4) (original) (raw)
URL for this article is www.emperors-clothes.com/letters/reply.htm
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Reply on Srebrenica, sent to Prof. Jovanovic who forwarded it to David Rohde
Dear Prof. Jovanovic,
In the note from David Rohde, he said:
"......Prof. Jovanovic: As I've said, I'd be happy to discuss Srebrenica with you. The story you sent had several inaccuracies. The wires may have failed to report it, but there has been extensive forensic testimony by prosecution witnesses about the 1,800 bodies that have been found. See the items that follow. The Tribunal has also not recessed for the summer. The Krstic trial resumed this Monday and continues. David............."
This is an illuminating response to the Emperors-clothes article coming from David Rohde, a true Srebrenica careerist.
First, the point of our article was: why has there been "extensive forensic testimony by prosecution witnesses about the 1,800 bodies that have been found " and yet nothing written in the US media? The ICTY [the so-called War Crimes Tribunal] has also not itself published the full forensic reports. Rohde does not address these crucial concerns; rather he tries to dismiss the article in trivial fashion.
He mentions "inaccuracies" but cites none. I have no idea where he got the notion that we said the "Tribunal had...recessed for the summer" since we said no such thing. We simply stated the Tribunal had adjourned as per the Tribunal's own press release (which we included and which itself mentions the Tribune would be back in operation on June 23...). Did Mr. Rohde not read what we wrote? Or has his schooling in the new journalism trained him to refute statements that were never made?
It is true that the emperors-clothes article refers to 1,668 bodies allegedly found though the IWPR talks about 1,883 bodies. The 1,668 number comes from a wire story discussing the prior week's testimony. There is no reason, of course, to believe that either of these numbers is accurate. David Rohde should know this; after all he was an early promoter of the "8,000 massacred" claim, now apparently discredited. It would help with the numbers game if the forensic reports were published, though of course the reports could themselves be doctored...but publishing them would be a step.
Our Lexis-Nexis search didn't find one article on the forensic testimony in question; it still does not. Rohde "refutes" this statement by naming one article, that from the IWPR, a small pro-NATO agit-prop group funded by Soros et al. But come on, Mr. Rohde; you don't work for a struggling Website like Emperors-Clothes. You work for the big bad corporate media. You are Mr. Srebrenica. How come you didn't YOURSELF write anything about a full week of detailed scientific testimony on Srebrenica, the single most important event in your journalistic career?
The IWPR article is illuminating because it supports our contention that the bodies found are more than likely (some) of the 3,200 civilians murdered by Nasir Oric's terrorist Islamist troops and paramilitaries between 1992 and 1995. The existence of so many skeletons suggests the bodies were buried more than 2-3 years prior to discovery. If the bodies had been buried after the July 1995 events, would they have had enough time to completely decompose? But if they were killed and buried in 1993 and examined 6 years later...a bit more likely, eh?
In addition, the ICTY testimony indicates some bodies were found in villages where Nasir Oric is known to have massacred civilians. The crux of the matter is, ultimately: on the one hand the War Party, represented by David Rohde, claims Gen. Mladic's 2,000 soldiers killed some 7-8,000 of Nasir Oric's brutes either after or immediately prior to their surrender. (This by the way would put them in a junior league compared with what Clinton's Drug Czar did to probably a much larger number of surrendering Iraqi soldiers, according to Seymour Hirsch...and of course the Iraqi's had not been massacring American women and children for three years...) On the other hand; many people believe Nasir Oric murdered some 3,200 civilians over a 3 year period. Both sides have "eyewitness testimony."
Aside from the fact that Nasir ORic himself confessed (or, should I say, boasted about) these crimes, "Eyewitness testimony" is suspect especially when offered toi support forces (such as NATO) which have most of the world's military/economic strength at their disposal. Eyewitness testimony has been discredited a number of times at the ICTY. A son testified that he personally witnessed his neighbors slash his father's throat leaving him to bleed to death.......yet the father turns out to be alive and well. The son had merely been coached by the (unelected) Izetbegovic regime to testify to his father's murder. The ICTY kept a file on "Gruban" the notorious war criminal whose evil role was discovered by Roy Guttman. Only it turned out Roy was taken for the fool he is. "Gruban" is a fictional character from a well known Yugoslav book. Meanwhile, the ICTY grimly entertains the world with secret testimony from characters named "L" who may exist or may be borrowed from Kafka.
In order to discover exactly what happened at Srebrenica, we can't rely on hearsay and secret hearsay evidence, lurid tales and the like. We need to deal with facts. What about all the murdered Islamist soldiers whose names turn up later on voter lists? What about the satellite photos that disappeared? Why has there not been full disclosure of forensic reports? This disclosure would be only a start - it would need to be followed by full examination of the reports and the remains themselves by neutral forensic experts. We know, we know, this smacks of Due Process, a subversive notion.
Are these allegedly discovered remains the bodies of civilians murdered by Nasir Oric or of Soldiers who had just surrendered? So far the only hard evidence is the video which Oric displayed, the video of civilians his troops had beheaded.
Why hasn't Rohde himself demanded full disclosure of the reports? After all his entire career is based on his "discovery" of Srebrenica. Odd, eh? Is there some stink here even greater than that of death?
Jared Israel and Max Sinclair