He was pointing his pistol at the sky, vowing to take on the world’s most powerful fighting force: the United States of America.
On the outskirts of war-torn Sarajevo, the soldier, a Bosnian Serb, wasn’t daunted by the power of the U.S. It only inflamed him, as if the challenge were an inspiration.
“If the American planes come,” said the soldier, Miladin Matic, “I’ll take out my pistol and I’ll fight.” That was two years ago, when America was flexing its muscles, and U.S. intervention in Bosnia seemed imminent to the Bosnian Serbs.
Many Americans concluded that the Bosnian Serbs would back down, confronted by American military might. But they didn’t then, and they don’t now.
Perhaps if it ever comes to a real out-and-out confrontation, the Serbs would back down; maybe they’d have to. After all, they’ve stepped back before, retreated at the world’s threats.
But they’ve always re-emerged, with power or with cunning, attacking a new area, seizing weapons they’d given up, targeting NATO jets with hand-held anti-aircraft weapons.
During the last two weeks, they’ve held UN troops hostage, at one point chaining them to potential NATO bombing targets, almost daring the West to attack.
One can only imagine the pride these ferocious fighters must have felt when they shot a $16 million American F-16 jet out of the sky just over a week ago, as it flew at 20,000 feet.
The Serbs had confronted a powerful enemy, and managed to bloody him.
Whatever else they are-combatants accused of atrocities and criticized for targeting civilians-the Bosnian Serbs aren’t a people to cower in fear.
As they are quick to tell strangers, they have faced superior forces before.
Although German Nazis controlled much of former Yugoslavia during the horrible years of World War II, armed resistance continued in Bosnia, its men surviving in the mountainous terrain the Bosnian Serbs still call their own.
At the same time, Serb fighters battled Croatian fascist Ustashi forces who had allied themselves with the Nazis.
Today, ever defiant, the Serbs almost taunt the U.S. to take them on.
Behind their baffling stance is this: The Serbs are furious at the U.S. for sympathizing with their enemies, but they still admire American might. If one is judged by the size and power of one’s enemies, then America is a great enemy to have.
It would be an honor, in their eyes, to fight the U.S.
“If somebody did destroy us,” another soldier said, “it’d be better to have the Americans do it than the Muslims.”
Of course, a handgun is a pitiful match for a fighter jet. Yet as Matic defiantly brandished it, it transformed into a symbol, somehow powerful, even as NATO jets occasionally swooped low over the land, their roar loud and intimidating, awesome compared to his lonely firearm.
To die fighting the Muslim or Croatian enemies would be honorable, he said. To die fighting America would be glory.
That mentality permeates Serb-held Bosnia, stubbornly intact. Despised as they are by much of the world, depicted as brutes and thugs, the Bosnian Serbs still show an incredible oneness of thought and purpose, convinced that they are right and justified.
Each threat from America does cause concern; a flash of worry might cross the weathered face of an old man, but then proud determination usually sets in.
These are people who have grown up in rugged terrain, who still farm with horse-drawn plows, whose herds of goats and sheep amble across the roads of Pale, the mountain headquarters of the Bosnian Serb rebel government.
In Pale, their voices have echoed throughout the war, remarkably unified. Two years ago they spoke with the same determination still reflected today, as the Serbs continue taking hostages and firing missiles at NATO planes.
A truck driver, Mico Vukovic said back then: “I know that we are less than America, that America is more powerful than we.”
But, he continued, “We will survive because we are right. It’s impossible to destroy our nation.”
A cleaning lady, Milena Jakovljevic said: “We live on our own land and if we are to die, we’ll die on our own land, too.”
And a politician, Momcilo Golijanin: “Even if America intervenes, it’s not a disgrace to die in a fight with someone stronger than you. It would be a disgrace to give up, to just put our hands in the air.”
As the UN troops try to do the almost impossible job of keeping peace in the midst of war, some have observed the Serbs’ mystifying attitude and have even grown begrudgingly to respect them.
Last year outside of Vitez, British soldiers found that Serb soldiers actually looked forward to a good fight.
Each time the UN confronts the Serbs, “We have to be aware of the fact that the Serbs may retaliate. . . . The Serbs think it’s great sport to shoot at the UN,” said Capt. Ian Fielding.
In a characteristically British way, Sgt. Steve Walker considered his forces to be stronger than the French UN troops.
He contended that his men had earned the admiration of the Serbs by their willingness to fight back when the Serbs took pot shots at the UN.
“The Serbs hate the French because they’re wimps and they back down. The Serbs are basically a macho nation. All the men think they’re hard as death,” Walker said.
He told this story: A Bosnian Serb snipers’ nest continued to fire on British troops, even after a British commander issued formal complaints to the local Serb leader. The leader responded, saying the snipers were renegades, out of his control.
When the sniping continued, the British turned their fighting machine on the nest and blew it apart.
“The Serbs were extremely pleased,” Walker claimed. ” `It goes to show that we’re not chicken. . . . We don’t run away.’
“They obliterated the snipers, and the Serb commander told our commander, `Well done.’ “
That story illustrates how foreign troops view the Serbs, having spent time with them face-to-face, an experience the American military lacks.
When President Clinton considers going in to defend the beleaguered Muslims, it may be smart to think about the mind-set of the people American troops would have to face.
Just as they hold the Americans in a place of honor, many Serbs see the Muslims as overly peaceful, inept fighters.
“They’re not competent in the military sense. They’re not a serious people,” Rade Simovic, a theater director, said last year as he walked the streets of Pale. “They’re a nation without roots and fundamentally can’t fight a war.”
On the other hand, he said proudly, the history of the Serb soldier “is a long story, probably one of the most significant military traditions in history. It’s hard to explain to you, the Anglo-Saxons. We come from generations. . . . We’re an ancient and serious people.”
