Liars, Liars, Liars And Herceg-Bosna

July 20, 2013 by inavukic 148 Comments

From left: Jadranko Prlic, Milivoj Petkovic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Berislav Pusic, Valentin Coric
Photo: AFP/ jutarnji.hr

There come times in life when you just want to climb on the top of a mountain and shout: liar, liar liar! You want the world to hear you; the burden of desecrated truth weighs down heavily.

So, as I shout liars, liars, liars, this time, it’s in the direction of ICTY Trial Chamber’s recent judgment against the Six Croats of Herceg-Bosna in which the Trial Chamber ruled that they, together with Croatia’s leadership (including dr Franjo Tudjman) had participated in a joint criminal enterprise against Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) – all as part of some Greater Croatia expansion!

A great deal has been written in response to this shocking and politically carved judgment, that seems to have been cemented through efforts of channeling much hearsay and half-truths into the pen where ICTY’s “joint criminal enterprise” creation awaited fodder to give it life. It’s a part of human nature to become restless and distressed, to vent frustration and disappointment – pending an appeal to the Trial Chamber’s decision. So I’m shouting again – it takes a great deal of effort these days for truth to surface and stay there.

Ante Nazor of dnevno.hr portal has recently written a great article on the matter, which, I’m pleased to say, justifies and feeds my “liar, liar, liar” shout against the judgment and prosecution’s witnesses.

Ante Nazor writes (translation in italics):

This judgment, condemning the political and military leadership of Herceg-Bosna, and Croatia for “joint criminal enterprise” against Bosnia, shows how unconvincing ICTY’s “slogans” that guilt is individualised in its verdicts are. With this judgment it’s suggested that Croatia is responsible for aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which is contrary to the historical facts.

Contrary to the claims made in the Trial Chamber judgment against 6 Croats of Herceg-Bosna the facts clearly show that Croatia had not committed aggression against Bosnia, nor had it conducted a “joint criminal enterprise”, but only reacted to the events that occurred in BiH, events the Croatian leadership could not ignore: firstly the Serbian aggression in April in 1992., and then the Bosniak (Muslim) – Croatian conflict in BiH, for which Croatia is not responsible, nor had it been caused by president Franjo Tudjman and defense minister Gojko Susak, but real threat of extinction of the Croats as one of the three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina appeared in the area where they had lived for centuries.

The ICTY prosecution did not hide its triumphalism after the verdict as it enthusiastically commented for television that the “Serbian Republic and Herceg-Bosna are the same”. (Reminder: Serbian Republic within Bosnia and Herzegovina was founded on genocide including Srebrenica massacre). Then there were some non-government organisation and individuals who, after the above said ICTY judgment, said through media that the public has argued for years that president Tudjman, defence minister Susak and almost the whole of the then Croatian authorities were joint criminals “and that Croatia is founded on crimes”. (Perhaps it’s good to remind ouselves here that those organisations and individuals were and are those die-hard communists at heart who never wanted a free Croatia anyway). But none of these “righteous” ones answered the question of what would happen to the Croats in BiH had they not organised themselves and had they not received help from Croatia? Who would defend them? Bosnia and Herzegovina? Europe? USA? NATO? Yugoslav People’s Army? Given the events in Croatia in 1991 (brutal Serb aggression) and given the experience with the area Croatian villages Ravno in BiH in October 1991 (of which the Hague prosecutor had to know) the only thing that remained for Croats in BiH was to organise their defence. The ICTY prosecutor also had to know the fact that even before the burning of village Ravno in BiH, Croatian Serb forces (aka Martic’s rebel forces) with their incursion into the territory of BiH Bosnian Grahovo in June 1991 extrtacted a sincere reaction from Alija Izetbegovic in the media: “at this moment we are not able to cope with the increasingly violent internal and external aggression” and that the country cannot resist external aggression (by Serb forces).

Therefore, it is an utter nonsense from ICTY prosecution to claim that Croats in BiH did not have a reason for self-organisation, when it is known that the institutions of BiH at the time, neither Croats nor other citizens, were not able to protect themselves against Serbian armed formations. Is it not cynical that the prosecutor in any court in Europe accuses Croats in BiH for the political and territorial organisation to defend themselves against the Serbian aggression, which, at the beginning, was the main reason for the establishment of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna on 18th November 1991, in the circumstances when Europe’s arms embargo against the former Yugoslavia significantly impeded defence efforts of Croats and Bosniaks (Muslims) at the beginning of Serbian aggression?

