Did we make a mistake when we attacked Yugoslavia?

Question

I was told by a Serb in 1998 that we would have the same problem with the radical muslims as they did. He stated that the muslims were killing the Serbs because they would not convert to muslim. According to him they had no choice to kill them, however when Macedonia was faced with the same problem we (USA) turned our heads and let it happen. He pleaded to me that eventually we would have the radical muslim problem. Can any one clarify if any of this is true? I am a patriot.

We all can agree that war is a very unfortunate thing. I realize there is a need for war from time to time and here and now is one of them. If wanted to know if the recent wars were politically driven I would of asked how to trace the money. I also know that some people decide to forget 911. I should of asked this directly not as a political question… Is it true that Macedonia had the same trouble with the muslims that Yugoslavia and Montenegro did?

Answer 1

One thing for sure is the other responses look like propaganda. If you want to know for sure you will have to wait 50 years and the classified in-tel will be available.

Answer 2

Winners write the history!
Without going to the origin of the problem, as to who did what and when and why and whether the serbs were the good guys or the bad guys. it is irrelevant. what is important is this:
Yes, it was a mistake. Innocent people died.
Innocenent people died in Kosovo too, since NATO forces attacked Serbia as a result of the Kosovo war. Therefore, all military solution to problems may be avoided. Just calculate how much money has been spent since then:
- war costs on both sides,
- reconstruction,
- impoverished countries and economies - need for donors' money
- heavy international presence in Kosovo for the past 10 years (they all get paid, rather well)
- innocent victims (can somebody turn that into money??)
etc etc
If half of that was spent to improve on their standards of life - Serbs and Kosovars would have been best friends and among the fastest growing economies in the world.

Answer 3

As a former (and politically powerless) diplomat, I oppose all interventions that do not directly support US interests.

I understood Reagan's invasion of Granada as a way to deflect his failure in Lebanon, but I thought it absurd.

I actually knew the lady (a very nice girl) who let Saddam Husein believe, in impeccable Arabic, that we would not much mind his invasion of Kuwait.

I also opposed Clinton's invasion of the made-up state of Jugoslavia. I knew about the way that Serbs and Croats (I did not then know about Slovenians) hated each other, and I did not think anything could be done about it, much less through a US intervention.

All this pales, however, against the totally unmotivated (unless you're an Israeli) invasion of Iraq, which is likely to cost us three trillion-- mind the word -- Chinese dollars.

Answer 4

Serbs, Croats Bosnians, Albanians have all been slaughtering each other since....well, let's say 1400.

Only times when they weren't killing each other in recorded history is when Tito ran the show with an iron hand or since the USA/NATO forces have told everyone STOP IT RIGHT NOW OR WE'LL KILL YOU!

A mistake? no Srebenicias since the US, British and ( irony of irony) German Armies have been patrolling..... with authorization to shoot.

But let me put in something from 4 years ago, from someone who knows WAY more about it than any of us in the West:

By Bajram Rexhepi
Wednesday, March 19, 2003;
There are moments in history when the world is confronted with an age-old question: Do you stand united in the face of evil, or do you close your eyes and hope for the best?

A cruel and cowardly dictator has used his military and security forces to brutalize civilians. He has flouted every international convention and norm relating to the protection of human life and liberty. He has played on the good intentions and patience of the international community to buy time while his reign of terror prevails across the land.

He has played the international community for fools.

We in Kosovo know something about facing evil, because that dictator was Slobodan Milosevic, and we were his victims.

For 10 years our people faced the brutality of his police state. Villages were burned, women and children were killed, and all the while the dictator was given one chance after another by the international community to reform his ways. While they talked, our villages burned.

The U.N. Security Council could not agree on what to do. But our voice was heard, and under the leadership of the United States, a coalition of the forces of freedom confronted the dictator with an ultimatum. This coalition acted with the courage of its convictions, backed up by the promise of the use of force in the defense of human rights.

In our hour of need, the United States, Britain and the rest of the coalition took on the dictator and liberated a nation.

We Kosovars know firsthand that peace is not simply the absence of war.
Dictators will use the goodwill of the international community to buy
time while they continue to crush the people under their control.
Wherever men are denied freedom, there is a threat to peace. Whenever we leave them in bondage, there is a threat to our own dignity. Whenever we fail to act in the face of evil, a shadow is cast across the future of humanity.

Today the world is faced with the age-old question: Do we stand united in the face of evil, or do we close our eyes and hope for the best? We Kosovars stand with the forces of freedom. We know that when confronting evil, there is no compromise.

And so, in the coming conflict with Saddam Hussein, we stand with you, America. We are here to tell you that your sacrifices for the cause of human freedom are remembered. We are here to bear witness to the fact that the day of the dictator is over -- and that peace can be ensured only when all are free.

The writer is prime minister of the coalition government of Kosovo.

Answer 5

I am from Slovenia country that Serbs attacked in 1991. Don't belive Serb anything they are all the same. Serbs wanna have BIG SERBIA or VELIKA SRBIJA. They didn't fight against muslum they were under muslims. We Slovenia and Croatia were fighting agains them.
They produced radical Muslim as they produced radical Slovenians. I lived in Yugoslavia, in country runed by Serbs. We Slovenians have our own language by Serbs baned that and we needed to speak Serbian. When we Slovenia and Croatia become independent Serbians armed forces attacked us. Slovenia came out in 9 days thanks to EU. Croatia was fighting them for 4 years. Serbs had killed tousands of Christians and Muslims. They had, first time after WW2, concentraton camps in Niš.
If you need info about Serbs contact me.
My grand-grandfather was fighting Muslim on Serbs ground. There is street named after him in Beograd the capital of Serbia.
Don't belive them see for your self what they did to Croatian people in Vukovar, Knin, Zadar, Dubrovnik.They attacked Zagreb with bombs killing hundreds of civilians.
150.000 Muslims were killed in Srebrenica, Bosnia.
Remember that no Serb was killed in Serbia during 1991 and 1995. They attacked Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia.

Answer 6

i dont know. history bores me. but i have friends in America from Yugoslavia and Croatia and African Muslim, and etc. so, who cares and move on. it is all politics and politics is trash filled with greed and corruption.