Editor,
My response to "Serbian nationalist rhetoric," written by Mr. Joe Smith, if that is his real name, "the issue is Srebrenica massacre and not Nazi Germany," written by Mr. Sione Tulimaiau, and "USA's best interests" written by Mrs. Siosaia Fatani.
Mr. Joe Smith, I will start with you first.
I did not write about how great Russia is, I wrote about WWII participants. I did not write about evils of the US, you Mr. Smith called them evils, not me. I wonder why you did it.
I did not write about Serbia in my article, you and Mr. Tuaileva planted Serbia in the middle of everything.
Don't quite know what your letter has to do with the South Pacific or Tonga? At least, I wrote about Japan. And why are you answering other people's questions that nobody asked you?
Mr. Smith, you are from Utah, USA not Tonga. Let them speak for themselves.
Since, you are trying to put Tongan in almost every war in human history, let me remind you that my question was "Find me one Tongan Officer who fought on the ground in Serbia against Nazis", not find me a Tongan Officer who fought in any war. You seem to not be able to grasp the difference.
World War II
I remind you that World War II started in September 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. One week after Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed on August 24; on September 1, Germany invaded Poland from the north, south and west. On September 17, the Soviet Red Army in cooperation with Germany invaded eastern Poland. The German-Soviet agreement was brought to an end by the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941.
I notice that you totally ignore the fact that the Nazis bombed the "Open City" of Belgrade on Palm Sunday in 1941 killing 17,000 Serbs in one day. You seem to sweep this fact under the rug with great efficiency. You also fail to mention that the Serbs and their Chetnik leader General Draza Mihajlovic rescued 513 downed airmen over occupied Yugoslavia returning them to safety. This was the single largest rescue of American troops from behind enemy lines in the US history. President Trumann and an act of Congress gave Mihajlovic the Legion of Merit Award, the highest award given to a foreigner by the US. The State Department kept that award secret for 22 years. It appears that people like you Mr. Smith have some hidden agenda against the Serbs?
Two years after the beginning of the WWII, on December 7, 1941, Japanese attacked the US naval base Pearl Harbor, which resulted in the US becoming involved in the WWII. The US declared war on the Empire of Japan on December 8. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declared war on the United States on December 11.
German declaration of war on the US opened the door for the US to enter the conflict and join the UK and Soviet Union against Axis.
Mr. Smith, you are telling me that I would speak German now, if the US hasn't intervened. Tell me something, until the US involvement, who fought against Nazi's in the WWII from the 1939; Aliens? Let me also remind you that the Allied Powers (26 Nations) was formed in January 1942 (three years after the beginning of the WWII), the so called "Big Three" (Soviet Union, the UK and the US) emerged few months later.
It looks like that you and Mr. Tuaileva, do not recognize the United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, Canada, Greece (when Greece's 7 million stood up to Mussolini's 44 million and told "Oxi!!!" ,"No!"), among others as participants of the WWII, only the US.
Again, for the second time, please, the US really contributed to the WWII, but do not credit the US for everything that happened then.
I will try to make some things more clearly for you Mr. Smith:
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Prince Imperial of Austria and Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, was killed in June 1941, by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, not Serb from Serbia. Gavrilo was born in Obljaj, in Bosnia-Herzegovina which at the time was part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Archduke Ferdinand was therefore killed by his own citizen. It was not until after WWI that the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed. Do not confuse this two.
Yugoslav Wars
The war in Slovenia, or "Ten Day War" in 1991, was a war for independence between Slovenia and Yugoslavia (JNA- Yugoslav People's Army, a multi ethnic army), not war between Slovenia and Serbia. You cannot blame Serbia for this, Serbia did not attack Slovenia.
Croatian war of independence from 1991-1995, you Mr. Smith, really do not know history. Croatian forces forced out Serbs who lived in Croatia. Do you know how many Serbs who were living in Croatia were ethnically cleansed? Around 500.000! Even the European Union Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia Carl Bildt called it on Aug. 7, 1995, "the most efficient ethnic cleansing we've seen in the Balkans."
Bosnia Wars from 1992-1995, you were probably thinking about Srebrenica Massacre. However, in February 2007 International Court of Justice (Bosnia vs. Serbia) did not find that Serbia committed genocide on the wider territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war 1992-1995, and cleared Serbia from direct involvement.
