As someone who spent years reporting on, and writing about wars and the carnage in the Balkans, it is emotionally satisfying to see a military mobster of Mladic's status finally in custody, even if his expected conviction will not bring back the tens of thousands hurt, maimed, or killed in the slaughters he directed.
I was honored to be one of those thanked by people who spent years of their lives trying to arouse public opinion and government action.
I was mentioned in an email exchange that Bruce Rosen initiated which also praised journalists and activists who tried as hard as we could to publicize and condemn the crimes the world was witnessing while they were underway.
(I feel comfortable quoting from these letters because they show how many of us felt then--and now)
Stephen Walker wrote, "Thanks, Bruce - David, Roy, Danny, and many others helped shine the light on the horrors.
For those of you who don't see the FT, there is an interesting op-ed that reminds us of the complicity of Western governments and the UN during the genocide. I would have added to it the over 3 years of US complicity, which grassroots and congressional pressure, along with the collapse of the UN "safe areas" charade at Srebrenica, helped bring to an end.
He praised activists and journalists alike, writing
"We all owe a huge debt to courageous journalists, like David Rohde, who risked their lives to bring us the stories of the victims, their families, and the perpetrators of the genocide. But one of the important stories, largely untold, of the Bosnia Genocide is the impact grassroots activists, like yourself and many of the other recipients of your email, had during and after the genocide.
"Average" Americans sacrificed their time, energy, and money to raise awareness, lobby their government, solicit and deliver humanitarian aid, counsel rape victims, and do many other things that helped stop the genocide, enable the healing, and hold people in power responsible for bringing justice to the victims and their families. You, Glenn, and your fellow citizen activists have never received the attention or thanks you deserve, but you should take great pride in what you did over the years that led to yesterday's belated but welcome news."
There was this response from prize-winning journalist Roy Gutman, then with Newsday, now posted in Baghdad for McClatchey, who pursued the story with a rare tenacity.
"As one of the journalists who worked on the story -- David Rieff, John Burns, Ed Vulliamy, Christiane Amanpour, David Rohde, the late Kurt Schork Emma Dailey, Jeremy Bowen, Samantha Power, Roger Cohen, Stacy Sullivan being among the others -- I'd like to say something to Steve, John and others who were at State and quit, or stayed and kept fighting, or set up NGO's to bring this before the public and keep it there.
Yesterday was a great day for mankind, and it wouldn't have happened without you. Your encouragement certainly helped keep us going in our profession, and I'm sure it helped create the impetus that eventually forced the administration to act.
I hope you'll understand if I use the platform of this e-mail exchange to draw your attention to a truly disturbing situation, this time in U.S-allied Bahrain. Here is a story we ran yesterday, the latest of about 10. There are echoes of BH, just not the death toll, and one echo is the complete lack of reaction in DC. It is an alarming situation, and it is deteriorating.
Salute to all, Roy Gutman, Baghdad Bureau Chief, McClatchy Newspapers."
I wrote to Roy congratulating him for his role. He hadcooperated with our company Globalvision on one of the many programs we did on the crisis.
He responded this way, "Danny, Great to hear from you. Listen: Get thee to Bahrain. You're needed there. We all are. It's a disaster zone, desperately in need of real journalists. It was the first stop on my new assignment, covering the Mideast from a base in Baghdad. A very interesting time to be around these parts. As ever, Roy ...
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