BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
As the year turned, Washington's imperial armies rolled
into Bosnia. The steady military buildup and growing
bipartisan consensus among the U.S. rulers over the goals
of the largest military operation in Europe since World
War II are the latest escalation of NATO's war drive
against the Yugoslav workers and peasants.
The 60,000-strong NATO occupation force in Bosnia will supposedly enforce a "peace plan" rammed down the throats of the warring parties in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia by the Clinton administration in November. These officials were kept on a U.S. military base in Dayton, Ohio, until they declared their agreement with the proposals crafted by the White House.
But the goal of the invading capitalist powers is to overthrow the workers state in Yugoslavia - to stamp out once and for all the gains of the massive popular revolution that swept that country in the 1940s and became a "festival of the oppressed" for millions in the Balkans and around the world. The imperialists in Washington, Bonn, Paris, and London will try to reestablish capitalism there.
On December 31, U.S. army engineers completed the construction of a 500-ton pontoon bridge, which stretched more than 650 yards from Croatia to the northeastern Bosnian town of Orasje. About 150 tanks, Humvee military vehicles, artillery pieces, and 436 troops have already rolled across the swollen Sava River on the structure, which is designed to carry enormous loads.
It is the largest such bridge the U.S. military has built since World War II. Army engineers will soon begin building a second pontoon bridge to allow two-way traffic.
The bulk of Washington's 20,000 troops that will occupy northeastern Bosnia are invading the republic over these sections of steel and aluminum. Most of the 2,000 U.S. troops already in Bosnia flew into the airbase in Tuzla.
The U.S. military's first casualty occurred December 30 when a GI was wounded after his vehicle hit an antitank land mine in Bosnia. United Nations officials estimated that between 3 million and 6 million land mines have been set in Bosnia during the three-and-a-half-year war there.
More casualties appear likely as imperialist forces begin to place their soldiers into numerous towns and villages. British troops have already taken over an abandoned factory in the Bosnian town of Kupres. Military police have begun directing traffic and checking identifications.
"This is the vanguard, the first such project in the theater," said Col. Timothy Cross, commander of the logistics operation for the British occupation force. Cross and other British soldiers arrived in Kupres December 29.
"Kupres is a key spot," Cross stated. "We will bring all our heavy armor through here. This will be a major logistics base." Describing what's in store for Kupres from the NATO "peacekeeping" mission, the New York Times noted the town's "bridges and roads may crumble as 70-ton Chieftain tanks and 155-millimeter guns begin roaming the countryside" and soldiers will "drain electricity and water supplies."
Ready to do battle
According to the Washington Post, the GIs while
"remain[ing] ready to do battle," will "actively patrol
their sector," and seldom travel in packs of "fewer than
four armored vehicles." The U.S. military base in Tuzla
will be guarded by forces from the 325th Parachute
Infantry Regiment, including nine rifle platoons, five
antitank platoons, a scout platoon and six howitzers - a
total of 800 troops. Washington is also sending tanks and
Apache helicopters.
Such massive firepower has bolstered the imperial arrogance among Washington's military brass on the scene. "U.S. Brings to Bosnia Tactics That Tamed Wild West" was the headline of an article in the December 27 Wall Street Journal describing the U.S. bullying approach.
"When Brig. Gen. Patrick O'Neal, commander of the U.S. troops in this area, first stepped off a Sava River ferryboat onto Bosnian ground, a local militiaman blocked his way and demanded his passport," the Journal article said.
"The American general pointed at one of his soldiers' M- 16 automatic rifles. `That's our passport,' he said softly, walking past the militiaman and up the river bank into Bosnia.
"The U.S. Army is coming to the Balkans big, slow, and uncompromising - like John Wayne or Errol Flynn in an old western movie."
According to this article, Col. Gregory Fontenot, commander of U.S. troops in the Posavina Corridor in northeastern Bosnia, ordered his troops to adopt an " `I'll kick your a-- if you f-- with me' look."
Fontenot set up an initial checkpoint that includes six Bradley Fighting Vehicles in territory held by Belgrade- backed forces. The soldiers moved into the village of Lepnica December 26, establishing Washington's first military deployment in the Bosnian countryside.
The Posavina Corridor was bitterly contested at the Dayton Ohio negotiations and during the war between Bosnian troops and forces led by chauvinist Serb leader Radovan Karazdic.
"I consider this Indian Country," declared Fontenot, in reference to Bosnia. When told such arrogant posturing was unduly provocative, Fontenot responded, "Tough s--." According to the Journal, one of Fontenot's sergeants hinted to an F-16 fighter pilot flying nearby that he bomb a Bosnian Serb commander's house when the pilot asked him, "You got any targets for us to practice on?"
Further exposing the rampant racism among the U.S. officer corps, Fontenot told two Black GIs, "It'll be interesting to hear what you two see, because the Croatians are racists... They kill people for the color of their skins."
Making it clear that the target of the U.S. army is Yugoslav working people of all nationalities, the Journal article continued, "The U.S. Army believes that the greatest threat to its mission here will come from the Bosnian Muslims, because that faction already has won the battle for world public opinion, and so will be less inclined to meet the requirements of the peace treaty."
Fontenot's statements apparently went a little too far in explaining the attitude of the Pentagon in the Balkans. The New York Times quoted a Clinton administration official the next day who said Fontenot's remarks "represent bad judgment, extremely bad judgment."