All this and many more facts, as well as a chronology of events, were disregarded by the Hague prosecution in its effort to accuse Croatian leadership and Croatia of “joint criminal enterprise” in BiH.
Quoting excerpts from transcripts as evidence for its claim (which are generally presented in the media in Croatia), ignored the transcripts whose content is contrary to the allegations of the prosecution.

Contrary to Greater Serbia, the construction of theories about the creation of Greater Croatian is based on lies. Certainly, unlike Serbs, Croats did not attack other countries of former Yugoslavia so the ICTY prosecutor evidently went about concocting one through this court case.

For example, it was President Tudjman, whom the prosecution accuses of creating a “Greater Croatia” at the expense of BiH, who on 56th (Closed) session of the Government of Croatia on 25th November 199 (I.e. 7 days after the proclamation of the “Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna”) concluded that “in accordance with the Croatian policy and politics it builds itself upon, there cannot be any changes in the borders,” and so “Croats in BiH must ensure their interests within the state, as long as ii exists.”

He also noted that “we must be aware of the fact that the Serbian part of Bosnia and Herzegovina is fully in the hands of the Serbian government, that it is armed and in service of the Greater Serbia policy” and that “Muslims run their own politics which in fact, as far as the leadership is concerned, is on the line of maintaining Yugoslavia “.

Accordingly, looking at the politics led by President Tudjman BiH and his statesmanlike moves (no change to borders by force, the recognition of sovereignty and independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a union of the three constituent peoples, participation of Croats in BiH defence and liberation, and other facts) show that the role of Croatian President Tudjman and Serbian President Milosevic and Croatian and Serbian war in BiH, as well as the role of the Croatian Community Herceg-Bosna and the Serbian Republic, cannot be considered equal, despite the Hague prosecution’s and the domestic “lovers of justice” persistence in trying to make it so.

This is corroborated by the fact that most informed and most respected judge in the Trial Chamber which rendered the judgment previously cited Six Croats of Herceg-Bosna, Jean-Claude Antonetti, in his dissenting opinion states that President Tudjman at a meeting of the Supreme State Council 18th November 1991, when Herceg-Bosna was established, said he is not about creating a community of Herceg-Bosna, but a declaration that proves that the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina are working to establish a community with no separation of BiH, and that “this document does not support the theory of a Greater Croatia. ”

So I reiterate: with the exception of Judge Antonetti of ICTY Trial Chamber, the prosecution and its witnesses: liars, liars, liars. The saddest thing of all, pending a court appeal in this matter, the conflict and intolerance between Croats and Bosniaks in BiH deepens by the day – all because of this abominable politically wrapped judgment. I am certain that such a scenario was planned and fueled by those who want to legitimise the entity of Serbian Republic within BiH that was created on genocide, ethnic cleansing, rape and utter horror. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Zgb)

http://inavukic.com/2013/05/30/the-latest-icty-verdict-and-why-you-should-care/

http://inavukic.com/2013/06/03/the-ghost-of-goebbels-at-the-hague/

http://inavukic.com/2013/06/07/is-this-a-joint-criminal-enterprise-and-muslim-aggression-against-bosnia-and-herzegovina/

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Alija Izetbegovic, Berislav Pusic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bruno Stojic, Croat Muslim conflict, Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, Franjo Tuđman, Gojko Susak, ICTY, Jadranko Prlic, Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti, Milivoj Petkovic, Slobodan Milosevic, Slobodan Praljak, Valentin Coric

New lies about Tudjman announce new aggression against Croatia

December 26, 2012 by inavukic 23 Comments

dr Franjo Tudjman addresses the United Nations General Assembly 22 May 1992

By Dr. Slobodan Lang – 14 December 2012
(Translated by Ina Vukic)

On the 2nd of June of this year I went to Medjugorje and kneeled beside the visionary Mirjana, as she was receiving a message from Our Lady. I prayed for the freedom of Generals Gotovina and Markac. On the Day of Assumption of Virgin Mary, together with Mario Filipi, the war veterans and the young (led by Filip Kustro and Matea Kemenji), we crossed 25 kilometers to Aljmas. From day to day, during the past month, we prayed for the freedom of the Generals across Croatia. And it happened. It does not matter how much the lawyers and the Judges, how much the prayers and the truth contributed to this freedom. The indictment against Croatia, against defenders, against the politics of independence and against President Tudjman was rejected.

Only in Serbia and among some Serbs in Croatia was the astonishment greater than among Croatians across the world and Croatians in Croatia.

