BY OCTOBER 27 NEARLY 4 MONTHS HAD PASSED SINCE THIS SUPPOSED MASSACRE OF 8000 MEN AND BOYS WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY BY THE SERBS IN THE TOWN OF SREBRENICA…
NOTE THE DATE, IT IS OCTOBER 27 1995 AND THE US STATE DEPARTMENT IS NOT TALKING ABOUT 8000 MEN AND BOYS BEING EXECUTED, ONLY 1000 HERE, AND NOTE ALSO THAT BURNS OFFERS NO EVIDENCE, ONLY HEARSAY—
Nick Burns:
“We believe that several hundred — and perhaps as many as 1,000 or more — men and boys were separated from the refugees by the Bosnian Serb military forces. These are Muslim and Croatian [sic] men and boys. We don’t know what happened to them…
Federal News Service. OCTOBER 27, 1995 , FRIDAY.
FOREIGN PRESS CENTER BRIEFING.
BRIEFER: STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN NICK BURNS
SUBJECT: BOSNIA PEACE TALKS
MODERATOR: JAKE GILLESPIE. FOREIGN PRESS CENTER
SECTION: STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING
MR. GILLESPIE: Welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. My name is Jake Gillespie. We are very happy today to have State Department Spokesman Nick Burns with us again…..
MR. BURNS: Thank you, Jake. Nice to be here…
The Bosnian Serb offensive in eastern Bosnia that threatened to overrun all of the enclaves in eastern Bosnia and that did, unfortunately, overrun Srebrenica and Zepa was stopped in August.It was stopped because the Western community of nations let the Bosnian Serbs know that any further military offensive or offensives would be met with a decisive show of military force, and you saw that happen in the first two weeks of September when NATO unleashed its considerable air power against the Bosnian Serbs.
It stopped because the Croatian government was successful in its own military offensive in the Krajina region in August. And it has now finally stopped and there is a cease-fire in place pretty much throughout Bosnia-Hercegovina today because the United States and our partners were able to negotiate a series of agreements, cease-fire agreement in Sarajevo, and now the agreement that has led to the Dayton peace conference. Optimistic in that sense…
We believe that several hundred — and perhaps as many as 1,000 or more — men and boys were separated from the refugees by the Bosnian Serb military forces. These are Muslim and Croatian men and boys. We don’t know what happened to them, but there are consistent reports — from the refugees in Zenica — of executions, of beatings, of torture, and of forced labor by the Bosnian Serb authorities, military authorities, and by paramilitary organizations, some of which are led by the notorious criminal Arkan. This is a very serious development.
4international 