Post by theblackswans on Oct 3, 2008 23:09:30 GMT -5
Oct 3, 2008 19:00:29 GMT -5 @vinjak said:
There where many of these sort of units operating throught Bosnia it usualy consisted of members from Villages.All sides had them Serbs,Croats Bosniaks.
Sometimes they where mistaken for Parramilitary units but all of them where just a bunch of thugs, some though got absorbed into different Parramilitary formations.
I agree. The reason why we had so many inhumane crimes committed during the war was exactly because of those 'organized thugs' and criminals who took the matter into their own hands. A good example iz Caco from Sarajevo. Although he was 100% pro Bosniak and all, he didn't hesitate to slaughter Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs in Sarajevo who worked for the government and tried to kill him (they succeeded later, a hit ordered by Izetbegovic).
Same goes for some Serbs and in whatever formation they ended up. Some leaders forced their soldiers to rape specifically Muslim women and such. One would have to be insane to think that every Serb was as insane and inhuman as those that committed such crimes and promoted them. I forget the name of the Serb soldier who didn't want to participate in the massacre in Srebrenica and was at point threatened to be killed by his commander if he didn't proceed with the order. Thats just one case.
Case point, war is ugly. For all sides.
I understand and agree with your point but there is a difference...
The legit Bosnian authorities in Sarajevo didn't ensure they could protect the civillian population of BiH (all of the peoples), when war broke out they had to rely on criminals like Caco, Celo, Juka etc. Once they were able to muster enough strength to defend Bosnia (late 1992-93) they no longer were protecting all the people of BiH (Serbs turned to VRS Croats to HVO). There is a difference in the situation, the Bosniak gangster criminals were a byproduct of the lack of leadership and vision of the Izetbegovic regime and there ability to defend the people of BiH. The others like the cetniks, white eagles, arkans tigers or paramilitary formations of the HVO were controlled and unleashed on BiH by outside forces (ie Croatia and Serbia) they were able to do so because of the lack of civillian control and forthought by Izetbegovic in the outbreak of war. Clearly to me a difference between the situations.
I have a friend who is Serbian and he fought with the 10th Mountain Brigade (Musan Topalovics ABiH unit). He swears that he doesn't believe that most the crimes committed by the unit involved those around Topalovic and not him personally. He said the others (who after his death blamed everything on Caco) were insane and ruthless killers who took advantage of the situation.