U.S. troops hand over terrorist suspect to Bosnian authorities

AP ^ | Thu Jan 30, 7:00 AM ET | ALMIR ARNAUT

[joan]

I'm almost positive Tropoljac is back again posting under another name. Try to guess it.

[kosta50]

Tropo was banned as he said a nasty to Joan

That's what happens when the emotions get the better of you. We all can think before we press that "Send" button. Too bad.

[smokegenerator]

I have been known to have "field discipline" and not "garrison discipline"...:)

We sound like a bunch of UFO theorists here...

[Tamodaleko]

Oh contraire Wraith, the harder the stone (of the wall) is, the sharper your knife can be ;) ...perhaps you need to angle it?
Listen, the same frustration threw insults you are getting from Hoplite, Serbs are getting from the West for centuries. Welcome to the club! You chose the losing side no matter what the truth is. If you boycott, isolate,... than they will appear more agressive.
I know, I know, you really need sometimes, something stronger than a "rakija", to continue.

[Wraith]

No frustration my man just the understanding of what is and what is not a waste of time. No more no less. Maybe I’ve had a "rakija" in Slovenia once not so long ago.

[Fusion]

When the historians chronicle the past decade of the Balkan wars, the sharper ones will take note -- if only as an aside -- that these conflicts coincided with the growth and development of the internet. In previous wars those who were on the ground had little opportunity to discuss what they saw and experienced in wide forums unless they maintained the victor's official line and played the games of the powers to be. Even then these perceptions would be tightly controlled and modulated to avoid deviation from the next policy cycle's required "truths."

It took many years for critical mainstream revelations of World War II and Korea to surface that examined American failures in those wars. DC didn't need to yell "national security" too loud in those days to silence those in the know -- just a quiet word to the publishing and television heads all paying taxes in the 90 percent range was usually enough.

Mr D's old buddy -- the Kinston, NC lad Frank Snepp changing a good deal of that in 1977. People had seen Vietnam on televison starting with the Tet offensive in 1968 and ending with the NVA rolling down Highway 1 in April 1975. They couldn't be fooled anymore and this work caused a bit of sensation when published.

Yet it was still quite easy in the mid-1990's to make the American sheep believe the Serbs butchered a hundred thousand innocent Muslims in Bosnia (or was it 200,000?). It was even easier to wag the dog in Kosovo. However...

Too many literate people from all sides of the various conflicts were there in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia. When you get some of them together in a forum like FR it doesn't take long to understand who was there and who wasn't. It has taken a few years, but increasingly the truth has come out and in the process damned much of the West.

Absolutely no substitute for experience on the ground in-theatre...

The West doesn't like this phenomena -- especially with World War III going on now. It makes them nervous in Foggy Bottom and Downing Street for people to be able to read about the US funding and equipping Osama bin Laden and others who are now taking the fight to the West.

Many would like to muzzle this type of discussion and utilise agents to mute such discourse. However you either believe in free speech or you don't. "Old Europe" and the US State Department with many of this ilk that don't -- no doubt when the smoke clears they will be badly shaken (not stirred).

Hoplite does his research and has a concise American style of writing -- he fits a mould Victor Davis Hanson has described a few times when denigrating academia. There are two events Hoplite will fight to the death every time: Racak and Aracinovo.

When the truth about these two events is finally known it will be a devastating blow to the West. With the war on terror and coming battle with Iraq the focus now, there are plenty of people in DC and London that want to see those events forgotten -- swept aside from the view of the taxpayer and citizen.

And in another age they would have been -- the internet and these type forums a powerful weapon for those who still believe in unfettered truth and the right of free Westerners to know...

**********

Wraith

It is good to see you about -- I figure you and your pals are very busy these days...

I can't begin to tell you how concerned I am about the coming Islamic entente strike on London. Some of the senior Brits took high level briefings when Blair visited the States last week and they seem to be on the ball and doing everything they can.

I don't think it will be enough...

