Posted on 10/22/2002 12:47:07 PM PDT by I Believe It's Not Butter
A French marksman is missing somewhere in the US.
There is a slim chance he might be THE SNIPER.
Why isn't his (the French guy's) picture shown on television?
Yes. The writing samples could get posted and published, along with his picture.
They could make the fingerprints available for comparison to different databases.
Also, I would not put it past a former-Communist or modern Frenchman to put money or ransom high on the priority list....everything they do has to have a price paid by someone else.
Or maybe that was the impression that the media wanted to give - that Serbs were most at fault. People that served in the Balkans on the ground, often say things were much different than the media presented. When I asked a freeper who had served in Croatia as an UN officer during the '90s, if perhaps the foreign military serving there were kept from scenes (which she had visited)where Serbs had been killed to prevent them becoming sympathetic towards the Serbs (because I believed more anti-Serb missions were in the long range plans), she said:
As for the military serving in the Mission -- the ones I knew did sympathise with the plight of the Serbs (even if they first came to Mission thinking the Serbs were the bad guys) and were horrified and frustrated that the media twisted everything so. When they went home to England or Holland or wherever on leave and tried to tell people how things REALLY were, no one would believe them. It was truly frustrating for all of us. We had only each other to talk to, really.
Just because the media said it was the Serbs doesn't mean it was actually the case. Muslims had their own sniper groups operating - one called Seve - Seve practiced by Shooting Civilians in Sarajevo
Soldiers on the ground claimed the media contained "so much misleading news" and often falsely blamed the Serbs (see what is said about Goradze and CNN film crews) for what Muslims did:
A British Captain (Rtd) wrote to The Global Spy Magazine editors -(http://www.spynews.net/BalkanWarCriminalsect.html) - and said this in his exchange with them:
...In one of my forays we came upon intense shootings near some woods in the outskirts of Sarajevo. When we arrived at the location we witnessed dead Serbs. Yes dead Serbs! I am sure many of your "fans" or "readers" or even "members" would be shocked to know that there were dead Serb civilians too in that civil war and that many were killed or can I say murdered by Croat and/or Muslim militias. The Muslims out numbered the Serbs three to one and they had so many of their men running around with AKs. Some pretending to be Serbs, some pretending to be Croats. We were quite lucky to save one woman's life but then she died a few days later. In her dying murmurs she just mentioned "Bosniaks!" Several times we were shocked when the Bosniaks would force their way into our compound and fire off their artys at the Serbs positions in violation of arranged cease-fires. Where do you think the Serb retaliatory shells gonna land? Oh yes....this is how so many of the cease fire arrangements were broken. Talk about being in the middle of these chaos and the very people who we were trying to help were causing the most problems. Thus far I have not heard of the local commander of the Bosnian muslim who was operating there charged with any war crimes. He is said to be operating as a businessman now bilking and collecting protection money from International organizations and local civilians today...More:
Added note on the conflict as I saw it..... After the end of my tour I got back and found so much of misleading news in the media hence I did some research of my own. many of my boys felt the same but most were not interested in revisiting the same battle scenes again. In Gorozde for example, before the conflict exploded the Muslim side with the help of foreign Muslim mercernaries had already chased away thosands of serbs from their homes. Serb homes were either occupied or set ablazed. When the Serb attempted to make a comeback all remaining Serb properties. houses, churches etc were bombarded by the Muslims and shown from afar to reporters (mostly to CNN crews) as Serb bombardments of "Muslim city of Goradze". How amusing. We arranged so many cease-fire agreements but it was always broken by the Muslims who enjoyed huge numerical superiority and can sustain higher casualty. Several times we intercepted "humanitarian relief" convoys most of the time either escorted by Bangladeshi UN, Malaysian UN or even Dutch UN soldiers. Many times we saw the Malaysians and Bangladeshis bringing in Muslim men and materiel under the pretext of relief supplies. These were usually replenishments for further Muslim offensive efforts. I can only guess same or worse situations in other fronts of the war.
The Associated Press
P A R I S, Oct. 21 — France has alerted Interpol about a French army deserter who is known as a marksman and is missing in North America. A Defense Ministry spokesman said there was speculation of a link to the investigation into the Washington-area sniper.
The 25-year-old second lieutenant, who was not identified, did not return to class in September at the elite military school, Saint-Cyr Coetquidan in Brittany, in western France, after going on vacation in August, officials said.
... The deserter was given permission for an August trip to the United States and Canada, said Bureau. Police sources said he had planned a trip to Chicago.
RTL radio reported the deserter was of Yugoslav origin, but Bureau could not confirm that, saying that he had to be a French citizen to attend the military school.
After the missing officer never showed up for school in September, the gendarmerie, a force under the Defense Ministry, sent a note last week to the Interior Ministry. Interpol was then contacted, said Bureau.
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