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Source: ACTION ALERT
ACTION ALERT: AIR STRIKES AND BIHAC CRISIS
AMERICAN COMMITTEE TO SAVE BOSNIA
ACTION
On Monday more than 30 NATO jets struck the Udbina air base in Serb-held Croatia, damaging the runway in retaliation for Serbian air assaults on the UN-designated "safe area" of Bihac. The air strikes did nothing to slow or even address the Serbian ground assaults, which are on the verge of crushing the entire Bihac pocket.
Contact both the White House and your Congressional delegation. Let them know that you fully support the air strikes, but remind the President and Congress that the NATO strike on the air base has not addressed the critical problem of the relentless Serbian ground assault against Bihac -- a UN-designated "safe area" -- or the recent attacks on Sarajevo and Tuzla. Demand immediate, forceful air strikes to save the civilians of Bihac, Sarajevo, Tuzla, and the other "safe areas," and call for an end to the U.S. arms embargo against Bosnia so that the Bosnian Government can defend its people. In addition, please let ACSB know if you or an organization with which you are affilliated are planning any demonstrations or vigils to demand that the President prevent what is rapidly becoming another Gorazde.
BACKGROUND
According to a statement released by Bosnia's Mission to the UN in Geneva,
the Bihac pocket is facing "mass destruction and mass killing." The
statement claims that more than 10,000 Serbian artillery shells have fallen in the region and that several villages are ablaze. Serbian troops from the UN Protected Area of Krajina (Serb-held Croatia) are reported to have broken through Bosnian Government lines in Bihac, and tanks are reportedly firing into the town of Bihac itself.
The NATO air strikes did nothing to deter the Serbs from these violations of UN resolutions. Even as a deterrent to further Serbian air attacks, the NATO action fell short. Despite the large number of Western aircraft involved in today's air strikes on the Udbina air base, the raid amounted to little more than earlier earlier "pinprick" air strikes. All Serbian attack planes on the field were specifically not targeted, even though they had been used in napalm and cluster bomb attacks on civilians.
The Croatian Serb forces have repeatedly violated the border between Croatia and Bosnia in support of the most recent assault on the Bihac pocket. The Serbian attacks from the Udbina air base also violated both the no-fly zone imposed by the UN and the UN "safe area" resolutions.
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