The Srebrenica Massacre - Nova Srpska Politicka Misao

Prelude to the Capture of Srebrenica
Izetbegovic had tacitly agreed that it made no sense to insist in maintaining
these isolated enclaves in a divided Bosnia… In the month of
June 1995, before the military operation in Srebrenica, Alexander Vershbow,
Special Assistant to President Clinton stated that ‘America
should encourage the Bosnians to think in terms of territories with
greater territorial coherence and compactness.’” 62
The problem for Alija Izetbegovic was that he felt that he could not
publicly acknowledge these discussions or he would lose the hardline
support that had brought him to power. In a 1998 interview with the
Bosnian Muslim publication Dani, Hakija Meholic, an ally of Naser
Oric and a former chief of police in Srebrenica, recalls that at the
Bosniak Conference in Sarajevo in September, 1993, Izetbegovic
claimed to have discussed various scenarios for Srebrenica with President
Clinton. According to the interview:
Meholjic: We were received there by President Izetbegovic, and
immediately after the welcome he asked us: “What do you think
about the swap of Srebrenica for Vogosca [a Sarajevo suburb]?”
There was a silence for a while and then I said: “Mr. President,
if this is a done thing, then you should not have invited us here,
because we have to return and face the people and personally accept
the burden of that decision.”
Interviewer: So you rejected Izetbegovic’s decision?
Meholjic: We rejected it without any discussion. Then he said:
“You know, I was offered by Clinton in April 1993 that the
Chetnik forces enter Srebrenica, carry out a slaughter of 5,000
Muslims, and then there will be a military intervention.” 63
Meholjic subsequently gave an interview about Izetbegovic’s startling
statement to a Dutch documentary that was shown as evidence in the
ICTY. Here, Meholjic explains that Izetbegovic told the Srebrenica delegation
that he “had learned that a NATO intervention in Bosnia-
Herzegovina was possible but could only occur if the Serbs would break
into Srebrenica and kill at least 5,000 of its people.” 64 According to the
documentary, President Izetbegovic was questioned by UN investigators
about these alleged statements which he denied making, while stating
that he had accepted an opinion from the delegation on the exchange
of territories.
While there is no evidence, nor any way to confirm that President
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