Den tidligere CIA-agenten Robert Baer har sagt i et intervju i Ottawa, Canada, at han og hans gruppe agenter på nittitallet fikk millioner av dollar fra sine oppdragsgivere for å spre hat og bidra til splittelse av Jugoslavis. Baer var ledende agent for CIA i 1991–94, og om sitt arbeid der sier han blant annet:
I received instructions that Slovenia was ready to declare independence. We were given money, a few million dollars, to fund various NGOs, opposition parties and various politicians who inflamed hatred.
Baer var ikke hvem som helst i CIA. Han jobbet for den amerikanske etterretningsorganisasjonen i 21 år på så forskjellige steder som Madras og New Dehli, Beirut, Khartoum, Paris, Dushanbe, Marokko; Jugoslavia og irakisk Kurdistan.
Han har gitt ut en serie bøker, og to av dem er blitt New York Times bestselgere: Sleeping with the Devil, om kongefamilien i Saudi Arabia og dens forhold til USA og See No Evil, som handler om Baers år som CIA-agent. See No Evil ble filmatisert som Syriana, som ga George Clooney en Oscar i rollen som Baer. Baer skriver regelmessig for Time.com har skrevet i Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal og Washington Post.
Da han gikk av fra stillingen i CIA ble han belønnet med CIAs Career Intelligence Medal som deles ut på grunnlag av «cumulative record of service which reflects exceptional achievements that substantially contributed to the mission of the Agency.»
Baer kan altså ikke avvises uten videre som en tilfeldig ryktespreder. Han sier videre i intervjuet:
Where and when was your first job in Yugoslavia?
I arrived by helicopter with three agents. We landed on 12 January 1991 in Sarajevo. Our job was to keep an eye on alleged terrorists of Serbian nationality, who were expected to attack Sarajevo.
Who were the terrorists in question and why were they supposed to carry out these attacks?
They gave us files about a group called “Supreme Serbia” detailing plans to conduct a series of bomb attacks on key buildings in Sarajevo in opposition to Bosnia’s ambition to leave former Yugoslavia.
Did that group ever exist and what exactly you were doing in Sarajevo under CIA command?
No such group ever existed! Our headquarters lied to us. Our mission was to alarm and spread panic among politicians in Bosnia, simply to fill their heads with the idea that Serbs would attack. To begin with, we accepted the story, but after a while we started to wonder. Why were we raising such hysteria when the group clearly did not exist?
Baer gir altså et sterkt inntrykk av at USA, blant annet gjennom CIA og diverse NGOer og andre, gjorde sitt ytterste for å sette folkegruppene i det tidligere Jugoslavia opp mot hverandre og få dem til å hate hverandre. Dette lyktes de som kjent overmåte godt med.
Han ble spurt om de bare drev med propaganda mot serberne, og svarer:
Yes and no. The aim of the propaganda was to divide the republics so they would break away from the motherland Yugoslavia. We had to choose a scapegoat who would be blamed for everything. Someone who would be responsible for the war and violence. Serbia was chosen because in some ways it is a successor to Yugoslavia.
Intervjueren spør Baer hva han kan si om Srebrenica, som jo har blitt stående som symbok på serbernes ondskap. (Les: Srebrenica 20 år.) Baer svarer:
Srebrenica is an exaggerated story and unfortunately many people are being manipulated. The number of victims is the same as the number of Serbs and others killed but Srebrenica is political marketing. My boss, who was formerly a US Senator, stressed repeatedly that some kind of scam would go down in Bosnia. A month before the alleged genocide in Srebrenica, he told me that the town would be headline news around the world and ordered us to call the media. When I asked why, he said you’ll see. The new Bosnian army got the order to attack homes and civilians. These were of course citizens of Srebrenica. At the same moment, the Serbs attacked from the other side. Probably someone had paid to incite them!
Then who is guilty of genocide in Srebrenica?
Srebrenica should be blamed on Bosnians, Serbs and Americans – that is us! But in fact everything has been blamed on the Serbs. Unfortunately, many of the victims buried as Muslims were Serbs and other nationalities. A few years ago a friend of mine, a former CIA agent and now at the IMF, said that Srebrenica is the product of agreement between the US government and politicians in Bosnia. The town of Srebrenica was sacrificed to give America a motive to attack the Serbs for their alleged crimes.
Jeg har ikke sett at noen av de større mediene har tatt opp dette intervjuet eller kommentert det. Jeg har ikke en gang klart å finne noen kritikk eller fordømmelse av det. Og jeg har virkelig jobbet for å prøve å finne noe sånt. Det virker som om noen har bestemt seg for at denne historien bare skal forsvinne i «hukommelseshullet» med håp om at den aldri må dukke opp igjen.