THREAD: Last night I had the unpleasant sight of witnessing one of the key obstacles to progress in Bosnia. Unfortunatley that obstacle is the cohort of fanatical SDA supporters who are violently intolerant to criticism of Alija Izetbegovic, his son Bakir and anybody linked...

... to them. They simply cannot accept that Alija made many errors during his time as president of BiH during the war.

Most of the replies I received from such individuals were nothing more than patronising immature ad hominem attacks and insults that had absolutely nothing...

... to do with my criticism of AI for signing the Dayton Accords that effectively rewarded VRS genocidiares 1/2 of BiH. The other, more subtle, replies to me brought up some interesting points, but they were largely based on myths that contradicted their own claims; ...

... with the former, I felt like I was debating with PewDiePie fans(!) Anyway, I'm using this thread to explain why I think AI and some of his henchmen are the biggest traitors that Bosnia has ever seen, right up there with Fikret Abdic, Emir Kusturica and Dzevad Galijasevic.

1) In the months before the genocide at Srebrenica, Naser Oric, who had been defending the town from VRS attacks since 1992, was ordered by AI to withdraw his 15,000 men from the Sreb. and Bratunac area, leaving civilians defenceless amid the Chetnik onslaught. The same...

... thing happened in Zepa, whose ARBiH forces had bravely and successfully defended the area and sustained heavy losses in the process.

Could you imagine how well the area could've been defended had the 15,000 soldiers remained there? The events of July 1995 wouldn't...

... have happened for sure. These places weren't, of course, free from atrocity; 1000s of civilians were slaughtered in Gorazde, Visegrad, Foca, Sreb and Zepa for the duration of the war. ARBiH forces had fought and died defending and reclaiming these conquered places.....

The plan to withdraw, of course, was masterminded by British, French and US politicians and UNPROFOR officials who adopted a pro-Serb orientation and wanted Izetbegovic to comply. HOWEVER - was Izetbegovic forced to do so under duress??

No - he could've refused; knowing he...

... had 15,000 men at his command, he could've used them as a pretext to stand up to unjust UN demands. Instead, he blindly and passively accepted them, leaving 8,000 civilians to their fate. He behaved not like a firm statesman and patriot, but a pathetic yes-man.

2) I received the claim that AI "had no choice" to sign the agreement or ARBiH would face NATO bombardment. This is a myth that desperately needs busting. While it is true that Holbrooke threatened military action against ARBiH if they didn't comply, this wasn't taken...

... seriously, not even by US officials or Clinton himself. Majority of US popular opinion was very pro-BiH and so much of the Senate, especially, Clinton's election rival Bob Dole, who fiercely criticized Clinton for his lack of support for BiH. Clinton didn't want Bosnia...

... to be on the agenda anymore. Bombing the long-suffering ARBiH would've seen his public support plummet and subsequently lose the pres. election. To claim that AI was signed the Dayton Accords because of unserious threats of bombing just makes him sound yet again like...

... a pathetically weak and naive coward rather than a shrewd and assertive statesman.

3) AI and several members of SDA showed no sense of preparedness or leadership when the genocide had begun in Apr1992, as exemplified by Alija Delimustafic. AD employed Bosnian police to defend JNA convoys in 1991 en route to attack Croatia and other collaborations with...

... Serb nationalists in 1991. By Dec 1991, he was even disarming Patriotic League forces to appease the Serb-dominated JNA out of fear of "causing war," despite Karadzic openly being well and ready for war. AI did something worse - he stupidly believed that, in May 1992,...

... the genocide-perpetrating JNA were still neutral and "shouldn't be provoked." This lack of resistance contributed greatly to Serbian forces ethnically cleansing Eastern Bosnia so quickly.

For more info. read pp. 43-50 of 'How Bosnia Armed' by the brilliant @markoah...

4) As the war progressed, AI made moves that alienated many moderate Serbs/Croats from fighting for Bosnia (though not necessarily siding with the Chetnik/Ustasha cause.) ARBiH became his own SDA army that removed leaders who defied him and the party like Stjepan Siber...

... and tried to make it an exclusively Muslim-Bosniak-SDA militia. Furthermore, the creation of the 7th Muslim Brigade was poorly conceived and, tragically, photos of which are now gifts to chetnik/ustasha propagandists.

These decisions weren't necessary, especially when...

... many non-SDA ARBiH members had fought effectively against aggression.

For more info. please read Chapter 4 of "How Bosnia Armed"

5) Finally, like Clinton, Izetbegovic wanted the war to be over ASAP so he could solidify his own interests. The Bosnian govt. received a lot of financial aid from various countries during the war (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia) and AI was ready to embezzle most of it...

... It's why his verminous parasite of a son Bakir his family are so wealthy, corrupt and do everything they can to screw the country over to increase their wealth and abuse of power. All this was guaranteed for AI, so he signed the Dayton Accords to ensure it without inquest.

ANYWAY, my long rant is over. There are more reasons for why Izetbegovic stabbed his people in the back, but if I did I'd end up writing an essay that I would demand payment for.

If SDA fanatics aren't willing to accept criticism of Izetbegovic, Bosnia is doomed to dysfunction.