Given the long-standing unpopularity of terrorists, it is highly unusual to find politicians that lobby on their behalf or actively promoting their importation into their nation. This make the following documents a rare find.
In 1994, at a point during the Homeland War when 1/3 of Croatia was occupied by Belgrade-backed rebel Serb forces, a time when the Croatian economy was under severe stress, at the tailend of the failed, ill-conceived Muslim-Croat War, Croatian Vice President Vladimir Seks found time in his schedule to lobby the United States Parole Commission on behalf Vinko Logarusic, informing Logarusic's case analyst that "the Republic of Croatia has no objections to Mr. Vinko Logarusic traveling to and from Croatia, on a single or continuing basis or any objections to his eventual permanent residency in the republic of Croatia.” As you can see from the second document in the PDF, this letter was a product of an effort by Logarusic to receive permission to travel to Croatia after his release.
Logarusic, as this 6/22/1994 letter from Logarusic's Case analyst to Senator Metzenbaum shows, was a vicious individual who "participated in a Croatian terrorist ring from 1975-1981 and were responsible for two murders, several attempted murders, approximately 15 bombings and attempted bombings, an international extortion scheme involving 50 United States victims and the transportation of weapons and explosive throughout the country. According to a "U.S. Attorneys report,” “the crimes committed by this terrorist were among some of the most violent ever committed in the United States over a sustained period of time".
Yet, Seks was willing to allow Logarusic to visit and live in Croatia.
Below are the rest of the records released by the United States Parole Commission in response to an appeal I had lodged.
Again, I was late with the Document of the Week. This week's Document of the Week is a 12/08/05 cable from the US embassy in Zagreb to Foggy Bottom providing the details of how Ante Gotovina was captured. Citing sources within Croatian intelligence and (probably) the ICTY, (1) the US Embassy writes that Spanish intelligence, the Croatian Intelligence Agency (IA) and the Croatian Counter Intelligence Agency (POA), and select ICTY officials tracked him for months.The cable also noted that Gotovina's arrest "marked a major step forward for Croatian law enforcement, as no word of this effort had leaked to the public during the multi-month operation."
(1) Given the cable redacts the name of the informant, there is no way to know for sure at this time. Given the cable is not sent to the American embassy in Madrid, this leads to me to believe that the cable's named source is not from the Spanish government. Nothing more than a hunch leads me to conclude that the source if from the ICTY instead of Croatian.
(2) This cable was photocopied in an effort to cover up some food stains. It failed. Even worse the photocopy of the cable was shrunk. To make it more readable and to reduce its size, I axed a lot of white space.
The following NIEs on the Bosnian War and Homeland War were recently declassified and given to me by the CIA in response to a FOIA request that I had submitted.
NIE 93-22: Prospects for Bosnia [Redacted]
Issued in May 1993, this nine- page, classified “Secret” document gives insight into the CIA's pessimistic view for Bosnia's prospects and of the Bosnian government. The document reveals that the
The CIA believed that maintaining Bosnia's integrity after the implementation of a Vance-Owen Plan would require a commitment of time and resources on par with that made to South Korea after the Korean War.
The CIA believed that the “Muslims” were capable of “creat[ing] violent incidents that could be blamed on the Serbs and Croats.”
And the language of the NIE also shows that the CIA held the Bosnian government as being little better than the VRS and HVO it fought. In addition to the above “Muslims” and “Serbs and Croats,” another part of the NIE referes to the “Bosnian Serb Army” and the “Muslim-dominated Bosnian Army.”
Update Memorandum on NIE 93-22: Prospects for Bosnia [Redacted]
This five- page memorandum, classified “Secret” is an update to the May 1993 NIE 93-22: Prospects for Bosnia [Redacted]. The highlights of this document include
The CIA's belief that a Bosnia divided as intended by the Vance-Owen Plan would not survive long.
The CIA's opinion that the Europeans would not remained engage long in Bosnia if the United States refused to get involved.
This eleven-page, classified “Secret” document is a July 1993 National Intelligence Estimate on the probability of renewed warfare in Croatia during the lull in the Homeland War, the reaction of Serbia to such fighting, and the impact such violence would have on Bosnia, Croatia, and the world.
The CIA believed there was “less than even chance” of a peaceful settlement of the Homeland War and that the Croatians would hold if ti sensed progress in negotiations with the RSK.
The Croatian diaspora, particularly the “Herzegovinian Mafia”, were driving the HDZ and Franjo Tudjman's nationalist agenda,
The West's influence had and was continuing to keep the Croatians from restarting the Homeland War beyond the minor skirmishes.
Finally, it appears that the CIA was aware of Croatian military actions that appear to be mobilization and preparation for the Medak Pocket Operation.
NIE 93-23/I Combatant Forces in the Former Yugoslavia
This thirteen-page, classified “Secret” estimate was issued in July 1993 and is the first part of a two-part estimate on the combat capacity of the forces fighting in Bosnian War. Among the more interesting points contained with this document are:
The horrible CIA-produced map on page 4 of the Estimate
The CIA's referral to the Bosnian government as “factional leaders” on par with the HVO and VRS.
The CIA's belief that the Bosnian government would attacks Western targets and frame the Serbs.
The CIA's ultimately mistaken belief that the HVO, with Croatian military assistance, could hold on to captured territory indefinitely.
The attention given to the possible threat to Serbia's neighbors by that nation's military force. The CIA estimated that Macedonia, Hungry, and Bulgaria would all need outside assistance to beat Serbia while the much larger Romanian military
NIE 93-23/II Combatant Forces in the Former Yugoslavia\II
This sixty-eight page, classified “Secret” estimate was issued in July 1993 and is the concluding part of a two-part estimate on the combat capacity of the forces fighting in Bosnian War. It has more detailed analysis of the points brought up in volume I of NIE 93-23/II Combatant Forces in the Former Yugoslavia.
The most interesting aspect of this document is the attention given to the prospect for terrorism by or on behalf of the Bosnian government Or the “Bosnian Muslims” as the CIA would term it while ignoring prior acts of Serbian terrorism such as the bombings and hijackings by individuals such as Nikola Kavaja and the limited description of Croatian terrorism such as the 1980 bombing of the Statue of Liberty and the 9/10 Hijacking of TWA-355 both acts which were intended to bring about an independent Croatian state.
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