WASHINGTON, March 15 (Hina) - The president of the HDZ, Croatia's strongest opposition party, has endorsed a possible U.S. military action in Iraq in a Wall Street Journal article in which he says that Croatia's experience with the
regime of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic teaches that the policy of stalling has catastrophic consequences.
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Hina) - The president of the HDZ, Croatia's
strongest opposition party, has endorsed a possible U.S. military
action in Iraq in a Wall Street Journal article in which he says that
Croatia's experience with the regime of former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic teaches that the policy of stalling has
catastrophic consequences. #L#
Ivo Sanader, the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union, says in
the article he authored that the use of force in Iraq, however
terrible, can preclude graver consequences.
Bearing in mind its own experience, Croatia better than most
European countries appreciates that the use of force, although
always a horrible enterprise, is sometimes the only answer to the
challenge posed by evil regimes, writes Sanader.
Croatia's experience speaks strongly against the policy of
stalling as it was this kind of policy by the international
community that exposed Croatia to the aggression of the Milosevic
regime, costing thousands of lives and billions of euros in war
damage, he says.
Four wars could have been averted, against Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, thousands of lives could have
been saved, "ethnic cleansing" would not have entered the European
lexicon, and South East Europe would not have been destabilised had
force been used against Milosevic back in 1991, writes Sanader.
He believes the world is in a similar situation with Saddam Hussein
and his regime. Saddam's chemical and biological weapons, as well
as nuclear ones, constitute a considerable risk, says Sanader.
He states that for Croatia and his party the decision to be part of
united Europe is indivisible from friendship and partnership with
the United States.
Drawing another historical parallel, Sanader writes that Europe,
fearing war, applied a similar policy of appeasement with Adolf
Hitler in the 1930s.
Despite 12 years of violating 17 Security Council resolutions, some
Europeans continue to think that Saddam can be held in check with
United Nations inspections and that military action can be either
postponed or completely averted, says Sanader.
He wonders if such a policy is realistic and might it not eventually
have catastrophic consequences. History proves that today's policy
of stalling is no more effective than the policy of appeasement in
1930s Europe, says the Croatian opposition leader.
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