American Professor Darryl Li: Izetbegović did not bring mujahideen to BiH, media accusations are unfair

BiH, (Patria) - I completely reject attempts by Serbian and Croatian media to attribute everything foreign mujahideen did, including war crimes, to Bosniak politicians. And yes, I understand that the West is putting great pressure on Bosniaks to prove themselves as "good" Muslims, i.e., white and harmless. But it is important to stick to the facts, even when they are confusing, says Dr. Darryl Li, a professor at the University of Chicago. In 2012, he defended his doctoral dissertation at Harvard University on the topic of foreign fighters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, their motives, role, and their connection to terrorist organizations, and he is also preparing a book on the same topic that will be based on the aforementioned doctoral dissertation.

While working on his research, he learned Bosnian and Arabic, which enabled him to speak directly with many foreign fighters who were direct participants in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Balkans, Dr. Darryl Li spoke about the findings he reached during years of research into the role of foreign fighters in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the aggression against the country in the early 1990s.

"I had the opportunity to talk with various foreign Muslims who fought in the jihad in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to analyze many publications they worked on at the time, their internal documents, and surveillance reports compiled by the governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy. These reports show that their common goal was to help Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina in their defense against the mass crimes committed primarily by Serbian forces at the time," says Dr. Li.

He reminds that most of the foreign volunteers were in the Elmujahideen detachment of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which adopted a policy of prohibiting any activity outside the defense of Bosnian Muslims. The number of foreign fighters was in the hundreds at any given time and they were part of an army in which citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina overwhelmingly dominated. True, says Dr. Li, many of these individuals believed that Muslims should live in a state that follows Islamic law under ideal conditions, but they knew there was no point in imposing this idea against the will of the citizens.

"It is regrettable that this episode from the war continues to be used as part of anti-Muslim policy, as seen in the latest cover of Globus magazine. If Globus looked at their own archives, they would find an interview their journalists conducted with the first commander of the Arab mujahideen, who said, referring to the war in Bosnia: 'We have no intention of participating in the future political life of this country. Our purpose is jihad, and when it ends, we leave!'" says Dr. Li.

This professor points out that his research shows that the foreign volunteers arrived on their own initiative and approached President /Alija/ Izetbegović, not the other way around. The priority of the Government in Sarajevo during the war was to lift the arms embargo and obtain diplomatic and financial assistance. Manpower was not something the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina lacked. There were tensions at the very beginning between the foreign fighters on one side and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the other.

"Izetbegović tolerated the presence of these fighters, and the Army relied on them as shock units in some battles, but there is no evidence that he used them to 'Islamize' the population. Moreover, the Islamic Community, which was known for following the Hanafi madhhab, opposed any attempts to steer citizens towards the Salafi orientation," says Dr. Li, Patria reports.

He concludes that at the end of the war, most of the foreign volunteers left Bosnia and Herzegovina, and almost all of those who remained married wives from Bosnia and Herzegovina, became citizens of that country, and lived ordinary lives.

Watch the full interview HERE