The
book “Tested Mettle” by Scott Taylor and Brian Nolan1
and the citation awarded to the Canadian soldiers in late
2002 for the alleged battle they waged against the Croatian
army in September, 19932 in the Medak Pocket (“the biggest
battle Canadians have fought since the Korean War”3, but
also the “battle” the Croatian Ministry of Defense officially
denied4), provided me with the incentive to research what
preceded the Croatian army’s action in the vicinity of
three Lika villages (Divoselo, Počitelj and Lički Čitluk)5,
that like an elongated “pocket” starting at Medak6 (hereafter
the Medak Pocket) wedged into Croatian defense lines south
of Gospić; what happened during and after the military
action. The Medak Pocket in the eyes of the world and
in Croatian public opinion has since became synonymous
with a Croatian crime and everything connected to the
action in Croatian public opinion has gained repulsive
and almost forbidden connotations. Therefore I asked myself
whether we know everything about that military and historic
event, and whether the conclusions drawn are complete
and trustworthy.
That
generally accepted evaluation of the event, with all the
consequences it bore for the Croatian army and the nation,
that finalized historical truth, is what has drawn me
to do this research. It is common knowledge among those
who lived through the Croatian Homeland war that for two
years that “pocket” occupied by rebel Serbs, volunteers
and remnants of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) threatened
to occupy Gospić by crossing the Velebit7 Mountains and
thus cutting Croatia in two. The Serbs would, if that
was achieved, reach the Virovitica-Karlovac-Karlobag8
line and thus accomplished the “Greater Serbia”9 project,
they would occupy most of the Croatian territory and therefore
they would defeat the very idea of an independent Croatia
and bring it to its knees. As the Croatian army’s military
action in Masleničko Ždrilo10 connected Croatia’s southern
region with the rest of Croatia, the limited military
and police of the Medak Pocket operation prevented Croatia’s
amputation and defeat. It further made public Croatia’s
resolution to achieve its goal – using the combination
of diplomatic and military means – the liberation and
full sovereignty over its whole territory, its democratization
and integration into the European Union and democratic
world. Unfortunately, as in all wars, even the most carefully
planned and lead actions can go astray and finish with
serious consequences. That happened with this military
operation: those unwanted and impermissible acts – crimes
– have given the whole action negative connotations. In
this case study, we will try to separate good from evil,
without denying the evil, and give the facts their real
place and meaning. In this case study we have meticulously
researched everything that happened: during that military
action, immediately following it, and all of the consequences
it caused. In our opinion what was important for Croatia
was not simply that the country was to be cut in half11,
but that action’s importance is best described in the
“Tested Mettle” statement that: “the Medak Pocket was
that breaking point in which, without any doubt, Croatian
guilt for crime and ethnic cleansing was proved, and the
equal war crime responsibilities both of the Serbs and
the Croats was shown.”12 This interpretation of the Medak
Pocket events has questioned the Croatian state’s sovereignty,
war crimes interpreted as Croatian state policy, and the
International Community has got a long search proof to
explain its own interpretation of wars in the former Yugoslavia,
its own inefficiency, biasness, and the realization of
its geopolitical interests.13
So
Croatia went from being a victim to a culprit for the
dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and for the war because
of its alleged committed crimes. The punishment followed
– political pressures, the path to European integration
was slowed down, difficulties in transition (economic
and civil society developments) and – the tribunal in
the Hague. After the Medak Pocket operation, the International
Community has accepted the interpretation of wars in the
former Yugoslavia as civil wars14, “centuries long tribal
warfare of Balkan tribes”15 and has devised “the equal
responsibility of all factions for waging that war”16.
This unjustly turned Croats from victims into equal and
responsible participants of the civil war17 because of
the material evidence and cataloging done by Canadians
UNCIVPOL and the foreign press.18 The Medak Pocket and
not Ahmići or the Croat – Muslim conflict became that
breaking point after which western public opinion shifted
from Croatia and started considering it equal to its aggressor
- Serbia19. The Medak Pocket was that milestone. After
that operation, the world had changed its attitude towards
the Republic of Croatia. The crimes committed during that
military-police action are unforgivable and the responsible
perpetrators should be brought to justice. Croatia, its
political and military leadership, has not, according
to the facts, planned and committed these crimes, and
therefore should not bare its consequences.
That
change in world public opinion was the visible damage;
these were the consequences of the Medak Pocket operation.
Although there were some gains achieved by it too. The
balance of power was changed. From that point on, the
Serb rebels, the army of the so-called fictitious “Republika
Srpska,” posed less of a threat to Croatia. Thanks to
the Croatian government’s decisive military, political
and diplomatic activity, which defended Croatia’s national
interests, sometimes diametrically opposite to the European
Union political interests (an important chapter of this
study is dedicated to the steadfast struggle of the Croatian
Republic through UN bodies, and step-by-step gains of
those parts of its sovereignty which Serb rebels denied,
and the international community, through its ineffectiveness,
helped)20, Croatia has against all the odds defended its
independence and reached its full sovereignty. The perception
of the Republic of Croatia as an aggressor, based on a
single excess and crime, has made its diplomatic struggle
more difficult. This also prolonged the war to the moment
of a decisive (political and military) American entrance
into the theatre in order to solve the problem of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, that included Croatia as well. The Croatian
and Bosnian army victories in 1994 and 1995 and American
pressure led to Dayton21 and the end of the war, but did
not change Serb ideology and politics. The pragmatic international
community’s politics towards Serbian President Milošević,
its unacceptance of the true nature of his regime, the
Greater Serbian ideology, balancing the responsibility
for starting the war, has led to another war and the genocide
in Kosovo22, NATO air strikes on Serbia23 and the final
downfall of Milošević24. The present day trial of Milošević
in the Hague, has allowed many witnesses to reveal to
the world what nations attacked by the Serbian army endured.
