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smoke, Check out this discussion of Srebrenica from a Muslim soldier stationed in Tuzla. I found the following excerpt particularly interesting.

Instead, Becirovic led a big column of about eight or ten thousand men and the civilians who had happened to be near them. They had to go through Serbian lines, 50 miles of Serbian territory to get to us in Tuzla. No Yugoslav officer in his right mind would send them in one big group, because we had the example of our parents in World War II. "Partisan tactics" were the basis of the army and certainly part of his training. He should have broken them into small groups of civilians with an armed attachment, since you can't hunt down every group of fifty or sixty. A column of this size is impossible to keep quiet. But grabbing their radios, they did it anyway.

The civilians left behind were turned over by the UN soldiers there to the Serbs. Some UN Dutch tried to help, some thought of themselves. The men were separated. Those are the majority of Srebrenica's missing. For what happened to them, it's beyond my comprehension or abilities as a writer.

The column fell immediately into ambushes. Serbs had been called down from positions near Brcko and fell upon them. It was a triangle of death, mowing down as many of our kind as they could. The column ran into hell at Kamenica and was separated into many smaller groups. Probably seven hundred to one thousand were killed within ten miles of Srebrenica.

Thanks Gael. The BiH Muslims brougth it upon themselves with their past abhorrent behavior towards not only the Serbs, but to their own people. C'mon, the VRS offered free passage for ALL that wanted to leave, an amnesty type offering. Instead, the Muslims ATTACKED, as that is when the infighting occurred between the 'Who wanted this offer and those who refused'. Muslims then used civies as shields for "collateral damage". This is where the civie deaths occurred. There were many civies of military age who shed their unies to desert Alija's army. Go figure.

Pedaling In Peace- Cycling Challenge for the Children of Serbia

The beginning and end of that breakout was filmed. I believe it is part of a PBS documentary. It seemed like everyone I saw was an armed male.

They marched out all fresh in long columns, but came stragling in to Tuzla in small groups looking very worn. Which is what you would expect of an army fighting through 50 miles of enemy territory! Many didn't make it.

That's interesting. Thanks for the link. I don't pretend to be an expert on BiH or Srebrenica at all, and I was never in or around Srebrenica, but this fits with what an ICRC colleague who had been in the area told me: that little groups of people fleeing Srebrinica who broke off from the main column were the ones who tended to make it to safety.

I can sympathise with the fellow who wrote that article, although I suspect that what happened to the people of Srebrenica was not ultimately a matter of stupidity. Only the lower-level local leadership (what was left of it) in Srebrenica can accused of the lesser charge of stupidity. The high leadership had a darker motive. The author hints at this, but never comes out and says so.

No, I don't excuse the Serbs who gunned down the fleeing people, any more than I excuse what Croats did to fleeing Serbs in Storm, but there is something so sinister about selling out your own people. Hence, my greatest disgust is reserved for the RSK leadership who sold out their own people and the Bosnian Muslim leadership who did the same. Treachery, I believe it's called.