Despite everything, the reaction in Serbia came as a surprise. The reaction in Serbia was based on some incomprehensible expectation that the world considers the Serbs to be better than any other Balkan nationality. That the aggression, the occupation, the intent to change sovereign borders, ethnic persecutions and genocide over the Albanians, the Bosniacs and the Croatians are forgotten, and that the only victims of that time were the Serbs from Croatia, who were incited into rebellion by their leaders into chasing Croatians from their homes, into attack against Bihac, the danger of another genocide and finally into taking the very Serbs out of Croatia, leaving and abandoning some 10,000 of their own elderly, whom we saved in the Action «Let’s Save Life».

With the politics of their own leadership, the Serbian people (according to God equal to all other people) have in the past been led into crime and today, into the nonexistent world of North Korea and other totalitarian states of time past. It’s for the benefit of the Serbian people that they realise the truth and to join the other nations of the world as equals. This goes for some Serb leaders in Croatia, as well. They could begin by recanting the three undemocratic, automatic representatives in the Parliament which they gained through the corruption on Ivo Sanader. The rest of the Serbs could begin by publicly rejecting the lies about hundreds of thousands of victims in Jasenovac, because of which thousands of true victims could not be stated for decades, Yad Vashem deceived and Bogdan Bogdanovic (author of the Jasenovac statue) gifted to me his drawing upon which he wrote «Doctor, forgive me».

Authorities were caught by surprise. They did not expect freedom for the Generals, and I do not know whether they wanted it. All Croatian politics since year 2000 were led to hand the Generals over, neglect of their families and unwilling legal defence. They expected convictions against the Generals, against Operation Storm, against President Tudjman, against the whole of Croatian defence …

In Croatia, people were immesurably joyous and organised celebrations, bestowing upon the Generals certificates of honorary citizens, held Masses and celebrated in any which way they could.

After the Generals were freed and criminal enterprise rejected by the world court, the first one who managed to find his way out was President Josipovic – he invited all the Croatian Generals to his office. The former President attacked the current President for receiving the Generals who had defended and liberated Croatia from Serb aggression (whose president was this), who prevented genocide over other people and who were pronounced innocent by the international court. He also attacked the church and the faithful for praying for the truth and justice. He attacked the prayer.

Zoran Pusic, from the quasi civil, quasi organisation for human rights, in the Spring of this year, after the ICTY Trial Chamber’s judgment, assessed «disappointment of Croatian public with the severe punishment imposed upon the Generals was due to the fact that the media had spread false hopes that the Generals could get a mild sentence.» Just before the final judgment he stated that there was no doubt that a criminal enterprise existed. After the final judgment (the acquittal of the Generals) he remains quiet and does not show himself in public. He still hasn’t tendered his resignation from the position he has held for more than twenty years, President of the Civic Committee for Human Rights and there has been no other member who has ever spoken for that organisation, perhaps Pusic is its only member and is in conflict of family interests. Sister and brother, rule and accuse.

….

Confusion regarding the Hague judgment lasted only a few days. Initially there were attempts to push the opinion that the judgment meant that now is the time to pursue Croatian crimes. That appeared pale and inadequately convincing. Reactions from Serbia, Pupovac (Milorad) and Mesic (Stjepan) crossed the borders of good taste. «Human Rights» organisations went silent – except Helsinky committee from Belgrade whose president Sonja Biserko calmly repeated that Serbia must accept what it had done.

Already, after a few days, they recognise that further aggression against Croatia requires internal division among Croatian people, the Catholic church, the war veterans and President Tudjman. Always and again – a new attack against President Franjo Tudjman.

Currently there’s one of the dirtiest scenarios ever being carried out.

Tudjman’s guilt is being transferred from acquitted guilt for “Operation Storm” crimes against Serbs and liberation of Croatia in 1995, to guilt for a bad Croatian defence in 1991 and the then torture of Vukovar commander Mile Dedakovic – Hawk.

In order to show Dedakovic’s current health state the Croatian television broadcasts ethically impermissible images of the patient and abuses human suffering, for which they accuse President Tudjman through usage of 20 years old film footage. Guided by NKVD (Peoples’ Commissariat for Internal Affairs) oder No. 00447 from 1937 Tudjman is instantly proclaimed guilty for Dedakovic’s current illness and suffering.

