US Role in Operation Storm in Croatia

The United States was actively involved in the preparation, monitoring and initiation of Operation Storm: the green light from President Clinton was passed on by the US military attache in Zagreb, and the operations were transmitted in real time to the Pentagon.

Today, on the 4th August is the 10th Anniversey of the "Operation Storm" - and after ten years the Truth finally comes out.

The United States not only monitored the complete Operation Storm, but they also actively participated with the Croatian Military in its preparation, and in the end directly initiated the operation. The green light from the White House and then President Clinton for Operation Storm was passed on by Colonel Richard C. Herrick, then US military attaché in Zagreb. Several days prior to the commencement of Operation Storm, Herrick visited Markica Rebić in Zagreb. Rebić, Miroslav Tudjman, then director of HIS and Miro Medimurac, then head of SIS, held the most intensive communications with the American military and intelligence agencies. As such, in 1996, Rebić was awarded the Meritorius Service Medal by Peter Galbraith, then US Ambassador to Croatia.

This was the climax of the cooperation between the US and Croatia, which began to develop in 1992 at the beginning of the Serbian-Muslim war. In 1995, Clinton was preparing for his re-election, and Bob Dole was the republic candidate who had requested that Congress remove the arms embargo for the Muslims in BiH. For Clinton, the Balkans became an important issue due to internal matters in the US and his stay in the White House. In their strategy to resolve the crisis, they decided to use Croatia to attack the Serbian forces in BiH, and therefore the Split Declaration was signed by Izetbegović and Tudjman, which permitted the entry of HV forces under the leadership of Ante Gotovina into BiH for the purposes of cooperation with Army BiH. In order to realize that operation, HV had to climb the Dinarid mountains above Knin and liberate the city and Krajina through Operation Storm, and then immediately transfer their troops into BiH in order to pressure the Serbs and force Milošević to sign the Peace Accord in Dayton.

Considering that the US was much more interested in the situation in BiH than in Croatia, they asked Croatia to permit them to install a military base with unmanned aircraft. The basic condition was that this be the best kept secret, so that it would not appear that the US had taken sides in this war. The island of Brac was selected, as it could be well protected. There all the equipment and personnel led by the CIA experts, with the long range unmanned aircraft which could cover the entire territory of BiH to the Serbian corridor on the Sava River. The entire Krajina region in Croatia was also in its range. At that time, no one had any idea what was going on and what was being hidden on the island of Brac. Nor did the US allies, the Germans have any idea. They sent their military attaché there on 1 January 1994. He hired a rent-a-car and drove the outer fence of the base and began taking pictures, thinking that the alertness in the base had faltered on New Year's Day. However, he was quickly spotted by SIS and arrested. Only when he was brought into Gotovina for questioning was it learned that this was the German military attaché in Zagreb, Hans Schwan.

Source:
RTV Slovenia - Secret Role of Washington in the "Operation Storm"
Translated Article: US Role in Storm

Opration Storm - Wikipedia

So basicly the Help that US Offered to the Croatia was basicly just a Battle for Election Points?

But in fact things did not go as planned...

Guns secret set to haunt US - War crimes hunt turns heat on Croatia's ally



observer.guardian.co.uk...

Ademi is likely to be charged with responsibility for the killings of dozens of Serbs during a 1993 offensive in central Croatia against the Serb rebels. While the crimes allegedly committed by Ademi predate the period of US military assistance, those allegedly committed by Gotovina fall squarely into it. They came during a time of stunning military successes for the Croats on the battlefields of the Serb occupied Krajina and eastern Slavonia, in which US personnel were heavily implicated. The history of US assistance to the nationalist regime of former President Franjo Tudjman dated back to March 1994 when the Croatian Defence Minister, Joko Susak, approached the Pentagon to ask for help with military training.

While the Pentagon turned down the request it directed the Croats to a Virginia-based military consultancy firm, Military Professional Resource Inc (MPRI), staffed by former generals whose main client was the US army. A contract licensed by the Pentagon was signed with the Croatian army.

While MPRI denied that its advisers were involved on the ground during the Croatian offensives, UN officials in the Balkans at the time refused to believe it.

And General Ante Gotovina is Today a Hero for Some and a War Criminal for Others.

Ante Gotovina - The Hero!

And it almost makes Perfect Sense Why he was not Captured Yet - I guess that his Hearing could bring out Alot of Facts, that really want to be kept Secret.

Croatia: Gotovina Revelations



www.iwpr.net.../bcr/bcr_20011016_2_eng.txt

Fugitive general threatens to expose US involvement in the reconquest of the Krajina region six years ago.

A prominent supporter of Ante Gotovina has revealed the Croatian general indicted for war crimes will try to embarrass the US if he is extradited to The Hague for trial.

"If it comes to an arrest, General Gotovina's defence team will call on individuals from the United States to testify," said a friend of the controversial former army commander, Nenad Ivankovic, who is head of the right-wing organisation HONOS, the Association for the Protection of the Values of the Homeland War.

The general's supporters believe the move will reveal the extent of US involvement in Operation Storm, the Croatian army's successful campaign against the Serb-held Krajina region in 1995. Washington has always denied claims that it gave the "green light" for Croatia to overrun the UN-protected area.

Several hundred Serb civilians were murdered, or disappeared, in the aftermath of the operation. Some 200,000 fled to neighbouring Bosnia and Yugoslavia. An orgy of house-burning left much of the area a charred wasteland.

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia - Ante Gotovina Indictment

Croatian goverment crisis over extraditions to UN tribunal

[edit on 4/8/05 by Souljah]

Originally posted by Souljah

So basicly the Help that US Offered to the Croatia was basicly just a Battle for Election Points?

This does not jive with the article:

The basic condition was that this be the best kept secret, so that it would not appear that the US had taken sides in this war

How is it a bid for election points?

A prominent supporter of Ante Gotovina has revealed the Croatian general indicted for war crimes will try to embarrass the US if he is extradited to The Hague for trial.

Embarass the US all they want. Clinton didn't order any mass murders or retribution for genocide. And if the croats are foolish enough to bother making a stink out of US involvement, mabye then the next time these fratricidal ethnicities go at each other's throats the US stays out of it. Hell, maybe the US and NATO will just leave the region now and we can all see how 'good and kind' the world is without US involvement.

Originally posted by Nygdan
How is it a bid for election points?

From the Article:

For Clinton, the Balkans became an important issue due to internal matters in the US and his stay in the White House.

Embarass the US all they want. Clinton didn't order any mass murders or retribution for genocide. And if the croats are foolish enough to bother making a stink out of US involvement, mabye then the next time these fratricidal ethnicities go at each other's throats the US stays out of it. Hell, maybe the US and NATO will just leave the region now and we can all see how 'good and kind' the world is without US involvement.

From the Article:

"If it comes to an arrest, General Gotovina's defence team will call on individuals from the United States to testify,"

Well that would sure not look very nice, a Known War Criminal revealing important Information in the International Criminal Tribunal regarding US inolvment in Yugoslavian Civil War.

Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunjica has Labeled Croatian Operation Storm, as the biggest Ethnic Cleaning after the Second World War.

www.rtvslo.si...