AMERICAN CROATIAN ASSOCIATION, LETTER TO EUROPEAN COMMISSION, SEPTEMBER 19, 2003

To Mr. Romano Prodi, President, European Commission

By Hilda M. Foley

 Mr. Romano Prodi

 President

 European Commission

 Rue de la Loi 200

 B1049 Bruxelles, Belgique

 Excellency:

 As Croatians in the Diaspora we follow closely the political and economic developments in Croatia. Especially of interest to us is to see Croatia admitted as an equal partner to the EU and NATO in the near future. Therefore we find it very disappointing to read your recent speech in the Croatian Parliament in which you mentioned "years" before Croatia would be eligible for EU membership. The majority of the Croatian population approves of Croatia's entering into the EU and we find the conditions which you mentioned in order to be accepted inconsistent with ones' other countries were required to meet.

 You mention for example "the return of refugees". As you must realize, Croatia has only recently come out of a brutal war of aggression by Serbia, in which these Croatian Serb refugees were the ones who rebelled against Croatia and with the help of the Yugoslav/Serb army killed some twelve thousand and "ethnically cleansed" several hundred thousand Croatians in their own country, destroying and plundering their homes and properties.

 No other country in the world has been forced to forgive and forget so soon what has been done to it. May I remind you that the Czech Republic, which is accepted into the EU, has not allowed its Sudeten German refugees to return or compensate them for their material losses even after more than fifty years. This was not a requirement by the EU for the Czech Republic. Therefore, is it not obvious that the EU stand in regard to Croatia and the refugee situation is quite unfair and inconsistent. Furthermore, one has to realize that it was first the Croatians who were driven out by the Serbs (1991-1995), years before in 1995 Croatia liberated its Krajina territory and the Serbs left on the orders of their own leadership.

 Consequently, the returning long-time Croatian refugees must have preference for housing. Since Serbs destroyed most of Croatians' homes, out of necessity Croatians have been settling in some of the Serb ones'. Croatia after the ravages of war simply does not have the money to build homes for all the refugees, Croatian or Serb. This problem should be understood by the EU and not held against Croatia.

 The other great inconsistency is the requirement for Croatia to open its borders without visa requirement to Serbia/Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. If the EU wishes open borders between nations, why has Slovenia, next in line for EU membership admittance, been allowed to seal its borders with Croatia while Croatia must open its borders to its recent aggressor Serbia? Certainly the EU leadership must know about the huge criminal element in Serbia, Bosnia and Albania, with drugs, white slavery and people smuggling among other criminal activities in addition of  providing easy access to terrorists and Islamic fundamentalists. Just why would then the EU require Croatia to freely open its borders to be inundated with such undesirables? Croatia does not want them or need them any more than any other European country. Obviously, such an EU demand of Croatia is totally unfair and detrimental.

 Last but not least, Slovenia was part of former Yugoslavia and will be accepted into the EU, on what grounds is Croatia less eligible? Slovenia was never in history a state, while Croatia was one of the oldest European kingdoms centuries ago. Croatia was never part of the Balkans as the border was between Croatia and Serbia. It divided the Western culture and Christianity from the Eastern Orthodox, Byzantine and Muslim culture and religion. Croatia only became part of the Balkans when, without the privilege of a vote, it was united with Serbia and Slovenia  into Yugoslavia in 1918. Croatians are simply not Balkan people, they are Central and Mediterranean Europeans, historically and culturally.

 Excellency, please consider these facts and do not let the EU push Croatia into these Balkan associations to which it does not belong any more than does Slovenia and which goes against the wishes of the Croatian people.

 Very truly yours,

 Hilda Marija Foley

 American Croatian Association

 13272 Orange Knoll

 Santa Ana, Ca. 92705 USA    

LETTER TO NATIONAL POST, JULY 28, 2003

By Luka S. Misetic, Esq., Chicago, IL USA

July 28, 2003

To The Editor:

I am the attorney for General Ante Gotovina, the subject of an editorial published in today's National Post titled, "Fair Play in the Balkans." I wish to correct the record on behalf of my client because your editorial contains numerous factual errors.

Contrary to the assertion made in your editorial, Croatian soldiers did not "force 200,000 Serbs from their homes in Croatia [in] the largest ethnic cleansing in the Balkan wars."  It is virtually uncontested that most of the 200,000 Serbs in Croatia left their homes on orders from their own Croatian Serb leadership.  Testimony introduced by prosecutors in the Hague in the case of Slobodan Milosevic indicates that Milosevic and the Croatian Serb leadership purposely evacuated 200,000 Serbs from Croatia in an effort to cement the results of ethnic cleansing by resettling these civilians in areas like Srebrenica, which had been ethnically cleansed by Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic and forces under their control only three weeks earlier.  U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith testified last month before the International Tribunal that Croatian forces did NOT ethnically cleanse the Serb population from Croatia.  Accordingly, your allegation is inaccurate.

