'Failing an ally …#8221; again'

Failing an ally …#8221; again

Published: Thursday, March 13, 2008 7:20 AM EDT
http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/03/13/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/doc47d810291ff86362400398.txt

In reference to Sunday’s article “He was saved by the Serbs,” during World War II the Axis powers included Germany, Japan, Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and the Slovak Republic.

On March 25, 1941, Regent Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact making Yugoslavia a member of the Axis. Two days later, King Peter, age 17 and a Serb, participated in a British-supported coup d’état opposing the Tripartite Pact. The Germans invaded Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941.

Chetnik forces led by Draza Mihailovic (another Serb) were democratically oriented anti-communists and anti-fascists. Josip Broz Tito, a Croatian who was head of the Partisans in Yugoslavia, was a communist and supported by the Russians. At the time, like Russia, Serbia, then a part of Yugoslavia, was an ally of the United States.

As the article so eloquently pointed out, the Serbs were doing what allies were supposed to do — support each other’s efforts against a common enemy, the Germans.

The Chetniks and the Partisans fought against each other, and both fought the Nazis. At the time, because of politics, the United States backed the communist partisans instead of the Chetniks.

If the United States had backed the Chetniks, Serbia today would be a democracy.

The United States has been fighting al-Qaeda in Afghanistan since 2001 and Iraq since 2003. The Serbs have been fighting al-Qaeda in Kosovo since the early 1990s. Because of politics, the United States is not supporting its Serbian allies.

According to George W. Bush, the United States is trying to spread freedom and democracy to the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea and all parts of the world.

If the United States would stop playing politics and support Serbia, it would be helping to create another democracy in Eastern Europe and an ally in the fight against al-Qaeda.

Nikola (Nick) Drobac
Aliquippa, PA 15001-2036

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