Iranian Arms Shipments to Bosnia
Radovan Karadzic, “warlord” leader of the Bosnian Serbs, justifies pogroms against Muslims by citing an unsubstantiated fear that Muslims plan to dominate the Balkans (“We Will Never Again Be History’s Fools,” Commentary, Aug. 30). On the contrary, Serbian domination has led to the illegal detention of more than 130,000 Bosnians in concentration camps, according to the Red Crescent.
Karadzic has only speculated on the motives of Bosnian Muslims. This conspiracy theory against Muslims strikes a similar chord of other historical tragedies: Hitler’s conspiracy theory about Jews controlling the world led to the Holocaust; South Africa’s fear of black domination resulted in apartheid; and the conspiracy theory of Asian-Americans siding with Japan resulted in World War II detention camps.
The source of the crisis is Serbian hegemony in its campaign of “ethnic cleansing.” The political will to close all concentration camps is conspicuously missing in the Bush Administration’s foreign policy. Those of us in the West who are not acting to stop the killing in Bosnia-Herzegovina have abandoned our own principles of restoring human rights, defending democracy, and protecting the sacredness of life.
SALAM AL-MARAYATI
Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council
Los Angeles
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