It has also proven that from the very beginning of the
bloody conflict, the international community avoided recognizing
who had been the initiator of the wars in the former Yugoslavia25.
Today all truth-seeking individuals know that the Serbian
nationalistic idea was the initiator of the aggression
and bares the responsibility for the majority of crimes
committed in the former Yugoslavia26. Those facts make
no amends of responsibility and the guilt perpetrators
who committed the rest of the crimes. Those individuals
that committed the crimes in the Medak Pocket, for instance.
The truth about who the aggressors and who the victims
were should not be unknown anymore. From this general
truth all other truths about the unfortunate war in the
former Yugoslavia should be derived. All the unbiased
research and analyzing done by independent historians
should be attributed to this fact – like the recently
published book by American military historian Dr. Charles
Reginald Shrader’s which deals with the conflict between
Croats and Bosnians/Muslims in Central Bosnia. Using hard
military logic he sheds quite a different light on the
clashes in Central Bosnia (different from the widely accepted
opinion and the Hague Tribunal’s indictments). The thesis
that what happened in Central Bosnia was the aggression
of Croats and Croatia done on Bosnians/Muslims27. Shrader
proves that military crimes happened because of military
necessity – by the force of war. The cover-ups and the
fact that no-one was prosecuted is interpreted by that
need, the need to preserve the Croatian community in the
Lašva Valley, to which a real threat of physical annihilation
loomed if the war had been lost28. All documents should
be studied, all facts gathered, all the differences and
the double meanings should be revealed, all the mystifications
and all the conflicting interests should be unmasked.
All
the questions should be asked and the answers given should
reveal the historical truth.
All
the known facts should be put into a historical context
in order to understand the causes and the consequences
of particular interests.
It
is not up to us to find and put to trial all war criminals,
it is up to the ICTY in the Hague. But we must pose some
questions and ask them to be answered even if the answers
are embarrassing for the “Croatian side” which we belong
to.
The
indictments of general Rahim Ademi29, and of the late
general Janko Bobetko30, the wide implications those indictments
have for the Homeland war and the creation of the Croatian
state, together with the Croatian public’s reaction, are
additional causes for the intent to unbiasly and truthfully
research the Medak Pocket circumstances, to shed light
on the motives for actions undertaken in that operation
in order to come as close to the truth as possible.
A
span of ten years from when the events that took place
in the Medak Pocket should be enough time to find the
historical truth which would be based on scientific facts,
objective questioning, on documents and witness reports,
therefore without bias and without passion (sine ira et
studio).
There
are many questions that should be asked and answered.
Some answers we’ll get immediately, and for some we have
to wait. Part of the documents became public; the Croatian
Ministry of Defense declassified those concerning the
Medak Pocket. Some of the documents are yet to be acquired
– for instance the Medak Pocket military operation analysis
done by American military attaché Colonel Richard Herrick31.
That analysis, according to General Bobetko, spoke of
an “exemplary military operation”. From what General Bobetko
quoted as a part of a conversation that took place in
his office, Colonel Herrick proved to be impartial in
his analysis. “Our embassy has been worried by incorrect
statements and we’re interested in the results of the
inquiry. We’re not going to protect anybody; we are only
interested in the truth.”32
NATO
documents should be studied, Serbian sources should be
looked into, and also data provided by Canadian and French
troops, intelligence services, and the CIA’s history of
war in the former Yugoslavia. Part of these documents
should be possible to analyze no sooner than the ICTY
finishes its proceedings in indicting all the suspected
war criminals and consequently after it opens its archives.
The
indictment process and the utmost care with which some
of the participants and witnesses and possible indictees
are protected is still making the difficult path to the
truth as far as the Medak Pocket is concerned.
We
hope that our case study will feed many a historian –
researcher’s curiosity making them more thorough, impartial,
and accurate when researching other key historical data
in Croatia’s recent history: like Vukovar33, the role
of the JNA in the wars in the former Yugoslavia34, the
liberation of Croatia’s south (Dubrovnik)35, the destruction
of the Old Bridge in Mostar36, Ahmići and Stupni Dol37,
“Bljesak”38 and “Oluja”39, or the Croatian army’s part
in the Bosnia and Herzegovina operations (Bosanska Posavina,
Srednja Bosna) and alleged Republic of Croatia interference
into the Bosnia and Herzegovina war, or even the Croatian
“aggression” on that country40. Dr. Shrader, an independent
and impartial military historian had said something about
it in his aforementioned book.
One
important aspect of our case study should be pointed out
– the influence of some countries on the sequence of events
and the dissolvement of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
Great powers have realized those influences using UN military
contingents, using particular services, secret services
as CIA, MI, MI5, MI6, SFB, SISMI, BND, DB and other special
forces such as SAS, SBS, Special Forces, Delta, YFT41,
various humanitarian organizations42. Great powers have
also allowed the so-called “mercenaries” to participate
in the crimes of war43. They had their undetected and
detected sympathies – graces, and distributed help – mostly
to one of the warring sides – Milošević and the Serbs.
The mentioned secret forces were those building blocks
that spinned and promoted often different and diametrically
opposite policy of the European Union, in the theatre
of southeast Europe44 and especially in Croatia.
