West accused of downplaying Islamist threat in Bosnia

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political)

- May 30, 2008, Friday

Text of report by Bosnian Serb privately-owned centrist newspaper Nezavisne novine, on 28 May

[Commentary in "Personal View" column by Slavko Mitrovic:

"Al-Qa'idah Without a Passport"]

Bill Clinton: "We managed to prevent mujahidin from coming to power in Bosnia-Hercegovina when the war ended in 1995."

This statement by former US president clearly illustrates the strength and the intensity of radical Islam that was involved in the war conflicts in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Although many years have passed since this statement was made, Bosnia-Hercegovina is still not safe from the epidemic that the European soil spawned at the time. Al-Qa'idah was born in the war against Russian troops in Afghanistan in late 1980s, but it grew its wings and left its cocoon only with the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, after which it spread its wings all over the world. After the Dayton peace, Bosnia-Hercegovina was no longer in the focus of major world politics. It has made a comeback in the context of a possible regional crisis pertaining to the recognition of Kosovo as a self-proclaimed state. At the same time, seeing the light of day are just fragments of what is called radical Islamization of the entire Balkans. World Security Network recently published a text entitled "Balkans - a Hub of Worldwide Terrorist Network?" This text say that imported radical Islam threatens the local Bosnian branch of Islam, although the latter is putting up resistance. Nevertheless, there are no signs that the strength of Islamic movements controlled from the outside has dropped to the level where it was 17 years ago, at the beginning of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Radical Islam has taken root, and its presence is felt in the current political turmoil, social stratification, and the large safe haven for people linked to terrorism and organized crime. Western intelligence agencies responded to all of this only with "increased, if quiet attention." The intention of occasional arrests of people of Afro-Asian origin (which is a euphemism for mujahidin, Wahhabis, and Al-Qa'idah), which take place every several years, is to show that there is knowledge of these groups and individuals and that they are being observed, so Bosnia-Hercegovina and other countries are allegedly safe.