Today marks the 20 anniversary of the ARBiH

Today marks the 20 anniversary of the ARBiH. Twenty years ago Bosnia was already under attack, in 1991 in Ravno were the first ethnic cleansing occurred. Radovan Karadzic declared in congress "The road you are leading down, is the road to hell. You Muslims aren't prepared for war and may disappear". Stark warnings that would prove to be the blueprint for the genocide that was to soon face the Bosnian people and her defenders...Bosnia was ill prepared for what was about to happen to her, it's leaders failed to see what was happening in Croatia and to anticipate that she was next...Avoiding war at all costs when the war was already planned well in advance by the rebellious Bosnian Serb "leaders" it was just the arm, the heart and head lived in Serbia in the Serbian Academy of Sciences. In early 1992 before Bosnian independence already towns like Zvornik, Bijelinja and other towns bordering the Drina were attack. Some Bosnians supported an all defense position that Bosnia should be defended on the Drina and Sava rivers. Politics got involved and the goals from the beginning were obscured by political goals and ideas. The people organized themselves into groups like the Patriotic League, Civilian Defense Forces and Police and MUP forces. Eventually these organizations were reorganized into the ARBiH. Organizing an army in wartime under unbearable circumstances without weapons facing off against the fourth largest army in Europe seemed like a suicide mission and for many it was. Many Bosnians of all nationalities and ethnic background gave their lives in the defense of a unified unitary Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many foreign volunteers’ not just ones from Muslim countries but from Western countries as well gave their lives for the birth of the modern Bosnian nation. The ground in BiH that gave life to the state was nourished by the blood of all those who sacrificed it all to make sure those others could live and that the story of the Bosnian people would continue. On this day of all days we in the world who oppose fascism in all its faces and forms who believe the words spoke about WW2 Germany, “Never again” hasn’t lost its meaning, salute those who fought fascism in Bosnia in all forms and the struggle for peace in Bosnia which continues today.