Brendan O'Shea – författare

In this book, the author has tried bridge the gap between the common perception of the Yugoslav conflict as portrayed in the media and the actual grim reality with which he was dealing as an EU monitor on the ground. Drawing on original material from both UN and ECMM sources, he has identified the true origin of Former Yugoslavia's wars of dissolution, and critically examines the programme of violence which erupted in 1991 and eventually culminated in 1995 in the vicious dismemberment of a sovereign federal republic with seat at the United Nations. In doing so, he highlights the duplicitous behaviour of all parties to the conflict; the double standards employed throughout by the United States in its foreign policy; the lengths to which the Sarajevo government manipulated the international media to promote a 'victim' status; the contempt in which UN peace-keepers were ultimately held by all sides; and the manner in which Radovan Karadzic was sacrificed at the altar of political expediency, when the real culprits were Slobodan Milosevic and his acolyte, General Ratko Mladic. This book, the first by an EU Monitor with actual experience of the conflict, tells the real story of the modern Yugoslav conflict, 1991-1995.

In this book, the author has tried bridge the gap between the common perception of the Yugoslav conflict as portrayed in the media and the actual grim reality with which he was dealing as an EU monitor on the ground. Drawing on original material from both UN and ECMM sources, he has identified the true origin of Former Yugoslavia's wars of dissolution, and critically examines the programme of violence which erupted in 1991 and eventually culminated in 1995 in the vicious dismemberment of a sovereign federal republic with seat at the United Nations. In doing so, he highlights the duplicitous behaviour of all parties to the conflict; the double standards employed throughout by the United States in its foreign policy; the lengths to which the Sarajevo government manipulated the international media to promote a 'victim' status; the contempt in which UN peace-keepers were ultimately held by all sides; and the manner in which Radovan Karadzic was sacrificed at the altar of political expediency, when the real culprits were Slobodan Milosevic and his acolyte, General Ratko Mladic. This book, the first by an EU Monitor with actual experience of the conflict, tells the real story of the modern Yugoslav conflict, 1991-1995.

Twenty years ago, the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ entered the common lexicon. The terrible events that took place in the UN ‘safe haven’ at Bihac in North-west Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 represent the Bosnian conflict in microcosm. Muslim fought all factions of Serb, Muslim fought Muslim, and the Croats interfered. As an EC Monitoring Mission Observer, author Brendan O’Shea was not only an eye witness to the horrific war crimes committed by all sides but also had access to both EU and UN official documents. As such he was perfectly placed to unravel the deceit, the politicking and the struggle for power that led to tragedy and suffering for hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. The names Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic – both on trial at The Hague –Slobodan Milosevic, Alija Izetbegovic and Franjo Tudjman have become synonymous with the worst excesses perpetrated during the war in Bosnia. This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of that conflict.