I wrote “Smokescreen” in the early hours of July 13, so I could not have read, much less mentioned, an editorial that appeared later that morning in Newsday. Titled “Serbs finally look within,” the editorial manages to pull together just about every strand of Official Truth about Srebrenica, and can thus serve as an exemplar of mainstream opinion. It is somehow fitting that such an” honor” belongs to a paper that peddled the Pulitzer-winning atrocity propaganda of Roy Gutman, early in the Bosnian War.
Starting out by repeating the tale of “more than 7500” Muslims massacred by Serbs in the “worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II,” Newsday calls Srebrenica “an unpardonable blot on the conscience of Serbs and the international community.” Sure, the editorial continues, the European UN peacekeepers were at fault for not helping the Muslims, but the real blame lies with the Serbian people as a whole. Oh yes, none of that “individual responsibility” claptrap any more, it’s all collective:
“the Serbian people only recently have come to recognize, however grudgingly, their collusion in the systematic mass murder at Srebrenica, when their nationalistic anti-Muslim fervor was stoked by former President Slobodan Milosevic.”
Four unproven – indeed, ricidulous – claims are presented here as facts beyond dispute: that what took place in Srebrenica was “systematic,” that Serbs “colluded” in it, that there was an anti-Muslim fervor, and that Milosevic was responsible for it.
Having made such assumptions, and proceeding to inform us that Milosevic is on trial for war crimes (surely, that proves his guilt, right?), Newsday editors then shake their heads and say that Mladic and Karadzic are still at large. And surely, the Serbian people are to blame: “For Mladic and Karadzic to continue evading justice, they need the help of Serbs.” The conclusion: Serbia should get no “privileges” such as “aid” and EU membership, until it delivers these two to the Hague Inquisition.
Finally, Newsday makes the inevitable argument about the UN: Srebrenica “led to the involvement of the United States and NATO to halt the conflict after UN peacekeepers proved their impotence.” The UN may have learned a lesson, they aver, if it stages a NATO-like intervention in Darfur. But even so, it is time for “regional organizations” to “summon the will to act” when it comes to humanitarian interventions. The age of the UN is over; the age of the Empire is upon us.
Had I fabricated an editorial to prove the point I was making in “Smokescreen,” I would not have done better.