The Srebrenica Massacre - Nova Srpska Politicka Misao

The Numbers Game
cuted. This was never a possibility: numerous contemporary accounts
noted that UN and other independent observers had witnessed fierce
fighting with significant casualties on both sides. It was also known that
others had fled to Bosnian government-controlled territory around Tuzla
and Zepa, that some had made their way westward and northward, and
that some had fled into Serbia. Putting precise numbers to all these categories
is not possible; but as we know that there were significant numbers
in each category, this alone tells us that nowhere near the total
number then listed as “missing” really were missing, let alone executed.
These are strong reasons for skepticism about the massacre claims.
As further information has emerged over the years, the official version
of events which was established in 1995 (and subtly modified since
then) appears more and more unlikely. The most fundamental problem
of all is that the math does not begin to add up.
The unchanging number total
The numbers listed as “missing” from Srebrenica are noteworthy precisely
because they have not increased or decreased since the secondhalf
of 1995. Military actions and terrorist incidents usually follow a
very different pattern, as the 9/11 attacks on U.S. targets clearly demonstrates:
The Office of the Medical Examiner of New York City reported
in January 2004 that it had issued a total of 2,749 death certificates in
connection with the hijacker attacks on the twin towers of the World
Trade Center on September 11, 2001. “We believe this is the final number,”
a spokesperson for the medical examiner said.
“Two weeks after the attack,” Associated Press reported, “the number
of missing-person reports [filed with New York authorities] peaked at
6,886 amid confusion and calls from frantic relatives. The number stood
at 2,792 from December 2002 until October [2003], when 40 unsolved
cases were removed from the list.” 16
This final 2,749 figure represents less than half (39.9 percent) of the
peak-number of missing-person reports that were filed amid the anguish
and confusion of the early days. The outrage took place in the
richest city in the richest country in the world, with all of the resources
necessary to get the body count right. Unlike Bosnia and Herzegovina,
it was not a relatively impoverished, war-torn country with internallydisplaced
people scattered in all directions. Yet, once the ICRC had set-
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