PR Wars and Devastating Consequences
Hezbollah Using Bosnian Muslim Bag of Tricks
Will the same weapon that defeated the Serbs also defeat Israel?
They say that truth is always the first victim in war. Such is the case in the Israeli/Hezbollah war.
It appears that Hezbollah has taken a page out of the Bosnian Muslim playbook: Win the PR battle, and you win the war. What better example of media disinformation than the Bosnian War, where images of civilians “slaughtered” at Sarajevo's Markale market place, allegedly by Serb forces, were so instrumental? If it worked for the Bosnian Muslims, why not for Hezbollah? Will Qana, Lebanon, become Israel's Markale market place?
Sarajevo Market, Self-Inflicted Atrocity
Yossef Bodansky, author of Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America, wrote the following in his 1995 book Offensive in the Balkans:
Phase Three started with the self-inflicted major terrorist provocation. On Friday 5, 1994, a major explosion rocked the Markale -- Sarajevo's main market place -- causing heavy casualties. What was immediately described as the ubiquitous 'Serb mortar shell' was actually a special charge designed and built with help from HizbAllah experts and then most likely dropped from a nearby rooftop onto the crowd of shoppers. Video cameras at the ready recorded this expertly-staged spectacle of gore, while dozens of corpses of Bosnian Muslim troops killed in action (exchanged the day before in a 'body swap' with the Serbs) were paraded in front of cameras to raise the casualty counts.
This callous self-killing was designed to shock the West especially sentimental and gullible Washington, in order to raise the level of Western sympathy to the Bosnian Muslims and further demonize the Serbs so that Western governments would be more supportive of Sarajevo's forthcoming aggressive moves, and perhaps even finally intervene militarily.
Some headlines that Americans never saw were “Muslims 'slaughter their own people',” The [London] Independent, 22 Aug. 1992, and “Serbs 'not guilty' of massacre,” The Sunday [London] Times, 1 Oct. 1995.
“Dubrovnik Burning”, Croatian Hoax
In 1992, Peter Maher, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, visited Dubrovnik, Croatia, to see for himself the truth about the war. He wrote, “A few months earlier, the press was filled with stories that the Pearl of the Adriatic had been reduced to rubble. The stories were fakes.” Professor Maher goes on to explain just how it happened:
The dramatic ‘Dubrovnik burning’ pictures were shot with long lenses. . . .But the smoke was from the fuel tanks of two pleasure boats burning in the Old Harbor ... Dubrovnik's Old City never burned and was never even targeted by the federal forces.....The only building in the Old City of Ragusa to be gutted by explosives and fire was the library and treasure of the Serbian Orthodox church, which housed a priceless collection of medieval manuscripts and icons. It was not navy guns that did the damage, but plastic and incendiary devices planted on the spot by Croatian forces.
Muslim or Serbian Babies?
Who can forget the horrific pictures that were repeatedly shown on CNN of the two dead Muslim babies on a bus in Bosnia, allegedly killed by a Serb sniper? I would never have known the truth if I had not been watching France 2 TV, which showed the funeral of these innocent babies. Officiating was a Serbian Orthodox priest. These were not Muslim babies; they were Serbian babies, but for American consumption, the Serbian Orthodox priest was cropped from the film so that the American people would continue to believe that the babies were Muslim. This kind of reporting is not just yellow journalism. It goes beyond the pale, the same kind of “journalism” that Israel is experiencing today -- manipulation, distortion, staging, forgery and the doctoring of photos by anti-Israeli media. Welcome to the club!
Entire article by Stella Jatras, A War of Images
U.S. House of Representatives: Stability for the Balkans
As the United Nations tackles crises around the world from North Korea to the Middle East, it cannot ignore the Balkan region -- specifically the challenges facing Serbia. Seven years have passed since the U.N. took control of the Serbian province of Kosovo, and it will soon be time to make a permanent decision concerning its indeterminate status.
If the U.N. Security Council decides in favor of Kosovo's independence, it will have a far-reaching negative effect throughout the region. It will also affect the dialogue between Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq and may strengthen the hand of separatist movements around the world. Such a decision has serious global security concerns, and the United States should carefully consider how a U.N. decision in favor of Kosovar independence will affect countries like Russia, India and Indonesia, all struggling with minority ethnic populations that use terrorism to weaken democratically elected governments.
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Turning Majority into Minority
We must respect Serbia's territorial integrity as well as the cultural and historical links Kosovo has with Serbia. More importantly, we must recognize the ramifications of Kosovar independence. Anywhere in the world an ethnic or religious majority is turned into a minority, they can face violence and intimidation by a new majority seeking independence. By forcing Serbia to accept Kosovar independence, the U.N. may establish a precedent that can endanger important allies around the world. Radical independence movements that exploit religious minorities and employ terrorism to achieve political goals will be emboldened. These anti-Democratic, fundamentalist religious forces must be curtailed, not rewarded.
As President Tadic noted in a July 19 speech to the North Atlantic Council, “I am here to ask you to work with me and my country to be able to look ahead with certainty to a future in which your security and ours become synonymous. I believe we need each other and I believe that Serbia has a major contribution to make to this end.”
The United Nations can bring the affected parties together to construct a mutually acceptable agreement or force a decision upon Serbia that will not only affect that nation, but Serbia's integration into Europe, the Balkans, and our allies around the world. It is a process the U.S. will be watching.
Dan Burton of Indiana and Joe Wilson of South Carolina are Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives' International Relations Committee.
Entire Commentary by Dan Burton and Joe Wilson, Stability for the Balkans
Cartoon by Blatnik