There has been a vicious campaign of destruction of houses of worship in the Balkan conflict. The vast majority of this destruction was unrelated to warfare (carried out behind the lines, by the dynamiting of mosques and churches) and not any kind of collateral damage. The aim is to annihilate the very traces of the peoples driven out. The vast majority of the destruction has been carried out by Croat and Serb religious nationalists, but Bosnian government soldiers also damaged a monastery at Fojnica and, according to this post, recently destroyed a Serb Church in the suburb of Sarajevo.
I am in full support of the efforts of Andras Riedlmayer (see his forum on Cultural Heritage) to make the systematic destruction of cultural monuments as war-crime. Not only have churches been destroyed, but librariers, bridges, art museums, manuscript collections, graveyards, and other monuments are part of the campaign. It should also be pointed out, in regard to those who claim that this war is simply a repeat of "age old antagonisms" that many of these monuments have lasted four or five centuries. Only this particular conflict entailed their systematic annihilation.
I support the demand of Riedlmayer and others that those guilty of deliberate destruction of houses of worship be tried for crimes against humanity, and that their sentence be one that fits a grievous crime. Any government agency or government official involved in either authorizing such destruction or condoning it (by refusing to investigate it or refusing to send police to stop it) should be help responsible as well. Those responsible should also be made to pay restitution.
It doesn't matter whether the house of worship was Serb, Muslim, or Croat, or what the religion of the perpetrator is.
So I invite Mr. Mladenovic, Mr. Malloy (who responded to him) and others, to join together in urging swift and fair trials for those accused of these crimes, regardless of their religion.
And as a gesture of reconciliation, I invite Mr. Mladenovic, Mr. Malloy, and others to urge all religious leaders in the region, to visit the ruins of every place of worhship, NOT ONLY OF THEIR OWN RELIGION, but the other religion, to stand in the ruins, and to condemn the act.
This would truly be a pilgrimage of world peace.
Michael Sells