The Little Brown Reader

Officers Say Bosnian Massacre Was Deliberate

Officers Say Bosnian Massacre Was Deliberate

By MARLISE SIMONS
La Liberation via NY Times
Sunday 12 October 2003

THE HAGUE, Oct. 8 -- Eight years after the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnians, doubts have lingered about the degree to which the killings were coldly planned, or were improvised in chaos.

Most of those killed were unarmed prisoners, boys and men, shot in groups, or sometimes one by one.

Among the executioners, only a few foot soldiers have talked about the events that turned Srebrenica -- its name means the "place of silver" -- into a symbol of a modern European nightmare. No architect of the crime has ever explained in public what was in the killers' minds, or what made them believe that the murderous frenzy was acceptable to their own society and to their leaders.

But now, two senior Bosnian Serb officers, both crucial figures involved in organizing the bloodshed at Srebrenica, have spoken out at the war crimes tribunal here, describing the countdown to the massacre and depicting a well-planned and deliberate killing operation. They say it was largely coordinated by the military security and intelligence branch of the Bosnian Serb Army and militarized police, forces that were on Serbia's payroll.

The two, an intelligence chief and a brigade commander, recently pleaded guilty to crimes against humanity and have now given evidence against two fellow officers.

They provided so many names, firsthand accounts, documents and even a military log of the crucial days, that one court official blurted, "They've practically written the judgment."

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