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[graphic] PBS.org Srebrenica: The Video of a Wartime Atrocity

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Faos, Jul 18, 2005.

  1. Faos

    Faos Contributing Member

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    I'm too much of a p***y to click on the video. I'll let someone else do it.

    PBS VIDEO LINK


    Srebrenica: The Video of a Wartime Atrocity

    BY Stephen Talbot
    Watch Video

    Length: 6:00
    Serbian Soldiers in Field

    WARNING: The following video contains explicit images of violence.

    In Serbia, many felt it was a nightmare best forgotten. Some pretended it never happened. But the sudden appearance of a horrifying long-suppressed videotape has made it impossible to ignore.

    "It was important to react immediately on the basis of this video, which was shocking and terrible for all of us." So said Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica June 2, 2005, as he announced the arrest of several soldiers who appear in a graphic video broadcast last May on television in Serbia.

    It is a tape that has finally forced a reluctant Serbian government in Belgrade to confront wartime atrocities, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which Serb soldiers killed more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. The video captures a uniformed Serbian paramilitary unit executing six civilian men. It is now evidence at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, which provided a copy to FRONTLINE/World.

    We also obtained the video from journalists in Serbia who wanted us to show it to a wider audience, especially in the U.S. We do so now, after careful consideration. Normally, we would not broadcast or post on our Web site video of brutal slayings. But in this case, when a video has become evidence of a notorious war crime and is having a major political impact, we decided it was important to show it as an example of what happened during one of the darkest episodes in Europe since World War II.

    The full videotape is said to be two hours long. We have received a 28-minute version and we have decided to post only a fraction of that -- enough to convey the essence of what took place without dwelling on the gruesome details.

    The videotape begins with an Orthodox priest blessing members of a Serbian military unit, which has since been identified as the Scorpions, a group directed by Serbia's Ministry of the Interior. The date on the videotape is June 25, 1995. The video then cuts to an extended section (there is no audio) in which a group of these red-bereted troops force six men in civilian clothing, their hands bound, out of an army truck onto a country road, where they are made to lie face down. When other soldiers arrive, they march the six men into a grassy area off the road where they execute four of them, shooting them in the back. At gunpoint, the soldiers force the two remaining men to drag the bodies off to a nearby white shack. Later, the two men are made to lie down on the floor of the building where they are also shot.

    According to the Observer newspaper in London and other sources, the murders took place east of Sarajevo. The cameraman was a Serbian known by his nickname, Bugar. Soon after, someone made 20 copies of the tape to give to members of the Scorpions. The commander of the unit, Slobodan Medic, ordered the tapes destroyed, but one copy survived and was hidden outside Serbia for years. Then in a trial of Scorpions in 2003, where they were accused of killing 19 ethnic Albanian civilians, one mentioned the existence of the videotape. Natasha Kandic, who heads Belgrade's Humanitarian Law Center, managed to track down the man with the tape. Kandic released it to Serbian prosecutors, The Hague tribunal, and Serb TV.

    Among those immediately arrested was Scorpion commander Slobodan Medic.

    Now, Kandic says, Serbia must arrest General Ratko Mladic, the Serb military commander wanted on charges of genocide for the Srebrenica massacre.
     
  2. mleahy999

    mleahy999 Member

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    Who are the good Serbs? We have bastards like Milosevic, Vlade Divac and Victor Drazen. That's bottom of the barrel.
     
  3. Ubiquitin

    Ubiquitin Contributing Member

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    Things like this should be remembered for many reasons. The highest being the atrocities committed. But Osama claims to be the defenders of Muslims, yet where was the Mujahadeen? Al-Qaeda? Qutb's groups? It pisses me off that these groups claim they are protectors and defenders while they allowed this to occur.
     
  4. AMS

    AMS Contributing Member

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    darfur, also falls into the same category as serbia.
     
  5. tigermission1

    tigermission1 Contributing Member

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    Actually, the war in Bosnia didn't turn towards the Bosnian's favor until thousands of "mujahadeen" went there and fought against the Serbs, as well as the millions of dollars that came from mainly the Gulf area to fund the Bosnian effort to defeat the Serbs. The Saudis were sending literally hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bosnians and sponsored volunteer fighters who took it upon themselves to defend their fellow Muslims. I was in Saudi when the conflict broke out.

    AS for Bin Laden, I am not so sure if he was as concerned about that conflict as he was busy during the time establishing his Al-Qaeda network and planning retaliation against the Saudis/Americans for refuting his request to fight against the IRaqis in the first Gulf War. But make no mistake about it: there were thousands of Muslims from all around the world who went to Bosnia (and secretely sponsored by various Arab/Muslim countries) to defend their brothers/sisters from the Serbian genocide.
     
  6. tigermission1

    tigermission1 Contributing Member

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    BTW, the main sponsers of those volunteer fighters that were sent into Bosnia were the Saudis (with their money and weaponry) and Iran/Turkey (with their weaponry more than w/their money), and it was only later on in the conflict when the Europeans (and our government) started paying attention to the conflict fearing that the Saudis would take this opportunity to establish a foothold in Bosnia, and create a radical ISlamist state in the midst of Europe.
     

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