Posted on 07/21/2003 10:13:12 AM PDT by joan
OTTAWA - Canadian officers say they are frustrated by inaction over a 1995 ethnic cleansing operation by Croatians against Serbs – one in which the Croats may have had western help.
They documented numerous atrocities during Operation Storm, which was a four-day campaign by the Croats to recover land held in central and southern Croatia for four years by Serbian militias.
However, not one person has been arrested and brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
More than 200,000 Serbs were expelled, and thousands were killed.
"Just amazing. You can see the holes in the back of the head," said Capt. Gerry Carron, showing pictures he took to document the killings.
"We found people in wells," he said. "There was an old lady we found head-first in a well. Why did they do that?"
Some top military officers said the expertise required to plan and execute Operation Storm meant it couldn't have been done by the Croats alone.
Croatia's American consultant
Fingers have been pointed at Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), a U.S. consulting company based in Alexandria, Virginia. The company's Web site points to an article in which the Croatian government praised the job MPRI has done for it – although MPRI has denied involvement in Operation Storm.
"I don't think it was the Croats themselves that did that," said Maj.-Gen. Alain Fourand, who commanded UN forces in the area of Operation Storm, adding he suspected it was MPRI.
Maj.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, who will be going to Afghanistan to command Canadian troops, also said he doubts the Croats themselves pulled off Operation Storm.
"That was done by people who really knew what they were doing," he said, adding he didn't think the Croats had the expertise.
Croatia was getting assistance in other ways. Argentina supplied artillery used in Operation Storm – despite a UN ban and even though their own soldiers were working there as peacekeepers.
Looking back, Carron said peacekeepers may have made things worse by disarming the Serbs while the Croats re-armed.
Canadian officers say the involvement of the West could explain the foot-dragging on prosecution, although the tribunal said the case is largely circumstantial.
The Canadians also believe the Croatian commander of Operation Storm is being protected by supporters in Croatia's government, and that not enough diplomatic pressure is being exerted.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Canadian soldiers there in theatre, fresh on the scene, and with photographic evidence back up your estimate of thousands killed. Of course they don't say how many thousands they believe were killed; your estimate was 5,000 - 7,000 Serbs killed in Operation Storm and its aftermath.
In Bosnia, the Catholics and Muslims united against the Serbs, but then fell out with each other and started fighting. A deal, push by the West, got them (Croats and Muslims) together again at the end of the Bosnia war. There were also some Muslim soldiers from Bosnia who went to Croatia to kill Serbs during Operation Storm, which is what this article is about.
It happened during the reign of Philander-in-Chief X-42
In case of Croatia, ethnic cleansing of Serbs is completion of genocide of Serbs, that started as official Croatian policy in 1941.
U.S forces were duped into providing aircover for genocide. Another Clinton legacy.
joan, there were no Dutch soldiers (except for UNMOs) in Sectors North and South (Op Storm). We had Canadians, Czechs, Jordanians, Ukranians and Danish battalions.
pingie-lingie
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