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

173mm guns, 2000 pistols, 211,000 hand grenades, 3000 rockets, 30,000 grenades, 3000 landmines andmillions of rounds of ammunition to Bolivia. This country stated, however, that it had ordered nothingand the Argentine parliament discovered that the arms and ammunition were destined for Croatia andelsewhere. 879At the beginning of 1993, the name of Turkey was again dropped as direct supplier. 880 TheBosnian Vice-President Ganic had an interview in mid February with the Turkish President Özal, butdenied that he had promised him an aircraft full of arms. Ganic did admit to receiving arms in adifferent manner. 881 During a visit to Sarajevo of the later Prime Minister of Turkey, Tansu Ciller, andthe Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, both ladies publicly called for a lifting of the armsembargo. 882 In the summer and autumn of 1994, the CIA reported that spy satellites had taken photosof Iranian aircraft on Turkish airfields. Two days later, satellite photos were taken of the same aircraftin Zagreb or at other airports in Croatia, where the arms were unloaded.According to O’shea, Turkey’s involvement was clear. Specially modified C-130s fromAmerican bases in the United Kingdom and Germany would pick up their cargo on remote runways inthe Turkish part of Cyprus. The cargo, which consisted of arms and ammunition, would have beendelivered there by Iranian and Turkish aircraft. The aircraft would fly to Croatia via the Adriatic, andthen on to Bosnia. If the Hercules, with its modest range, could not achieve its objective in one hop, itcould always make a stopover on the Croatian island of Brac, close to the coast near Split. Thepopulation there indeed often observed C-130 aircraft that operated from this airfield. From this island883the CIA also operated its UAVs flying over Bosnia. The Croatian Minister of Defence, Susak,claimed that most of the aircraft that landed there came from Turkey and not Iran. 884 Also quite somemilitary goods were delivered to the Pula airport on the Istrian peninsula. 885The Turkish government therefore provided full cooperation to the Croatian pipeline. Therewas more: the Turks also flew directly to Tuzla with C-130s. This allegedly happened after the Chief ofStaff of the ABiH 2nd Corps was sent to Ankara as an additional military attaché. 886 UNPROFORofficers assumed that Turkish aircraft flew in from Cyprus, with American military authorities acting asintermediary. 887 French military officials likewise asserted that Turkey was responsible for the flights.NATO officers stated in a British daily newspaper that if the American intelligence services used acover, ‘Turkey would be the obvious choice’. The Turkish air force had C-130s that could reach Tuzla.This was otherwise also true of the Iranian and Pakistani air forces, which were also mentioned aspossible third-party countries for supplies via Turkey to Tuzla. 888The UK Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) was also aware of the American secret arms suppliesto the ABiH. According to a British intelligence official, the DIS never made an issue of them, so asnot to further damage the sensitive relationship with the US services. An internal DIS analysisconcluded that the arms were delivered via ‘a different network’, and that the entire operation wasprobably led by the NSC. It was stressed that the CIA and DIA were not involved in the Black Flights879 John Pomfret, ‘US Allies Fed Pipeline Of Covert Arms in Bosnia’, The Washington Post, 12/05/96 and Johan Peleman,Wapenhandel naar Bosnië-Herzegovina’ (‘Arms trade to Bosnia-Hercegovina’), Noord-Zuid Cahier, No. 22(3), September1997, pp. 88-89.880 Robert Fox, ‘Dangerous games of fact and fantasy’, The Daily Telegraph, 10/02/93. See also the statements of former FCL. MacKenzie: ‘Interventie zal in Bosnië geen vrede brengen’ (‘Intervention will bring no peace in Bosnia’), De Volkskrant,06/02/93.881 ‘Bosnische vice-president: Kroaten hebben ons nodig’ (‘Bosnian president: Croats need us’), Trouw, 23/02/93.882 Rose, Fighting for Peace, p. 81.883 O’shea, Crisis at Bihac, p. 159.884 John Pomfret, ‘US Allies Fed Pipeline Of Covert Arms in Bosnia’, The Washington Post, 12/05/096.885 Interview with Jan-Inge Svensson, 15/11/02.886 Confidential interview (68).887 William Drozdiak, ‘US Accused of Covert Bosnia Aid’, Chicago-Sun Times, 28/07/95.888 William Drozdiak, ‘US Accused of Covert Bosnia Aid’, Chicago-Sun Times, 28/07/95; Richard Dowden & John Carlin, ‘USsecretly supplying weapons to Bosnia’, The Independent, 26/02/95 and Robert Fox, ‘Iran’s cases of cash helped buy Muslimvictory in Bosnia’, The Daily Telegraph, O1/01/97.