Thank you for the ping. This story sadden me so much as an illustration of abuse of power, and complete disregards to the international laws. If the Serbs were Moslems, they would be blowing car bombs all over in frustration!
I think you're touching on a very profound reason as to why the Serbs were painted as the "bad guys" in Bosnia and Kosovo. The US knew it needed military bases in the Balkans because the need for them in Germany was coming to a close and Europe was about to make a great economic leap via the Maastricht Treaty. I think we (the US) may have been on the verge of being practiclly thrown out of Europe right after the Wall fell and Germany was reunited. No more Cold war. No more need for NATO which meant no more need for the US to baby sit Europe.
Then all hell broke loose as Yugoslavia followed what a believe was a natural course of events following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and disintegrated. As I watched the Wall come down I knew there was probably gonna be a big ugly war in Yugoslavia as a result. I'm sure others must have thought this too.
All the different ethnic groups love to point fingers at each other and claim, "HE STARTED IT!!" The truth of the matter is, nobody started it. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, many tribes of people in Europe began to reach back for their roots in a collective crisis of identity and drag up it's old skeletons. The tribes of the Balkans have truck loads of old skeletons. Their national identities are often built on these truckloads.
Sure it's possible that bloodshed could have been avoided, but I find it highly improbable. For the avoidance of bloodshed in the Balkans to not have happened, there would have had to have been completely different leadership at the helm of each ethnic group. I believe neither Milosevic, nor Tudjman, nor Itzebegovic are worth the powder it would take to blow them all to hell when it comes to diplomacy.
This isn't to say that the ugliness that ensued was all their fault either. They truly did have to navigate and respect the mythology behind of their respective tribes in order to maintain the helm. It's unfortunate but true that each tribe was searching for its identity and coming up with some pretty ugly images and ideas about the tribes next door to them. It's built into their ethos and cannot be wished or willed away overnight.
Germany was way ahead of the curve when it came to the break-up of Yugoslavia. It was in on the ground floor as Croatia began making rumblings of independence. When the US finally realised that Germany was making a power grab for influence on the Adriatic, the US scrambled to catch up. One of the choices was the Bosnian Muslims the other was the Serbs. While the Serbs look on the surface to be the logical choice of the two to many of us, the Serbs didn't have Saudi Arabia (a very good friend to the US and a very instrumental ally in the Middle East) backing it in its corner.
What could possibly happen if the Serbs were sacrificed? It's not as though Serbia had a huge and influential lobby in Washington and it's not as though the Serbs had spent huge piles of money hiring the PR companies of Ruder & Finn and Hill and Knowlton. What would the Serbs do? Well, they could resist and their history says that they will probably stand up to the most powerful militaries in the world if they believe in their cause. How much could Serbian resistance hurt? Well, it make for some really bloody wars, but in the end the will have to scream, "UNCLE!!" because every country eventually does. Economic stragulation is the ace in the hole. Not much of a problem there. Will they resort to the same terror tactics against American institutions much the same as Muslims do when they feel threatened by US policies? Probably not and they haven't nor do I ever expect them to. It's not part of their ethos.
Contrary to what most Serbophobes would want anyone to believe, killing innocent women and children of any ethnicity or tribe is not part of any solution. Sure the Serbs have their nutcases just like anybody else, but they're not even close to the majority or is their opinion even given the smallest amount of merit.
That leaves the Bosnian Muslims. Here's the perfect choice for an ally. Their military is super weak. Although there is some Moslem extremists amongst their ranks, they're still very Western thinking and could be easily influenced. Perfect. Now Germany isn't hording all the influence in the Balkans. The US can once again assure a very strategic presence in Europe with one eye on the Middle East and one eye on Russia, and we've made allies with one of the Muslims countries in the Balkans while stregthing our relationship with Saudi Arabia. Sure there's gonna be Muslim extremists from the Middle East making jaunts to Bosnia and points beyond, but they were going to do that and are going to continue to do that whether the US is an ally of the Bosnian Muslims or not. Might as well ally ourselves with the Bosnian Muslims at least so we can keep a closer eye on who is coming or going. If the Bosnian Muslims are even hosting the US presence it's all the better. They won't be blowing up our embassies and neither will the Serbs.
Then the US finds out about the KLA working closely with Germany. Whoops. Time to play catch-up again. Roll out the red carpet for the KLA...
In the fall of 1994 a Serbian priest told me that what the US was doing with its influence in the Balkans was as good thing. He thought it was a very good thing for the US. He also said it's a shame that it's such a bad thing for the Serbs.