Kosovo War from 1996-1999. According to the USA, CIA and the UN, the Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA has been considered to be a terrorist organization, and in close ally with Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. According to crime journalist Jeffrey Robinson, the KLA is "a direct link between Osama bin Laden and the Albanians". As late as 1997, the KLA had been recognized by the US as a terrorist organization supported in part by heroin trafficking. United States President Bill Clinton's special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, described once the KLA as, "without any questions, a terrorist group"
The KLA is also documented as having ties with, or at the very least fighting against the same enemies as Islamic extremist groups such as Osama Bin Laden's al Qaeda. On August 20, 1998, the US Defense Department confirmed that al-Qaeda was supporting the insurgency in Kosovo. In relation, the US began to fear for the safety of its diplomats in the Albanian Embassy in 1998, and a possible assassination plot of then US Defense Secretary William Cohen in 1999, because of the large presence of anti-US Islamic extremists. The KLA also established a political arm led by prominent Kosovo independence activist Hashim Thaci. Thaci is current prime Minister of Kosovo.
First, the US called them terrorist in 1998, in 1999 the US-NATO bombed Yugoslavia, than in 2008 the US recognized Kosovo as an independent state. Why?
Mass Graves
Telling me to clean up the mass graves, you Mr. Smith crossed the line of decency.
I would never tell you to go and look for the remains of the victims of the US Bombing of Dresden in World War II, Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Native American Genocide.
Your comment was unnecessary, unethical and unfair! I was very young at the time these wars took place.
United States
I never said that the US is becoming second rate power, you did. However, are you informed about current financial situation in the US, because I did not understand your comment about cold and pneumonia? You are saying that the US is facing small financial problems, and the rest of the world will financially collapse?
You were probably thinking about forces in Italy not South Korea. So, you are telling us, that the US made Germany, Italy and Japan strong democratic countries, and that the US is reducing its present because of that. Mr. Smith, you are very funny man, I have to say; I like your sense of humor, especially in part when you are adding few more stars to the US flag. Good one!
Mr. Sione Tulimaiau, now, I will replay to you.
The issue in not Srebrenica, the issue is WWII, the US, Tongan and Nazi Germany, do not deceive readers.
Do not give excuses for Mr. Tuaileva, I asked his reply not yours. He made a mistake, and that is fine, sometimes we all make mistakes.
You are telling me that Mr. Tuaileva was thinking about Tongan Americans who fought in Serbia in 1995, not during the WWII? Do not insult our intelligence; we know what he was thinking.
Note: There was no war in Serbia in 1995, and Tongan Americans did not go to Serbia in 1995 to fight!!! War was in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia and Bosnia are two different countries.
Tell me, Mr. Tulimaiau, why are you trying so much to put Tongan in so many wars?
They are peaceful Nation, and they did not fight in Serbia! Stop with this nonsense.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Mr. Tulimaiau, your history is also selective;
Slobodan Milosevic; died in his cell in Scheveningen, in the Netherlands, as an innocent man.
Nenad Tanaskovic; was found guilty for the crimes against humanity by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not the ICTY. He do not have nothing to do with Serbia, he is from Bosnia.
Radovan Karadzic; was born in Petnjica, Montenegro. He is Bosnian Serb political leader, not Serb political leader. Do not forget that Karadzic lived in Austria for years, while being indicted. He was arrested by Serbian security forces in July 2008. His trial is pending.
Ratko Mladic; was born in the village of Boz inovic i, southeast of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, not Serbia. He is still at large.
Srebrenica Massacre and Bosnia War
Mr. Tulimaiau, why are you putting only the US military and Tongan Americans into Bosnia War? There were many more Nations.
Since, you like the word "Genocide," what is your opinion on the US Bombing of Dresden in World War II, Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Native American Genocide?
To conclude; the issue is not Srebrenica and Bosnia War in 1995. It is very clear that the issue is WWII and prosecutions of Nazi Germany, and the US forces fighting against Nazi on the ground in Serbia with Tongan Americans among them. Serbia is also not the issue, Mr. Tuaileva made it the issue, because I am from Serbia.
However, I am glad that people now realized that Tongan American did not fight in Serbia against Nazi.
Mr. Siosaia Fatani, now, my reply to you.
Please, note that I do not have anything against the US, nor against American people. And, Mr. Fatani, please read world history, do not trust everything that you see and hear on TV.
Now, I will go back to the point of me being from Serbia. Please, do not judge me just because I was born in Serbia, and do not make Tongan aggressive Nation. Being born in Serbia doesn't make me a bad person, war criminal and less human. If I wrote: Ivan Simic from New York, USA, no one would write anything against me or Serbia.
Also, I am not new to Matangi Tonga newspaper, I wrote many times before, and I will continue contributing to this esteem news site in the future. Please, do not comment on my origin and insult me, be fair and respectful. Thank You
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19.
Ivan Simic
ivansimic10 [at] gmail [dot] com
