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Colors Cased, Ceremony Marks Missions End
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2004 – NATO has turned over control of operations in Bosnia to the European Union and the last U.S. peacekeeping troops in Bosnia are gone.



Ending War in Bosnia, Enforcing Peace
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2004 – The stabilization mission in Bosnia is complete and American service members who served in the region can look with pride on their accomplishments, DoD officials said today. European Union soldiers officially took over the Bosnia mission today. U.S. soldiers and their NATO allies have finished an almost nine-year mission in the Balkan country.


http://www.defenselink.mil/home/feat...nia/index.html


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EU Takes Over Bosnia Mission

2 December 2004 -- The European Union began its largest military operation today, formally taking over NATO's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina with 7,000 troops.

The operation is seen a major step in the EU's drive to develop a military arm.

Those who attended the handover ceremony in Sarajevo included NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, as well as the Bosnian three-member presidency.

Solana said the takeover was a significant moment in European history.

"Today, we gather here to look to the future, but without forgetting the lessons of the past -- a future for Bosnia-Herzegovina that is in Europe with its values, its progress, its stability, and its prosperity. After the successful NATO operation, the deployment of the European force today signifies one again the commitment of Europe to these goals," Solana said.

A 60,000 troops strong, multinational NATO-led force was deployed in Bosnia after the 1992-1995 war between Muslims, Serbs, and Croats that killed 260,000 and forced half of the country's 4 million people to flee their homes. The force was later scaled down to 7,000.

A limited number of American troops will remain in Bosnia to hunt for suspected war criminals.

Copyright (c) 2004. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission!" -Capt. Zapp Branigan

Only 9 years, eh?

Guess that proves this kind of stuff cannot be done fast.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

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'Peacekeepers' flee with one million euro haul

AFP
December 02, 2004

BANJA LUKA: Five robbers dressed as NATO peacekeepers stole over one million euros belonging to an Austrian bank on the eve of the handover of the mission to an EU force, police said on Wednesday.

"Five unknown perpetrators dressed in (NATO-led Stabilisation Force) SFOR uniforms stopped an armoured vehicle transporting Raiffeisen Bank's money to the central Bosnian treasury and stole 2.047 million convertible marks (1.05 million euros, 1.34 million dollars)," police spokesman Rade Mutic told AFP.

He added that the 'soldiers' had built a checkpoint in the village of Ljubacevo and had flagged down the bank's vehicle, claiming to be peacekeepers. They then stole the money, locking guards inside the vehicle.

Police were investigating the incident, Mutic said.

The European Union's biggest military operation begins in Bosnia on Thursday when the 25-nation community takes over peacekeeping duties from NATO, nine years after the end of the bitter inter-ethnic war in Bosnia.

SFOR's 7000-strong force will be replaced on December 2 by a similar European force.

AFP
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I shouldn't, but..... LMAO!

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"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission!" -Capt. Zapp Branigan

It will take us approx 7 more years in IRAQ? Or maybe we should say 10 more years since Bosnia had nowhere near the insurgency.

10 more years! Well, I guess we all better hunker down.

BTW - Whose Idea was it get get involved in Bosnia? And if so, does that "individual" get any credit..(If its the success the story claims)!

I am only asking coz I remember certian people on Capitol Hill ranting and raving that it was a "terrible idea"...

Clinton gets credit. It was an example of why I liked him so much. And why I voted for him both terms.

Yep. The alternative was worse. Sometimes defense is expensive and tedious.

The UN is taking over after NATO did all the heavy lifting.

This is a good example of why the UN should stay out of military matters. Bosnia turned out just fine being handled by NATO.

EU, not the UN. The EuropeanUnion is taking over for NATO.

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"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission!" -Capt. Zapp Branigan

We never should have been in Bosnia in the first place. We should have let those Europeans settle what they created themselves. Bosnia was part of an artificial country CALLED YUGOSLAVIA, which created by the "GREAT " powers of Europe after WW I. Great Britain and France the leaders of the Great powers were the most responsible for creating that joke of an artificial country called Yugoslavia out six countries/ethnic groups. This was nothing but a time bomb for disaster. There was one group of distinct peoples called Yugos... The only Yugo there was was a very bad car modeled after the Fiat, called a Yugo. That was an artificial joke also. We should have let the parts of what was called Yugoslavia fight it out among themselves and whichever ones came out we could have dealt with them. Or let the Brits and the French deal with it because as I noted earlier they are the ones that created that stupid artificial "country" called Yugoslavia in the first place.