C. Wiebes - Intelligence en de oorlog in Bosnië 1992-1995. De rol van de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten - Engels

172‘US intelligence agencies were not involved.’ This is correct if it refers to an operation that wassanctioned ‘remotely’. Leighton Smith’s promise to Janvier and Akashi that he would resign if it were toappear that uniformed military personnel were involved in the Black Flights, is also consistent with thispicture. A prominent White House adviser confirmed that the United States did not wish to violate thearms embargo. It would undermine the authority of Security Council resolutions, however much theAmericans were uncomfortable with this embargo. If the Americans themselves were to violate theembargo, then the imposition of an embargo elsewhere would be made impossible. 871Washington definitely did play a role in the background, however. The attempts at a cover-upafter the first observations of the flights to Tuzla point to this involvement. Why otherwise would theNorwegian key person be physically threatened, would several witnesses not be heard, the reportedfacts be distorted, journalists put under pressure, and attempts made to hold back De Lapresle’s report?The fact that the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and UNPROFOR ultimately agreed andlet the matter rest, probably has more to do with the wish no longer to disturb the relations betweenWashington and the UN and NATO; after all, the ‘lift and strike’ debate had already caused aconsiderable deterioration in transatlantic relations. 872A number of countries are candidates for having supplied directly to Bosnia. Pakistan deliveredequipment, as did the Sultan of Brunei, who paid for anti-tank missiles from Malaysia. In January 1993already, a Pakistani vessel with ten containers of arms, which were destined for the ABiH, wasintercepted in the Adriatic Sea. 873 Pakistan definitely defied the United Nations ban on supply of armsto the Bosnian Muslims and sophisticated anti-tank guided missiles were air lifted by the Pakistaniintelligence agency, ISI, to help Bosnians fight the Serbs, an ex-ISI Chief has officially admitted in awritten petition submitted before a court in Lahore. The document was submitted by Lt. General(Retd) Javed Nasir, who was head of the ISI from March 1992 to May 1993, in a case he filed againstthe owner and editors of the largest newspaper and TV group of Pakistan, in an anti TerrorismCourt. 874 It remains unclear how the missiles were transported to Bosnia and who did it.Furthermore, tons of diplomatic post regularly arrived by air in Sarajevo from Saudi Arabia,Turkey and Iran. Doubts were raised about the diplomatic immunity of the content of the load.875 Afoundation that was affiliated to the Saudi royal family also provided millions of dollars in armsassistance. 876 Moreover, Malaysia attempted to sidestep the embargo via merchant shipping and theMalaysian UNPROFOR soldiers that were stationed in Bosnia. 877 All of these were direct supplies toBosnia, because the Bosnian government was dissatisfied with the Croatian authorities’ practice ofskimming the arms supplies, or because the government did not want to become entirely dependent onZagreb. This could be avoided by direct flights from certain countries. 878In addition to Iran (via Croatia), Turkey proved to be the most important supplier of arms tothe ABiH. Turkey had been closely involved in the secret arms supplies to Bosnia for some time. Asearly as 1992 Iran had opened a smuggling route to Bosnia with the assistance of Turkey; this was twoyears before the Clinton administration gave ‘permission’ for creating the Croatian pipeline. Bosniangovernment officials acknowledged that in 1993 a Turkish pipeline also existed, through which theabove-mentioned arms from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Brunei and Pakistan were smuggled. Otherconsignments came from Belgium, Hungary, Uganda and Argentina. In Argentina a scandal eruptedbecause President Menem had issued a decree for the delivery of 8000 FN-Fals (automatic rifles), 155871 Confidential interview (14).872 For this, see Chapter 10 of Part II of the Srebrenica report.873 ‘Wapens moslims onderschept’ (‘Muslim arms intercepted’), Trouw, 21/01/93.874 ‘Ex-ISI Chief Reveals Secret Missile Shipments to Bosnia defying UN Embargo’, in: South Asia Tribune Publications, IssueNo 22, Dec 23-29, 2002.875 Confidential interview (44) and James Risen, ‘Iran gave Bosnia leader $ 500,000’, Los Angeles Times, 31/12/96.876 ‘The Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina’, Janes’s Intelligence Review, February 1993, pp. 63-65.877 For example: MIS/CO. Developments in the former Yugoslav federation, no. 26/95, 01/06/95.878 Ripley, Operation Deliberate Force, p. 90.