Bosnian War

* Continuing to describe the Bosnian situation as a civil war that started in April, 1992, does a disservice to its victims and to readers who are struggling to make sense of this senseless slaughter. This war began more than two years ago as an old-fashioned war of territorial expansion.

On June 27, 1991, the Serbian-controlled Yugoslav army, 180,000-strong, equipped with tanks, jet fighters, helicopter gunships and heavy artillery attacked not Croatia or Bosnia but Slovenia, a country with a Serb population of nearly zero. Simultaneously armed Serb agitators in Croatia launched attacks against Croat police forces and civilian targets while announcing their intent to join forces with the Serb elements in Bosnia.

Slobodan Milosevic, dictator of Serbia, is generally agreed to be the mastermind behind this long-planned, coldly calculated attempt to expand his hard-line communist regime at the expense of those who would stand in his way, such as the majority of citizens who voted for freedom and democracy in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia.

Today, on the eve of what may be one of the most dishonorable peace agreements in Western history, it seems fitting that we at least acknowledge the truth of this tragedy. Yes, the sparks of ethnic hatreds have been fanned to bonfire fury by those who will benefit. But let’s call a spade a spade. This is as brutal as an “old world order” war of aggression gets when “new world order” leaders forget that democratic leadership cannot exist in the absence of courage and compassion for all peoples seeking freedom. It can never mean that we are entitled to stand by as human beings are systematically starved and slaughtered by the soldiers and artillery of Europe’s fourth largest army.

DREW RENNER

Newport Beach