According to this Mile Dedakovic’s current health state cannot be blamed on the current President Ivo Josipovic, who is also the commander of the army, who does not follow up on the health of war veterans or their commanders or on the minister for war veterans Fred Matic, whose job in the government is to do that or on the minister for health Rajko Ostojic, who announced the politics of health nor can the doctors who should care for Dedakovic’s health be blamed …

In their public presentations the official media don’t call upon Josip Manolic, don’t state the members of the committee that produced the report, don’t state the names of those who tortured Dedakovic, don’t state the names of the doctors who treated him then, and don’t state the names of those who care for his health today and who are the only ones qualified to assess Dedakovic’s medical status now, before and for the future.

The goal of this shameful media action is not at all to help Mile Dedakovic-Hawk nor to help any other Croatian war veteran. The goal is to once again attack with lies and blacken President Franjo Tudjman in front of Croatian war veterans and the nation.

More than 20 years ago I contacted Dedakovic in Vinkovci, beginning of October 1991, and then in Zagreb.

As an adviser, on 28th February 1996, I sent the following to President Franjo Tudjman: “Dear President, I maintain constant contact with Mile Dedakovic – Hawk, trying to relieve the wounds as much as possible. I believe that in the coming period it would be useful for him to assist with the return to Vukovar. He has expressed that he wants to meet with you and I believe that such a meeting would solve all the differences. I await your decision.”

After that, today’s Academic, Ivica Kostovic, met with Dedakovic and he can inform about everything that was agreed upon.

Finally, and for all who wish to accept, I’ll conclude with my own life’s disposition which I have gained through numerous mistakes, painful experiences, learning, dangers and time spent within the Croatian nation.

I had worked together with President Franjo Tudjman for six years during the years of defending and creating Croatia. I have been alone with him, on travels with him, corresponded with him, at meetings with him, at assemblies, in his company … 1000 times. I got to know him well and I know President Franjo Tudjman as a man. Every man has his weaknesses and makes mistakes, so too Tudjman, everyone and I. Nevertheless, I emphasise that in public life I have never met a man who has more successfully connected the good and the vitality than President Franjo Tudjman. I am convinced that without him we would not have succeeded in creating or defending Croatia.

The crimes of Jasenovac, Bleiburg, the judgment against Aloysius Stepinac, the crimes of Goli Otok, the crimes after the Croatian Spring, the aggression against Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina … are always followed by the aggression of media lies, concealment, partial and twisted truth.

Vukovarans, veterans of the 204th, Branko Borkovic Hawk, detainees of Serb concentration camps, Danijel Rehak – do you accuse Franjo Tudjman?

All of you who think that the Croatian future must be based on faith in God, love for one’s own family and nation, with the respect of all people and good neighbourly relations with all countries – consider!

Consider the truth, consider your attitudes and have the strength to defend and represent them.
If you won’t defend Tudjman. Who will?
If you won’t defend the Generals, who will?
If you won’t defend Croatia, who will?
If you won’t defend anybody, who will defend you?
If you won’t believe in Christ, how will you believe in yourself.

Dr Slobodan Lang Photo: Pixsell

About dr. Slobodan Lang. Born to Jewish family 8 October 1945 in Zagreb, Croatia. Physician, author, writer, politician and former personal adviser to the first Croatian President dr. Franjo Tudjman. His paternal grandfather Ignjat was the president of the Jewish community in Vinkovci (Croatia) and his grandmother Terezija was a housewife. In 1941 Catholic priest Hijacint Bošković, distinguished Dubrovnik and Croatian Dominican, was engaged in an extraordinary attempt to rescue the Langs from Nazi persecution. Bošković traveled from Dubrovnik to Vinkovci with a special permit that allowed him to relocate the Langs to Dubrovnik. Langs grandfather refused to leave, saying that he “was the president of Jews in peace and he will stay one in the war”. Both of his grandparents were killed in the concentration camp during the Holocaust. He graduated at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine and is a specialist in social medicine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slobodan_Lang)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Ante Gotovina, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, ICTY, Ivica Kostovic, Ivo Josipovic, Josip Manolic, Mile Dedakovic Jasterb, Milorad Pupovac, Mladen Markac, Predrag Fred Matic, Rajko Ostojic, Serb aggression, Slobodan Lang, Sonja Biserko, Stjepan Mesic, Zoran Pusic

Better Grave Than Slave

December 7, 2011 by inavukic 10 Comments

2011 is nearing to its end and it would be remiss of a commentary on Croatia’s key events of the 20^th Century if it did not pay respects to the slogan of the “Croatian Spring” December 1971 student’s and citizens’ mass demonstrations and appeals:

“Bolje Grob Nego Rob”

“Better Grave Than Slave”

December 1971 "Better Grave Than Slave" (Bolje Grob Nego Rob) police and army use force to stop mass demostrations as part of "Croatian Spring" in Zagreb, Croatia

40 years ago the people’s mass- movement in Croatia known as the “Croatian Spring” ended as 1971 drew to its close. “Croatian Silence” followed. Tito, the president of communist Yugoslavia with his strong army quashed any Croatian freedom, even the singing of traditional folksongs.

