had been almost universally accepted as recently as last fall: On the order of 100,000 people on all sides in the wars there, civilian, military, and paramilitaries included. ,,,,

....In a nutshell, here is the history of the American involvement in the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. Lie about the nature and scope of the conflicts. Stoke up mass hysteria about events on the ground---including sexed-up claims about Greater Serb Aggression; a sexed-up "joint criminal enterprise" involving ethnic Serbs and only ethnic Serbs; and a sexed-up genocide. Stall. And stall. And stall some more. Blocking every effort by other negotiators to bring an end to the fighting. And in the end, bomb---then move in and take over behind the kind of multilateral facades that only a neocolonial regime has at its command.