Michael A. Sells
8 College Lane
Haverford, PA 19041
H. 610-649-6523
W. 610-896-1027 (Haverford College, Department of Religion, Chairperson) (away Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning, back Monday afternoon)
Richard Cohen (op-ed July 22) calls for putting the Bosnians into a "city state" (like Lichtenstein) in Sarajevo and the area around it. After the surviving Bosnians are herded into Mr. Cohen's "city state," what is to protect them from the Serb army's repeatedly stated aim of conquering Sarajevo? The Serb army surrounding much of Sarajevo would still have its 50-1 advantage in heavy weapons locked into place by the UN arms embargo.
Not to worry. The UN and NATO presumably would protect the city state from the fate of falling to the Serb army. Like Srebenica.
The survivors of the horrors of Srebenica could at least flee to government territory. When the Serb army takes over the last "safe haven," there will be no place to flee.
Serb nationalists view Muslims as traitors to the Slavic race because of their ancestors' conversion from Christianity to Islam five hundred years ago. Mr. Cohen's "city state" would be a majority-Muslim enclave largely surrounded by an army with a genocidal ideology and a record of mass-killings.
The "city state" would be another European non-Christian ghetto. For a thousand years the fate of such ghettos in Europe has been the same: annihilation.
Michael A. Sells
Haverford