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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (91591)	12/25/2004 3:30:02 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793931

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and MERRY CHRISTMAS Everyone!!!

To: LindyBill who wrote (91591)	12/25/2004 3:33:36 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793931

Re Bosnia: Didn't realize that America will FINALLY, 9 years after Clinton said we would be out of Bosnia, we will be out of Bosnia...except for 150 brave American soldiers...the WP put this on page A19....The WaPo didn't mention that NATO hadn't captured all of the murderers either.... U.S. Troops Mark End Of Mission In Bosnia Associated Press Thursday, November 25, 2004; Page A19 washingtonpost.com TUZLA, Bosnia, Nov. 24 -- U.S. troops marked the end of their nine-year peacekeeping role in Bosnia on Wednesday as NATO prepared to hand over the task to the European Union in December. A small number of U.S. troops will stay in Bosnia to hunt war crime suspects and help the country reform its military. "This ceremony officially marks mission complete and mission accomplished," Gen. B.B. Bell, commander of U.S. Army, Europe, said in a ceremony at Eagle Base in Tuzla, where most of the U.S. troops in Bosnia have been based. More than 60,000 NATO-led troops from more than 40 countries were deployed to Bosnia starting in late 1995 to enforce the Dayton peace agreement, which ended the 3 1/2-year war among the country's Serbs, Muslims and Croats. More than 200,000 people were killed during the war, and 1.8 million became refugees. The security situation has improved over the years, allowing NATO to decrease the number of troops to 7,000. NATO will be handing over the peacekeeping mission to the European Union on Dec. 2, which means a withdrawal of most of the 700 U.S. troops currently in Bosnia. They will be replaced by E.U. personnel, with the biggest contingent coming from Finland. <b?About 150 U.S. troops will stay at Eagle Base to help local authorities adopt defense reforms and hunt war crime suspects. Bosnia's two most wanted fugitives are wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his top general, Ratko Mladic, both charged with genocide and crimes against humanity nine years ago. The European Union Force will keep 7,000 troops in Bosnia. 888888888888888888888888 888888888888888888888888 freerepublic.com U.S. Troops End Nine Years in Bosnia Peace Force Reuters ^ \| 11-23-04 \| By Nedim Dervisbegovic Posted on 11/24/2004 8:24:24 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer EAGLE BASE, Bosnia (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Wednesday ended a 9-year peacekeeping role in Bosnia but kept on a small contingent to hunt down top war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. "Those are the two guys we want to get," said Brigadier General Timothy Wright, commander of the outgoing 700-strong peace contingent, at a ceremony to end Task Force Eagle. Bosnian Serb fugitives Karadzic and Mladic will be the "primary focus" of some 150 soldiers who will stay on in Eagle Base in northern Bosnia, he said. About 100 more will remain at a new NATO headquarters in Sarajevo under Brigadier General Steven Schook, commander of the outgoing Stabilization Force (SFOR). U.S. soldiers made up a third of NATO's original force of 60,000 which was deployed in Bosnia in December 1995 under the Dayton peace treaty and became the Stabilization Force (SFOR). SFOR shrank over the years to under 10,000 and will be replaced next week by a European Union Force (EUFOR) of 7,000. Bosnian Serb wartime leader Karadzic and his military chief Mladic have been indicted for genocide by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica and for the siege of Sarajevo during the 1992-95 war. Failure to capture them is seen as an embarrassment for NATO, which has arrested 28 suspects in Bosnia since 1997. But the Americans insist they are not giving up. GUN SALUTE Three 105mm howitzers fired a salute in the chilly autumn morning before a short ceremony marking the end of the mission which in total involved about 100,000 Americans soldiers over the years from several active and reserve divisions. U.S. peacekeepers covered the north-eastern part of Bosnia, with Nordic and European troops under their wing, working among other things to secure the return of Muslim refugees expelled by Serbs from eastern Bosnia early in the war. They arrested several war crimes suspects but encountered only one seriously hostile situation in 1997, when a Bosnian Serb mob attacked them for helping moderates take over a police station in the town of Brcko from hard-liners. "This has not been an easy mission," said Gen. B.B. Bell, Commander of U.S. Army Europe, after soldiers of the 38th Infantry Division of Indiana's National Guard folded up the task force flag. "But it demonstrated what can be accomplished when peoples, nations and militaries work together for a common cause." The downsizing of U.S. forces here is part of a general shift of U.S. forces worldwide, as Bosnia stabilizes. Bosnian Muslim leaders oppose a wholesale withdrawal, however. They see the U.S. military presence as a guarantee of Washington's continued involvement in the country.