EDITORIAL>>Triumphing over adversity

In July 1995, Serbian fascists murdered more than 8,372 men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia, because they were Muslims. The massacre motivated NATO to increase its air strikes to halt Europe’s first genocide since the Second World War. More than 100,000 Muslims were killed in the conflict and two million were displaced from their homeland.


One of those displaced included Muhamed Mehmedovic. He is now a senior airman at Little Rock Air Force Base who is set for deployment, perhaps in Afghanistan.


As reported by Airman 1st Class Regina Agoha in this week’s Combat Airlifter, the newspaper at the air base, Mehmodovic was 6 years old when his family fled Srebrenica. He said about 80 percent of his family members who stayed behind perished in mass executions, shelling and sniper attacks. Victims were buried in unmarked graves, many of whom are still being exhumed for proper burial. (The article is reprinted in The Leader on p. 1A.)


Mehmodovic’s family fled north to the city of Tuzla, where he and his family survived on supplies air dropped by NATO forces. In 2002, he immigrated to the United States using a special program for survivors of the Bosnian genocide.


After graduating from high school in St. Louis, he joined the Air Force, inspired by the airdrops that kept him alive as a small child. When he returns from deployment, Mehmodovic will train to load supplies for airdrops. He hopes to help vulnerable people like the victims of Srebrenica.


The 17th anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica was marked on Wednesday. During the ceremony, 520 recently identified bodies were reburied.


Rabbi Arthur Schneier of New York, who is a Holocaust survivor, spoke at the ceremony.


“Shalom, Salam,” using the Hebrew and Arabic words for peace, the rabbi greeted the crowd.


“Silence is not a solution, it only encourages the perpetrators and ultimately it pays a heavy price in blood,” the rabbi said.


“(It’s time) for humanity to say in one clear voice: These crimes against people will end! Here on this sacred day we say, never again!” he said.


Then the crowd chanted “Allah Akbar” — “God is great” in Arabic.


The war, which lasted from 1992-1995, ended when the western world was motivated to end the killings. Led by Gen. Wesley Clark of Little Rock, NATO quickly overpowered the technologically and strategically inferior Serbian military.


Today, many Serbs, including its current president, deny the genocide. But the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, where the world’s most violent and shameful leaders are brought to justice, has since convicted many of its planners, sentencing them to die in prison.


We are proud Senior Airman Muhamed Mehmdovic is fighting for us, and we are proud that our country fought for him.