Mr. President, you were one of the main politicians who helped Bosnia preserve its statehood up until now, which is why Bosnians are forever grateful to you. It’s also one of the reasons why the vast majority of Bosnian Americans voted for you in 2020. I’m asking you as a loyal American citizen (who is Bosnian born) to help Bosnia, again, during these critical times. The destructive political and criminal factors in Bosnia and neighboring countries are trying to annul the Dayton Agreement and de facto eliminate Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. I believe the only way to help Bosnia and Herzegovina is to erase divisions and to make it a functional state like the United States of America and the rest of the democratic countries in the world.
Below is a text that I wrote in January 2021 because I was concerned about America and its future. I sent it to a few newspapers but it was never published. This is why I am publishing it now, on my Health Fitness Revolution Magazine. This time, it’s because I’m concerned about Bosnia and Herzegovina and history repeating itself. I’m trying to stop a repeat of the bloodshed that caused hundreds of thousands of lives lost in 1992, a million refugees, tens of thousands of women raped and innocent children killed that culminated with the genocide in Srebrenica.
By Samir Becic on January 11, 2021:
In the early 1990s, as Yugoslavia’s notion of brotherhood and unity started to collapse and war was on the brink, my father packed a suitcase and took my sister and me to Croatia.
But my mother refused to leave. She, like many other people, thought that violence and turmoil would soon pass; that there is no way war was a possibility; that women would not be raped and concentration camps would not be built. But the warning signs were obvious. It’s incredible how the mind can block out what it doesn’t want to deal with. And eventually my family lost everything it had in Bosnia.
Now, as an American citizen enjoying freedom in Houston for the past 21 years, as someone who loves this country and believes in its people and its democracy, I am concerned that this nation is failing to recognize trends that haunt me from my childhood in Bosnia, the land of my birth.
A friend recently said to me, “You cannot compare (former Serbia president Slobodan) Milosević to President Trump.” Maybe not, or maybe my friend does not have the firsthand experience I do. Maybe he, like my mom, believes an internal war is not possible in the US. I hope he is right and I pray that he is. But we cannot ignore the similarities that Trump and Milosević share — a nationalistic agenda, populist tendencies, disregard for facts, emboldening a post-truth world, and promoting conflict with divisive rhetoric.
I urge my fellow Americans to heed the warning signs and protect American democracy and peace with everything you have.
Because of the possibilities that America offers, I was able to rebuild my life. I have traveled all over the world. I’ve lived in Germany, which has the largest European economy). But nothing compares to the land of the free, the USA. Having lost one home, I’m ready to fight with everything I have to protect democracy and freedom. America is a beacon of light for humanity. Americans — Democrats, Republicans, independents — must make sure we keep it that way.
There are many reasons why Yugoslavia slid into genocide, but I believe the main reason was lack of dialogue as a society — a willingness to engage in exchanges and resolve problems that arise from clashing thoughts. It is a fact that the Yugoslavian leaders did not understand the power of it.
As a result, Bosnia, its core values, and everything that its people stood for, was destroyed. Ethnic cleansing, rape, destruction, concentration camps, and mass killings became the norm from 1992 to 1995. Over 100,000 people were killed and 2.2 million displaced. Bosnia is still struggling to heal and to unite its people in the aftermath of the destruction.
While many Yugoslavian leaders have been tried and sentenced to life in prison at the Hague Tribunal for the atrocious war crimes and genocide committed, I can’t help but wonder — what would have happened if they had been stopped in a timely manner? How many thousands of lives could have been spared? Maybe 250 of my relatives, friends, and neighbors would still be alive today.
It broke my heart to see my mom stay behind because families should not be separated. Many months later, I was able to reunite with her in Croatia- a luxury many Bosnian children never had.
America is a beacon of light for humanity. For its children and their families, we must work every day to denounce any effort from any political corner to divide us against each other. Otherwise, the blood of civil war could be on the hands of all who survive it.
