What you regurgitate is mostly a hind sight 20/20 angle, pure polemics, where the post 911 anti-Islamic sentiment in the US is exploited to some advantage by the Serbs; which had the tanks, the fighters, the artillery, air defense system etc etc etc. The former YU military went overwhelmingly Serb during the break up. They were being supplied arms from the Russians while the Bosnians were more or less disarmed. It’s a very cute revisionist effort, where those doing the Goose-stepping in the Balkans want to redefine themselves as the victims and dare you make the connection I just did with Goose-stepping! Then you’ll hear diatribes about how the Serbs fought the Germans (Another angle you brought up) which I guess makes it OK for them to operate their own camps 50 years later and more or less annex territory they require for their “Lebensraum.”
The Balkan intervention was more than justified, and in fact the hesitation of nations like Germany which didn’t want to take action until 250,000 refugees sat in their country, that is the real shame. So much for the German “Nie Wieder” when forced to view their handy work after WWII. The political weights behind the Balkan intervention were Germany and Great Britain, like that or not. The Serbs were the ones calling the shots. They had the capabilities to wage war and it was to their advantage to do so. They had no intent on stopping and as the crisis became graver, with massive amounts of Bosnian refugees fleeing, other nations and areas being sucked into this feud and it spreading, eventually action was sought by the European powers. We have zero economic interests in this region. There is little strategic value in this place for us. Our involvement in the Balkans was because of our commitment to allies who through NATO (Which was the military apparatus controlling the war) tied us into this conflict. Because of our capabilities in communications, SEAD, intel collection, reconnaissance, targeting, C2, large lift capacities, ordinance capabilities, shear size, etc., we de facto became the tip of the spear, but we were never the political engine behind this intervention and that’s something completely lost in what we claim as history.
Let me attempt to deconstruct what you just said. Basically Clinton and our military became involved in a a conflict in a region where, to use your words: “We have zero economic interests in this region. There is little strategic value in this place for us. Our involvement in the Balkans was because of our commitment to allies..”
Hmm, sounds like we got used.
You should read Unholy Terror by John R. Schindler—professor of strategy at the Naval War College and former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer.
The Bosnian conflict of 1992 to 1995 has been largely misrepresented in the West . . . until now. In Unholy Terror, John R. Schindler—professor of strategy at the Naval War College and former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer—reappraises the war in Bosnia, illuminating its pivotal role in the development of radical Islamic terrorism.The long hidden truth is that Bosnia played the same role for al-Qa’ida in the 1990s that Afghanistan did in the 1980s, providing a battleground where mujahidin could learn to wage holy war. Schindler exposes how Osama bin Laden exploited the Bosnian conflict for his own ends and the disturbing level of support the U.S. government gave to the Bosnian mujahidin—just as had been done with the Afghan mujahidin. Repeating the mistakes of Afghanistan contributed to blowback of epic proportions: Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (the mastermind of 9/11) and two of the 9/11 hijacker pilots were veterans of the Bosnian jihad.
Unholy Terror is a compelling and meticulously researched step toward finally learning the lessons of Bosnia, which can only help in the continuing battle against Muslim extremists and their global jihad.
The process by which a European political engine drives an American military force is an abomination that must be ended. Let them fight their own wars... for once.