One never wants to get emotional about these things so as to keep a clear head -- and thus from a games theory perspective the Islamic entente plan is sound: Massive OK City style explosion(s) in the Financial District and by the water -- combined with their very best doing some big game hunting. If they successfully execute this attack they will win the war with one lightning coup de main as the shaky Western resolve collapses.

And in the Balkans the death squads are roaming once more...

Keep your head down...

The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.

[smokegenerator]

Hoplies recieves his "reearch" from govt-sanctioning NGO'S, clearly bias groups. Biasness discredits ones own crediblity if one shuts out other views, Fusion, you know that there are two sides to every situation. Even I admit to that, do you admit there are bad seeds among the Albanians who were in the wrong and should be tried for crimes against humanity?

[vooch]

The Truth is already known about the Racak Firefight.

[smokegenerator]

and of Srebrenica and Gorazde.

[vooch]

and also of Glodjane, Mikorvic Grad, Glina......

[bridging up]

Notice how silent Hoplies becomes when he is picked on like this? I guess his handlers do not know what to so, say or counterreact just yet.

[Hoplite]

It's such a fine collective spleen vent I see no reason to intercede.

Enjoy.

[ma bell]

This is outside of Tuzla saddling the front line. No more then 200 meters away is a brand new mosque. An additional 1/4 mile is another brand new mosque. I was unable to take those pictures as there were many people milling around and were gawking at what I was trying to do (pic taking).

At this picture, there were at least 50-60 people at the bus stand where this destroyed Serbian Church sits. This weekend, I should have majority of the pics available to view.

From Uzice to Presevo, the flash card bugged out on me and I lost all the pics. Including the one where I took a few pictures south of Presevo enroute to the Kosovo border where I was following a horse-pulled buggy wagon. That includes the incident where I was chased by a John Al-Farooq Hachim Deere Tractor. The Albanian obviously did not appreciate my taking of pictures.

Be sure to visit Serbian Cycling Challenge 2004

Oh, yes. I did not see any destroyed mosques as they were obviously replaced. Though, majority of the Serbian Churches are still abandoned as the church grounds are used for vehicle storage and animal grazing by the new inhabitants. I could not cross onto these grounds like I did last year of April 2003. Barbed wire was strewn across since that time, plus I had my bike and would not leave it to be stolen.

[ma bell]

bump

[ma bell]

Serbian Church in Srebrenica, destroyed and unrepaired.

[Sarajevo]

Ma Bell!

Good to hear from you again.

The church in you picture strongly resembles a church outside of Zvornick, near the turnoff to the former FOB Connor.

I recall many churches under various stages of reconstruction,especially on the route between Tuzla and Zvornik, but the locals said they didn't have the same funding which was supplied by the Saudi's for mosque's.

A success story was east on the road towards Zvornick, not far from the village of Kalesia, where a church was completed fairly quickly.

[wonders]

Thanks for the ping ma bell. Great pictures! My, what a blue sky in Tuzla. Any Krajina pix? The road from about Maja up to Zirovac must have been tiring. It's a pretty steady climb the whole way and gets rather steep up toward Zirovac.

[ma bell]

This picture is from Kalisija, unfortunately, I did not see any rebuilt/restored Serbian Churches. You might be referring to the stretch of road that shortcutted to Zvornik. I missed that turn and ended up taking the long stretch.

Wonders, I will get the road/villages I hit while in Krajina. There was one mountain pass that destroyed me! It did not show up on my topo map and my body felt it!

[ma bell]

I do have Krajina Picture on my CD, but they are hidden on it somehow. I have to get some software that'll able me to find them. They are on there....somewhere. Between Glina and Petrinje, I saw many homes still destroyed with the "U" symbol and a few destroyed Serb Churches on the offroad.

To be honest, it was between 0400-0700 and dark and I did not want to use my flash to snap the pictures. Petrinje was heavily patrolled by the Police so that was out of the question.

[ma bell]

I did ride all around Kalisija for half an hour and did not see any rebuilt Serb churches. However, the town is still half-destroyed with minor if any reconstruction being done. Seems they want the pockmarked/chipped buildings as a souvenir reminder of somekind. Who knows with those people in the Balkans.