BALKANS CRISIS DEEPENS
U.S. soldiers kill Bosnian Serb leader
By Gary
Wilson
Krsto Micic, vice president of the Bosnian Serb Radical
Party, was one of the thousands of protesters across the
Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) March 5.
By the end of the day, he'd been gunned down in cold blood
by U.S. soldiers who occupy his hometown of Ugljevik, northeast
of Tuzla. The U.S. military claimed that the angry Micic, who
carried no gun, was too threatening and the shooting was
justified.
Almost 7,000 U.S. troops are part of a 32,000-strong
U.S.-commanded NATO occupation force, a legacy of the 1995
Dayton Accords imposed on Yugoslavia after the biggest air
bombing campaign in Europe since World War II. More than 4,000
U.S.-NATO bombing runs were carried out, all against the
Serbian civilian population of Bosnia.
The Pentagon's justification for killing Krsto Micic March 5
is in many ways similar to the New York Police Department's
justification for killing Amadou Diallo. Diallo's lawyers
revealed March 7 that immediately after the killing the New
York police attempted to spread lies about Diallo in order to
create a justification for the killing. The Pentagon has taken
a similar tactic in this killing.
Angry protests across the Bosnian Serb Republic are
continuing. The protests began when a ruling was handed down by
a U.S. official, Robert Owen, declaring that the city of Brcko
would be broken off from the republic. The decision effectively
splits the Bosnian Serb Republic in two and further isolates
the Serbian population.
At the same time, the head overseer of the U.S.-led military
occupation of Bosnia decided to "fire" the Bosnian Serb
president, Nikola Poplasen.
The parliament of the Bosnian Serb Republic voted 57-15 that
the removal of Poplasen was unconstitutional and "therefore not
accepted."
Poplasen was "fired" for refusing to act as a puppet for the
Western occupiers. The immediate dispute was over the status of
Milorad Dodik, a Bosnian Serb the U.S. has decided to name
prime minister of the Bosnian Serb Republic. Poplasen refused
to declare his support for Dodik.
The "firing" of Poplasen was so outrageous that even Dodik
said he opposed it. He also opposes the decision on Brcko.
Dodik said he will resign as prime minister, even though Carlos
Westendorp, the official who "fired" Poplasen, declared that he
can't resign. Westendorp then pompously declared that the
Bosnian Serb President Poplasen "has to go." He growled that
otherwise "international forces" will remove him.
The Bosnian Serb parliament also voted 62-16 to halt all
government work until the decision on Brcko is reversed.
At a March 7 rally in the capital city of Banja Luka, a top
Serb official demanded that the NATO military occupiers leave
immediately. Their safety cannot be assured, he said.
The Bosnian Serb Radical Party issued a statement calling on
residents to "rise up against fascism." It condemned the
"bloodthirsty American criminals and terrorists" who'd shot
Micic. The statement said that "American bandits" will "pay
dearly for murdering Micic."
The U.S. strategy for domination of the Balkans appears to
be in a crisis. The UPI news agency quotes Bosnian officials
saying that the Dayton agreement now lies in ruins.
At the same time, the U.S.-imposed plan for Kosovo appears
to be faltering. With threats of NATO air strikes on the
Yugoslav capital of Belgrade, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright--with the support of the British and French
governments--attempted to negotiate an agreement for a NATO
military occupation of Kosovo.
The big imperialist powers were attempting to dictate a
breakup and occupation of Yugoslavia that would effectively
leave it economically fractured. It would be the final
subjugation of the Balkans to the big imperialist powers. It's
notable, however, that the German imperialists were not
represented at the negotiating table.
The Albright plan reportedly does not include an assurance
that Kosovo would be made an "independent" state. The so-called
Kosovo Liberation Army, which has U.S. backing and U.S.
military trainers, has so far refused to endorse the Albright
plan. The U.S. government even brought in former Sen. Robert
Dole, who receives a salary as a lobbyist for the so-called
"Kosovo government in exile," to put the squeeze on the KLA
leaders to sign the U.S. plan.
However, the KLA also gets backing from Germany. In fact,
its origins may have been in Germany. The New York Times once
reported that the first language of the KLA is German.
The March 8 Irish Times reported that the KLA is openly
split on the Albright plan. The opposition to it comes from
"powerful KLA leaders based in Germany," the newspaper
reported. They are insisting that any agreement "must include
the promise of independence." This is the kind of independence
that would leave Kosovo a dependency of Germany.
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