Long-term, growing military presence
Almost everyone involved in the conflict thinks the
NATO military operation will stay in Yugoslavia long past
the 12-month deadline declared by U.S. president Bill
Clinton. "I don't think we're out of here in 12 months,
not if we want this thing to work," Fontenot told the
Journal. "Maybe not in groups of 20,000 but I think we'll
have a military presence here for a long, long time."
Washington is also moving to significantly expand its operations in Bosnia beyond the northeast sector that is supposedly its focus. Lt. Gen. Michael Walker, British commander of NATO ground forces in Bosnia, asked in mid- December that the U.S. military install two radar systems in Sarajevo, which falls within the French-occupied sector. Washington, Paris, and London have formally divided Bosnia into three sectors that each is supposed to control. The move reveals the U.S. government's ability to elbow Paris aside in the imperialist war drive dubbed "Operation Joint Endeavor."
French government officials continue to yelp at Washington's dominant role in NATO, reflecting increased friction between the two governments. "For France, its not a question, as in the 1950s, of rejoining a chain of command totally controlled by the United States," said French defense minister Charles Millon in late December, in reference to Paris's recent decision to rejoin the military wing of NATO. "It is clear that an operation in Haiti should rest on the American pillar, but in the case of an operation in Bosnia, it's the European pillar that should dominate," he insisted.
The Dayton accord dictated by Washington pledges national elections within nine months and calls for the withdrawal of Bosnian army and Belgrade-backed Serb forces from front-line positions in Sarajevo.
According to press reports, these forces withdrew from their front-line positions in Sarajevo December 28. The New York Times reported that military forces from France and Britain have bulldozed some checkpoints in their zones.
Maj. John Suttle, a U.S. military spokesman, told the Times that Maj. Gen. William Nash, commander of U.S. forces in NATO, warned all the forces in Yugoslavia that he expects full freedom of movement, including by journalists. No journalist was allowed to pass the checkpoint in Memici, however, setting up a potential military confrontation in this northeastern Bosnian town. "We have orders from the high command that no journalists are to pass," said a Bosnian Serb soldier.
A convoy of U.S. troops arrived in Memici the morning of December 28. "We have a specific task today, and that is to see that our forces are allowed to get through," said Maj. Gordon Davis.
Davis came from the U.S. military base in Tuzla to set up the arrival of 2d Brigade of the 1st Armored division on its way from Belgrade. On the morning of December 28, four large U.S. military cargo planes from the brigade landed at the airport in Belgrade, loaded with several Humvees and an advance combat party. It was the first time the NATO force in Yugoslavia had used Serbia in its military operations.
While the U.S. government devotes massive resources for its military occupation force, the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs insisted "on maximum authority and minimum obligations" toward rebuilding Bosnia's shattered infrastructure.
One of the biggest challenges facing working people in Yugoslavia is the resettlement of more than 2 million refugees. "There's no provision in the agreement" that addresses the resettlement question, admitted U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke.
In addition to resettlement problems, 80 percent of Bosnia relies on outside food aid. Infant mortality rates there have doubled, while industrial output is down 95 percent from 1990. Some 40 percent of the bridges and 35 percent of roads are damaged or destroyed.
Meanwhile, Moscow, which has contributed military personnel to the conflict to back up Belgrade, its longtime ally, continues to be wracked by political turmoil. Increasingly, politicians in and outside the Russian parliament have begun to openly attack president Boris Yeltsin for the humiliating move of placing Russian troops in Bosnia under NATO command.
The December 17 parliamentary elections in Russia registered a resurgence of Stalinist and nationalist forces. Gennadi Zyuganov's Communist Party came in first with 22 percent of the vote. The Liberal Democratic Party led by ultrarightist Vladimir Zhirinovsky got 11 percent of the votes cast. Our Home Is Russia party, led by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, received 10 percent of the votes.
The Times called the balloting results a "personal humiliation" for Russian president Yeltsin on whom the White House has put its hopes on driving Russia closer to the fold of the world capitalist market. "It certainly doesn't hearten those of us who believe in democracy and reform," lamented State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns at a December 18 press conference.
Another Bonapartist figure, former General Aleksandr Lebed, announced December 28 that he was running for president next June. Lebed calls for the restoration of the Soviet Union and has vowed to fight against the expansion of NATO.
"Communists blamed as telecom deal collapses," was the front-page headline of the December 27 Financial Times. The article lamented the withdrawal of an Italian investor from one of the largest "foreign investment deals." The deal was supposed to lead to privatization of a major Russian telephone company. "The last minute withdrawal," the Times complained, "renewed doubts about the country's shaky privatization drive."
At the same time, Moscow remains embroiled in a nationalist conflict with Chechen independence fighters. Russian troops recaptured Gudermes in late December, the second largest town in Chechnya. Fierce battles erupted between Russian soldiers and Chechen rebels who seized the railway station and other buildings on December 14 in an attempt to disrupt the elections.
The Russian commander, Gen. Anatoly Shkirko told the ITAR-Tass news agency that almost 600 people had been killed in the fighting. More than 20,000 people have been slaughtered since Moscow sent an invasion force in Dec. 1994 to crush the Chechens' struggle for independence.