Clinton: Europe did not help Bosnia

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton told historian Taylor Branch that Europe did not do everything it could have done to help Bosnia-Herzegovina.

He said that Bosnia did not receive this help because of the European fear of a Muslim state on its territory.

Branch, a personal friend of Clinton’s, published a book in which he reveals many conversations he had with the former president, including one in which Clinton said that the position of Bosnia-Herzegovina during the war and the collapse of Yugoslavia was the most important topic of the Balkan region while he was president.

Clinton told Branch that Bosnia was left without getting real help because of Europe’s fear of the formation of a Muslim state on the continent, adding that the U.S. was divided on whether or not to get directly involved in the war in Bosnia or not.

At that time, military experts recommended not to enter the war with air strikes and combat on the ground.

Clinton admitted to Branch that allies in Europe blocked the U.S. proposals for ending the arms embargo for Bosnia, “because more weapons would mean more bloodshed,” but Clinton said that it had more to do with Europe’s stance that a Muslim state within the continent would be “unnatural.”

He also revealed that former French president François Mitterrand openly said that Bosnia is not a part of Europe.