Date: July 20, 1994
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Thornhill, Ontario
Addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Toronto Star
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 3_Part2_Part115.pdf
About This Letter
In this letter dated July 20, 1994, Valentina Krčmar writes to The Toronto Star in response to Bill Schiller’s article “Bosnia Has Lost the War, Leader Admits” (July 19, 1994). Her words are sharp and resolute — a defense of Bosnia’s dignity and a condemnation of the world’s complicity through inaction.
Krčmar rejects the notion that Bosnia’s defeat was a matter of weakness or failure. Instead, she argues, the war was lost the moment the international community chose to disarm the victims while arming the aggressor.
“Bosnia hasn’t lost the war — Bosnia and Mr. Izetbegović have always used the peace to bring Bosnia together, but were never given even a chance to defend itself.”
Her outrage centers on the UN-imposed arms embargo, which she sees as a betrayal disguised as neutrality. The embargo, she writes, falsely treated both sides as equals, while knowing that Serbia already possessed an overwhelming arsenal inherited from the Yugoslav People’s Army.
“The world has made sure that Bosnia and Croatia, two countries attacked by Serbia for the purpose of ‘Greater Serbia,’ cannot even defend their citizens by placing the embargo on the so-called warring parties, knowing full well that Serbia has all the weapons they wanted.”
For Krčmar, Bosnia’s suffering is not the result of failed leadership, but of a world order unwilling to confront tyranny. She laments that even leaders like Alija Izetbegović, the Bosnian president, were forced to accept terms imposed by foreign powers simply to prevent further loss of life.
“Mr. Izetbegović cannot do anything else but accept what is rammed down his throat by the world (oh yes, Canada included), because he can’t let his people die any more.”
In these few sentences, Krčmar captures both the tragedy and the moral hypocrisy of the era — where the rhetoric of peace became a weapon used to silence the suffering of the defenseless.
Her letter stands as a stark reminder that inaction can be as devastating as aggression, and that history’s shame often lies not only with those who commit atrocities, but with those who watch and do nothing.
