April 16, 2002 is a day that will forever be marked in history as the first time an entire government resigned as an act of atonement for unspeakable past wrongdoings.
The Dutch government resigned after a report faulted the inactions and complacency of the government and top military brass as the catalyst that led to the worst single act of genocide in 50 years.
The Dutch government and military stood by and watched as the Bosnian Serbs invaded the safe enclave of Srebrenica, Bosnia and systematically slaughtered every man and boy in the area. At the end of the 10-day killing rampage, 7,000 men and boys were butchered.
This terrible mass murder took place in early July 1995 during the worst of the Bosnia War.
Prior to 1995, the United Nations had authorized the formation of safe zones for Muslims to live without fear of extermination in Bosnia; one of these was Srebrenica. Thousands of Muslim men, women and children were transported to this safe area to be protected by U.N. troops. The Srebrenica enclave was assigned protection of 400 lightly armed Dutch peacemakers.
But the protection the Muslims relied on was nothing more than a sham put in place to convince the world that action was being taken to stop the genocide of Bosnian Muslims.
What the Serbs did in Srebrenica is terrifyingly reminiscent of what the Germans did to Jews in World War II. Just as the Germans lined up Jews concentration camps, separating out the old, weak and young into another line that led to the gas chambers, so did the Serbs separate the Muslim boys and men into a different line that also led to their deaths.
These Muslim boys and men were then savagely slaughtered, many in view of the very forces that were sanctioned to protect them.
The Dutch troops merely stood by as spectators and watched this horrible atrocity unfold. Despite the desperate requests by the Dutch field commander to top military brass for air support and authority to engage the enemy, nothing was done to stop the slaughter of innocents. In the face of the overwhelming threat of Serbian firepower might, the Dutch government refused to send air support or give the ground troops the required mandate to defend the innocents.
Thus the Dutch government and top military brass not only sold out the thousands of innocent people they were ordered to protect, but their very own force’s need for backup to thwart the Serbian offensive.
Without firing one bullet in defense, the Serbs rolled into the so-called protected safe area and took over. The few hundred Dutch soldiers were forced to lay down their weapons and watch as the Serbs began their systematic genocide of all Muslim males.
Faced with the cold, brutal facts of their wrongdoing in the report, the guilt descended with such force that the Dutch government eagerly took the gun of responsibility and ended their political lives.
It took seven years for the day when the survivors of the Srebrenica massacre — the mothers, daughters and wives of the men slaughtered — finally achieved some measure of justice.
But it isn’t enough for the Dutch government to shoulder the deaths of the 7,000 murdered men; action must be taken now to right that horrible wrong. Though nothing can make the murdered alive again, the Dutch can assist the survivors through reparations and other forms of aid. Atonement must be made.
Though it is tempting to allow the Dutch government to take sole responsibility for the Srebrenica massacre, others also must be held responsible. The United Nations’ faulty plan to authorize safe enclaves, gathering all Muslims into one area under protection of a small force, actually made the job of the Serbs much easier. All the men and boys were already rounded up and all that needed to be done was separate them out and kill them.
However, the biggest power in the world yet to take responsibility for Srebrenica is the United States.
According to the April 21 Washington Post article by Samantha Power, the Clinton administration received a classified cable that stated the “”alarming news”” that Serb forces were committing “”all sorts”” of atrocities on the thousands of men they had taken from Srebrenica.
In spite of the overwhelming evidence of mass murder confirmed by the CIA, U.S. officials turned deaf ears to the frantic calls from the Bosnian government asking the United States to use NATO air power to save the thousands of men.
The United States stood by and did nothing when they were in the position to stop the mass murder that took place over 10 days. Their silence and inaction in the face of such unspeakable evil is not only extraordinarily cruel and shameful, but criminal.
The United States must atone for the large part it played in abetting the genocide of the Srebrenican men and boys. So too must the United Nations.
The world must follow the Dutch example and break their collective silence and then accept responsibility for the immense human tragedy at Srebrenica. Only then will the souls of the 7,000 slaughtered innocents finally be at rest.