He reintroduced a nasty, repressive regime in Croatia based on the power of UDBA, Yugoslavia’s despised secret police.

In the 1950s, the Yugoslav regime attempted to create a one unique language for both Serbs and Croats: Serbo-Croatian. The two variants were respectively distinguishable by accent and pronunciation (ijekavski and ekavski), and by scripts (Latin and Cyrillic), as well as numerous words. In March 1967, several most influential cultural and scientific institutions in Croatia published a Declaration on the Name and Position of the Croatian Literary Language, demanding that Croatian and Serbian variant be treated as two separated languages. They regarded the Croatian variant was discriminated against as opposed to the Serbian one.

Croatia sought more autonomy within Yugoslavia especially within the banking and proportional fairness in the distribution of earned wealth, to have the Croatian rather than the unnatural Serbo-Croatian language constructed in Belgrade (Serbia) during 1950’s, to freely express Croatian national pride through literature, arts and song, to have more civil freedom … to retain a Croatian identity within Yugoslavia.

The Yugoslav leadership evilly labelled the whole affair as a restoration of Croatian nationalism and had the police and the army suppress the student and other demonstrators.

Army tanks, armed soldiers, police vans and cars stood on the streets of Zagreb for months after the December 1971 demonstrations.

Police patrols circled the streets at night, interrogating, beating, taking to the police stations anyone whom they pleased; young or old. More than two persons gathering as a group in public places was prohibited.

In 1971, Soviet Union leadership applied additional pressure on Tito directly by Leonid Brezhnev and indirectly by its ambassadors to Yugoslavia, to assert control of the Communist party within Yugoslavia, ostensibly adhering to the Brezhnev Doctrine. http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/kako-su-rusi-lomili-tita-slomili-hrvatsku-clanak-347999 (How the Russians Pressured Tito and Broke Croatia/article in the Croatian language)

After the calls to the student strike, in December 1971 Tito persuaded to resign some unreliable, in his view, public figures and made a sweep in Croatian communist party and local administration. Many student activists were detained and some were sentenced to years of prison.

Some estimate that up to two thousand people were criminally prosecuted for participation in these events.

Among those arrested at this time were future president of Croatia Franjo Tudjman and dissident journalist Bruno Busic (assassinated in Paris 1978 by Yugoslav UDBA secret police). There were several other notable political prisoners in Croatia from this period; Drazen Budisa, Marko Veselica, Redomir Pejic and others.

All convicted of “felonies against the people and the state”, “verbal offense against the state” etc–

In 2002 the confidential correspondence from the British Embassy office in Zagreb & Belgrade became available to the public. From these, Sir Dugald Stewart who was the British Ambassador to Yugoslavia 1971 – 1977, felt that the events from December 1971, Croatian Spring, will be marked as historical key events in Croatia’s flight from Serbian overbearing power.

And indeed Stewart’s hunch was right – Croatia freed itself twenty years later/1991 (sadly for total freedom it had to endure a terrible war of Serbian aggression that lasted to August 1995). http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/12886/britance-odusevila-titova-odluka-da-slomi-hrvatsko-proljece article in the Croatian language.

Croatian Cross

This December also marks the 12^th anniversary of the death of dr Franjo Tudjman who lived and breathed for Croatian freedom from oppression and for democracy and self-determination in Croatia.

Dr Franjo Tudjman (Franjo Tuđman) died on 10 December 1999.

In public life he was a historian, a writer, a politician, a prisoner for Croatian Spring 1971/72, sentenced to 3 years prison and 5 year public activity ban by the communist Yugoslavia in1981 for giving an interview to Swedish and German TV favouring democracy, the first President of the Republic of Croatia, 1992 – 1999.

He was a Tall Poppy that many tried to bring down, many still do. But he still stands tall in memory as a man of firm belief in Croatian people and steel courage in his battles for Croatian self-determination and truth.

“Behold, we know not anything;