It is true that Canadian military officers, including Col. Andrew Leslie, have made various accusations against General Gotovina-including that the town of Knin had been "excessively shelled" and that forces under General Gotovina's command had intentionally shelled the hospital in Knin, all in an alleged effort to scare the civilian population into fleeing. Col. Leslie further claimed that there were a "large number of bodies in the streets."  However, absent from your editorial is any mention of the fact that Col. Leslie's testimony has been largely discredited by members of the international media who confirmed that UN claims of high civilian casualties and excessive shelling of Knin were in fact exaggerated.  The claim that the Knin hospital had been shelled has in fact been proven false.  Human Rights Watch reported in 1996 that the claims of the Canadian officers were exaggerated and may have resulted from the fact that  "U.N. military and civilian personnel had been confined to their barracks or bases by Croatian soldiers and thus were unable to witness many events directly."  Canadian military personnel throughout its deployment as peacekeepers in the Balkans was notorious for its slanted, pro-Serb reporting of events on the ground. Indeed, Canadian Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, in charge of U.N. peacekeeping in Bosnia in 1992, is infamous for his claim that the beseiged Bosnian Muslims were "shelling themselves" in Sarajevo in an effort to garner international sympathy.  After his retirement from the Canadian
military, General MacKenzie went to work as a paid lobbyist in North America for Serb sympathizers.  Why this pro-Serb bias existed in the Canadian military is a subject that will be explored at the appropriate time and in the appropriate forum.

Much evidence has come to light in recent weeks proving that Gen.Gotovina was falsely charged by the Hague Prosecutor, including thetestimony of Mr. Galbraith.  If Gen. Gotovina is in fact innocent, thenthe Prosecutor has an ethical obligation to withdraw the indictment.Should the Serb leadership claim bias (as your editorial suggests), such a claim can be easily rebutted by this fact:  the Hague Tribunal has withdrawn sixteen indictments against individuals who had never been arrested or brought to the Tribunal.  All sixteen of these individuals were Serbs.  Thus, if anyone can claim bias on the part of the Hague Tribunal, it is the Croats and not the Serbs.

Sincerely,


Luka S. Misetic, Esq.
Chicago, IL USA

Enclosed is the article:

National Post (Canada) July 28, 2003 Monday National Edition
Copyright 2003 National Post, All Rights Reserved
National Post (Canada)
July 28, 2003 Monday National Edition
SECTION: Editorials; Pg. A11
LENGTH: 458 words
HEADLINE: Fair play in the Balkans
SOURCE: National Post

BODY:
Eight years ago, Canadian peacekeepers witnessed one of the late 20th century's most brutal attempts at ethnic cleansing. In August, 1995, over a span of just 64 hours, Croatian soldiers forced 200,000 Serbs from their homes in Croatia -- the largest single act of ethnic cleansing of all the Balkan wars between 1991 and 1995. The military action -- dubbed Operation Storm -- involved the Croats' entire 100,000-man army. Canadian soldiers stationed in the area documented the Croats' efficiency. Colonel Andrew Leslie, for example, reported that of the 40,000 people who lived in the Serb stronghold of Knin, barely 1,000 remained once the operation ended.

It took some time, but two years ago, the UN's International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) began seriously looking into claims regarding war crimes committed during Operation Storm. In 2001, the ICT issued an indictment against Ante Gotovina, a Croatian general with an allegedly central role in the operation. But Gen. Gotovina promptly went underground. Lawyers working on his behalf say he is willing to answer questions from the ICT -- but only if it first drops its indictment.

Unfortunately, the Croatian government has failed to fully co-operate in bringing Gen. Gotovina to justice. Though the Croatian Interior Ministry has issued a warrant for his arrest (and a bounty of $80,000 for information leading to his arrest), authorities have done little to apprehend him. One reason for this is that ultra-nationalist Croats see the general as a hero. In May, Gen. Gotovina even had the audacity to send an official message of support to a gathering of 15,000 Croatian nationalists. They had met to mourn the death of Janko Bobetko, another general who defied an ICT order to answer questions about his own involvement in possible crimes against humanity by Croatian forces.

The case of Gen. Gotovina is important not only as a matter of justice, but of politics as well. The Croats and Serbs have had their share of murderous feuds, and the Serbs would be understandably outraged if the world community aggressively prosecuted allegations of Serb atrocities while passing over those in which Serbs were victims. In 2001, the ICT formally demanded that the Serbs force former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to appear for trial on charges of war crimes. NATO member states, including Canada and the United States, put a full-court press on the Serbs to hand Mr. Milosevic over -- and even made his handover a condition of economic aid. As a result, Mr. Milosevic's successor, Vojislav Kostunica, duly served him up to The Hague.

Those same NATO states should make a similar effort to get Croatia to secure Gen. Gotovina. He's been allowed to run free long enough.

