The Military Factor

The general staff's claims that it has nothing to do with the war in Bosnia, were not of great help. The inhabitants of Uzice (in the heart of Serbia) have long been unable to sleep peacefully because of the sound of military engines transporting military technology and anti-aircraft rockets on their way to Bosnia. Diplomat Vladislav Jovanovic (Yugoslav Foreign Minister) joined the noise with his statement that America was our ally and that Yugoslavia should become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Such a flippant statement has not been made by an officer or foreign minister for a long time.

In Russia officers railed against Mikhail Gorbachev's policy from 1989 until the 1991 August putsch. Boris Yeltsin broke them easily, because they did not know who they were serving, and who they were supposed to turn to: Russia or the Commonwealth of Independent States. When 5,000 dissatisfied officers gathered in the Kremlin palace on January 17 the same year, with the aim of criticizing the state for not taking care of them, they were really yearning for a clearly defined master, rather than a return of the old privileges.

The situation with our officers is somewhat different. They serve "Yugoslavia," the "Serb Republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina" and the "Republic of Serb Krajina," but they are all fighting for the Serbian cause. The problem of master has perhaps been better solved here than in Russia, but an efficient control of the army has not yet been set up. There are many who claim to be the leader of all Serbs: Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, the Yugoslav Army general staff, various parties, various groups in Bosnia and Croatia. Even criminals are a Serbian holy. There is no top chieftain. The Serbian cause has boiled down to Serbs and local rebels capturing parts of Croatia and Herzeg-Bosnia, the impoverishment of the population in Serbia, and an army consisting of three parts---the "Yugoslav," "Bosnian" and "Slavonija-Baranja" branches, with all three influences playing a part in the single Belgrade general staff. It is a miracle that the war outside Serbia is not taking place in it because of the state's and army's total involvement, and that it has not resulted in a greater militarization of the civil authorities. The so called "Yugoslav Defence Minister" is still a civilian, albeit only a puppet, with Zivota Panic (Chief of the General Staff) pulling the strings.

The army's political influence is not as strong here because the goals of Milosevic's civilian authorities are military anyway, leaving the generals in the background. They are, of course, becoming rich thanks to the Serbian cause: by looting captured territories, smuggling weapons, medicine, alcohol, cigarettes, food and fuel. Officers, from captains to generals, trade between themselves with diesel fuel and petrol, selling army reserves at the privileged price of 1.2 DM.

The army is the main promoter of the war policy and that is why it does not have a feeling for political tactics. If it did, then it would not deny that it is waging war in Bosnia, and it would take care to keep talkative general Ratko Mladic (Commander of the Serb forces in B-H) far from the press. It is a mistake for a side in the war to allow officers who are close to being proclaimed war criminals, to bathe in the limelight. Mladic should be sacrificed in order to save the others.

There are no conditions in Serbia for the civilian authorities to prevent the involvement of the Yugoslav Army in Bosnia. The Serbian assembly is a war assembly, the government is a war government, the President is a conqueror, the opposition is nationalist. However, a balance between the civilian and military authorities makes it necessary to deny officers certain civilian rights: they cannot, at least while in active service, be political candidates, they cannot vote in uniform---even in garrisons, soldiers cannot vote in garrisons and bases. Political life loses all civilian attributes when the caste-like behavior of officers becomes a public value.

Serbia cannot limit the army's influence without becoming a state of citizens, instead of a war state. So far this has been prevented by stultifying the people and making claims that we are not at war, in spite of the fact that we are, and with delusions that America will be our ally just at the moment when it is preparing to punish us.