HEDGES SAYS EVERYTHING HE WROTE IS CORRECT

SARAJEVO, Aug 21 (Hina) - The enemies of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bosnians are those who stole money, not me who wrote about it, Chris Hedges, a The New York Times reporter said in reply to accusations made in Sarajevo that he had caused irreparable damage to Bosnia- Herzegovina with his writing. In an interview ran by Sarajevo's daily "Slobodna Bosna", Hedges said everything he wrote was absolutely correct and behind every statement he made in the article there were witnesses he personally spoke to to support his story. The son of the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia- Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegovic, announced he would file a suit both against the NYT and Hedges for claims that he was involved in crime and corruption. Bosnian Federation Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic also announced a suit. The American reporter said the claims he made in The New York Times were also included in a report by the Office of the High representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, which he saw, and not one attempt to refute his claims was convincing. I am under the impression that there is great hesitation to admit to the stealing of government money and international aid funds, as that would make it very hard to convince international donors to continue offering donations to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hedges said. He stressed it was probably very uncomfortable for the US Government to explain why it had invested its money into the BH Bank which is in the ownership of two brothers previously known for their dubious businesses. (hina) lml