LOAD-DATE: July 28, 2003

AMERICAN CROATIAN ASSOCIATION, LETTER TO CBC, JULY 23, 2003

Re: "Croatian Atrocities Being Forgotten"

By Hilda M. Foley

To: letters@cbc.ca

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003

Re: "Croatian Atrocities Being Forgotten"

Dear Sirs:

It was quite astonishing that you would feature the article "Croatian Atrocities Being Forgotten: Cdn. Officers" without verifying the claims made by these former UN Canadian officers. Their claims are egregious falsehoods and exaggerations. If you would have investigated, these facts would have become obvious to you:

Croatia was recognized as an independent, sovereign state in Jan. 1992 by the EU countries and by Spring 1992 by some 53 other nations. At that time Croatia, which signed a cease fire with its aggressor Serbia, asked for the presence of UN troops to protect Croatia from further aggression and to help with the peaceful reintegration of its occupied territories, held by the Croatian Serbs, Serb paramilitary and the Yugoslav/Serb army.

In October of 1992 the UN official for civilian affairs Cedric Thornberry accused the Serb rebels in this phantom, self-styled state they called the Republic of Serb Krajina, "of undermining peace efforts". The deadline for disarming illegal paramilitary forces passed and quote, "there isn't the slightest sign of demobilization" of gunmen waging a campaign of terror in those areas of Croatia ostensibly under UN control. "The people are committing terrorism that is driving increasing numbers of non-Serbs from their homes." (Los Angeles Times, 10/16/92) This was just the beginning. By 1995, these Serbs massacred thousands of Croats, looted and burned their homes and ethnically cleansed several hundred thousand.

At the same time they continuously shelled Croatia's cities and villages, inland and on the coast.

The UN soldiers not only did not stop them, they actually helped in the removal of the Croatian population, old and young, because "otherwise the Serbs would have killed them". How commendable! Question: Where was these Canadian officers' criticism then? Evidently they were too busy helping with the removal and fraternizing with the Serbs. This brings up a very prominent Canadian officer, the serbophile Major General MacKenzie, who while serving as the UN commander in Bosnia allowed his soldiers to frequent a brothel in Serb-held Bosnia, where Bosnian women were held as sex slaves and raped nightly, some even killed. (Reader's Digest, Oct. 1995). MacKenzie established great credibility, no doubt also among the Canadian UN contingent in Croatia. After ending his duties in Bosnia he became a lobbyist and was paid hefty fees by the Serb-American propaganda net while meeting with media and government officials.

This should give you a little background about some of the Canadian UN troops in Croatia and Bosnia. While many were no doubt honorable men, one would assume that these accusing Canadian officers would rather keep quiet about their time in Croatia, their abetting with the ethnic cleansing by the Serbs and their incompetence to peacefully restore Croatia's territory. Instead, they still take Serbia's side by accusing Croatia's army of massive atrocities during the liberation of Croatian territories in August 1995.

But these are the facts:

1) There was no ethnic cleansing. Some 140,000 Serbs left on orders of their own leadership, before the Croatian army's arrival, as testifying at the Milosevic trial in the Hague now confirms.

2) Croatia has not denied that some 100-200 Serb civilians were killed (including armed ones) by individual revenge-takers, and several such individuals have been tried in Croatian courts. It most certainly was not the Croatian government's or Croatian army's policy. The number of killed civilians you quote is a unscrupulous exaggeration that cannot be tolerated by unbiased readers. One has to wonder just what is behind your article and the Canadian officers' agenda for writing it.

Sincerely,

Hilda M. Foley

National Federation of Croatian Americans

13272 Orange Knoll

Santa Ana, Ca 92705, USA

LETTER TO CBC, AUGUST 1, 2003

CBC - should be renamed "Glas Srbije"

By Allen Milcic

To: CBC

Friday, August 01, 2003 11:08 AM

Dear all:

I am simply fascinated as to how completely pro-Serbian the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) is, and to what lengths they will go to spin ANY news into a 'positive' for Serbia. The latest one is so tragicomical, I had to bring it to your attention - as you have no doubt heard, Bosnian Serb Milomir Stakic (former Mayor of Prijedor) was convicted at ICTY on various war crimes and crimes against humanity charges, but was found not guilty on charges of Genocide. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, the toughest sentence handed out to date at the Hague. The illustrious CBC reported this on their 24 hour TV news channel as: "Bosnian Serb acquitted of Genocide". That's it...no further information available, no clarification, no indication that he was convicted of numerous other horrible crimes, no mention of his life sentence - nothing! At first glance, and especially to the general public that do not follow ICTY proceedings, they have made it appear that the scum-bag walked away as an innocent, free man, while not exactly lying about it!

Please note that I have written to the CBC on numerous occasions with regards to their one-sided (100% pro-Serbian) reporting, and have NEVER even received the courtesy of a reply, let alone had any effect on the quality of their news. I wonder if, perhaps, a mass writing campaign, especially from Croatians here in Canada, would help? As it stands, the CBC is nothing more than an English version of "Srpska Mreza".

Disgusted,

Allen Milcic

Mississauga, Canada