storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

why something was done in a specifi c way and not as planned. Of course, there is always
the danger that the participant’s story might be too subjective just as various reports and
other written documents, and it is up to historians and other scientists to assess the case.
Moreover, there is always the “public correction” as well. Th is is why it is important to
publish the sources (verbal and written) as soon as possible, or to have as many interviews
as possible on the subject with the participants. At any rate, the reader ought to get, in a
single spot, the substance or the interpretation of a historical source, and the explanation
of the participants to which the source refers, because this will make his conclusion more
realistic and more objective.
Th is is why due gratitude ought to be expressed, for their readiness to help in the editing
of this book, to the generals and commanders of the Croatian Army and special units of
the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, as well as to the associations of
the Croatian Homeland War veterans, whose useful comments enhanced objectivity in
the presentation of those parts of Storm in which they were personally involved. Th eir
names are mentioned in the notes, and next to their comments on the text or on the
mentioned sources. Th e reviewers of the book, General Anton Tus, Zdenko Radelić,
Ph.D., and Nikica Barić, Ph.D., deserve particular gratitude.
In addition to the mentioned scientifi c study, this book is enriched by the Appendices,
documents on important political and military events on the eve of Storm, which
infl uenced its initiation (the process of annexation to Serbia and the unifi cation of the
so-called Republic of Srpska Krajina 1 and Republika Srpska, that is, of the Serbs from
Croatia and the Serbs from Bosnia&Herzegovina, into a single state, and the Bihać crisis),
and on its aft ermath (the exodus of the Serbs from the occupied area), selected and
edited by senior archivist Mate Rupić, Head of the Archival Material Department of the
Croatian Homeland War Memorial&Documentation Centre. Th e chosen topics, and the
respective selected and chronologically arranged documents, ought to help in fi nding
answers to the question of why the issue, i.e., the occupied territory of the Republic of
Croatia, could not be resolved by diplomatic means and peacefully, why Storm could not
be deferred any longer, and why claims that the Croatian leadership expelled the Serbs
from the so-called Krajina and carried out ethnic cleansing are historically unfounded.
Th e documents in the Appendices of this book cover the period between 1991 and 1995
in order to draw attention to the fact that the launching of Storm was not a sudden whim
of the Croatian leadership but, rather, the consequence of a long process of fruitless
1 In its publications the Croatian Homeland War Memorial&Documentation Centre mainly follows the rule whereby
the names of self-proclaimed or unrecognized states or political creations are placed in inverted commas or
qualifi ed as «so-called». However, on this occasion we accepted the author’s view that «the names of all states,
political creations and movements, whether internationally recognized or not, lawful or unlawful, accepted or rejected
- in a nutshell, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ - ought to be written without inverted commas, that is, as they call themselves,
or as listed in historical sources» (see Nikica Barić, Th e Serbian Rebellion in Croatia 1990-1995, Zagreb, 2005, pp.
13-14). Of course, the fact that the text, when mentioning the «SAO Krajina» or the «Republic of Serbian Krajina»
and its paramilitary formations, will have no inverted commas or the qualifi cation of «so-called», does not imply
that the author considers the occupied territory of the Republic of Croatia, in which the Serbians established their
control and proclaimed their para-state, to be a legitimate state entity. Quite the contrary.
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