News reports this week suggest that Kosovar Albanians are now "ethnically cleansing" some Serbs in Kosovo in anticipation of an eventual political carve-up of the province. The unfortunate but all too predictable effects of failed U.S. policies in the Balkans during the Clinton Administration are still being felt.
In order to rid himself of the Bosnia "mess" before running for reelection, Clinton basically swept Bosnia under the carpet by forcing a partition agreement on the parties (well, Milosevic had actually designed the plan and Croatia's then-President Franjo Tudjman made out well, too! So in reality it was forced only on the Bosnians themselves...) and inserting U.S. troops to prevent further fighting and to implement the accord.
Among many others, a major flaw in the Dayton Peace Accords was that they rewarded genocide. Milosevic's allies in Bosnia got half the country - the half they had brutally "cleansed" of non-Serbs during the 3 1/2 year war. Bosnia was, in theory, still a whole country, but in practice the Serb Republic in Bosnia would function as a separate entity on a day-to-day basis. And U.S. troops were tasked with protecting and enforcing the gains of genocide.
Having seen that the U.S. and its European allies would not intervene to stop or punish genocide, he then launched another genocidal attack, this time in Kosovo, a formerly-autonomous province in Serbia. Milosevic's forces - the same ones who had committed the crimes against humnanity in Bosnia and, earlier, in Croatia - began to kill and force from their homes Kosovo's Albanian majority. Eventually, Clinton bowed to public pressure - and the threat of a wider Balkan-wide conflict - and launched a bombing campaign against Serbia. Milosevic capitulated and removed his troops. The disaster in Kosovo eventually contributed to Milosevic's ouster.
Now, the more radical elements of Kosovo's Albanian population are seeking to do what the U.S. allowed, encouraged and facilitated in Bosnia - the partitioning of the area along ethnic and religious lines through the forced removal of populations. Can we honestly be surprised that some in Kosovo would think this a logical and sensible course of action, given the framewrok we established through the Dayton Accords in Bosnia.
Clinton is almost four years removed from office, but his legacy - bloody as it is - endures...
Friday, March 19, 2004
Terror in Spain - Don't Appease the Terrorists!
Fareed Zakaria has another thought-provoking article in this week's Newsweek:
http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/newsweek/032204.html
In this article, Zakaria notes that, for many terrorist organizations, violence is an end in and of itself. This certainly has seemed to be true for some suicide bombers and their terrorist organizations in the West Bank and Gaza in recent years. Zakaria argues that it is now true for al Qaeda and the Basque terrorists, ETA.
But the Spanish electorate, and the socialist government it elected in the initial days after the horrific bombings in Madrid this month, would seem to reward the terrorists by threatening to remove Spain's troops from Iraq. Zakaria points out, however, that "other recent targets of Islamic militants have been Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, not one of which supported the war or sent troops into Iraq in the afterwar. Al Qaeda's declaration of jihad had, as its first demand, the withdrawal of American troops from Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden does not seem to have noticed, but the troops are gone—yet the jihad continues. The reasons come and go, the violence endures."
If Spain does, however, withdraw its troops from Iraq as a result of the recent terrorism in Madrid, it would send a dangerous message to al Qaeda, ETA, and other terrorists: western governments and their policies can be changed through the use of terrorism. Terrorism will, once again, be seen as an effective tool for small groups of radicals to force political change. Terrorism will likely increase, especially in these "weak" and "fragile" democratic societies, terrorists will conclude.
For decades, "We don't negotiate with terrorists!" was a mantra for western and other governments. We all understood that once you give in to the demands of terrorists, you only encourage more terrorism. Spain's new leaders should remember this lesson. They may have legitimate gripes with Spain's involvement in the war in Iraq. But surely they can understand that, once emotions subside a bit, Spain's national interests lie with combating the terrorists and creating a stable political and economic climate in Iraq, not caving in to monsters who kill innocents.
http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/newsweek/032204.html
In this article, Zakaria notes that, for many terrorist organizations, violence is an end in and of itself. This certainly has seemed to be true for some suicide bombers and their terrorist organizations in the West Bank and Gaza in recent years. Zakaria argues that it is now true for al Qaeda and the Basque terrorists, ETA.
But the Spanish electorate, and the socialist government it elected in the initial days after the horrific bombings in Madrid this month, would seem to reward the terrorists by threatening to remove Spain's troops from Iraq. Zakaria points out, however, that "other recent targets of Islamic militants have been Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, not one of which supported the war or sent troops into Iraq in the afterwar. Al Qaeda's declaration of jihad had, as its first demand, the withdrawal of American troops from Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden does not seem to have noticed, but the troops are gone—yet the jihad continues. The reasons come and go, the violence endures."
If Spain does, however, withdraw its troops from Iraq as a result of the recent terrorism in Madrid, it would send a dangerous message to al Qaeda, ETA, and other terrorists: western governments and their policies can be changed through the use of terrorism. Terrorism will, once again, be seen as an effective tool for small groups of radicals to force political change. Terrorism will likely increase, especially in these "weak" and "fragile" democratic societies, terrorists will conclude.
For decades, "We don't negotiate with terrorists!" was a mantra for western and other governments. We all understood that once you give in to the demands of terrorists, you only encourage more terrorism. Spain's new leaders should remember this lesson. They may have legitimate gripes with Spain's involvement in the war in Iraq. But surely they can understand that, once emotions subside a bit, Spain's national interests lie with combating the terrorists and creating a stable political and economic climate in Iraq, not caving in to monsters who kill innocents.
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