Based on the author's experience as an EC Monitoring Mission Observer, this is a narrative account of the recent civil war in the former Yugoslavia focusing on events in the Bihac Pocket one of the UN 'safe haven's in north-western Bosnia, combining material from a wide range of hitherto unused eyewitness and documentary sources.

O'Shea reveals how General Dudakovic of the Bosnian Army's 5th Corp and Fikret Abdic, one-time friend of Alija Izetbegovic and later founder of the breakaway Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, manipulated all agencies who came to assist them in order to ensure their own military and political advancement. The war in Bihac was also linked to other events in former Yugoslavia and O'Shea offers a perspective on the relationship between Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, vis-a-vis who was actually in control of events on the ground. He also re-examines the role of Slobodan Milosevic in directing the activities of the Bosnian Serb Army. As every party to the Bosnian tragedy continues to promote their own version of events as "the truth", O'Shea reveals the numerous layers of deceit and dishonesty.

Bihac pocket
enter Fikret Abdic
the 5th Corps fights for survival
the advent of Bosnia's Muslim/Croat Federation
the sage area of Gorazde
the contact group plan
Bihac under siege
Operation Tiger-Liberty
Turanj Crossing and Batnoga Camp
the 5th Corps' southern offensive - Operation Grmec
Boutros-Ghali goes to Sarajevo
Croatia's economic agreement and the Z4 plan
casualties for Bangladesh
the Carter initiative
Christmas time in Bihac
Croatia's gratitude to UNPROFOR
"Arms embargo! What arms embargo?"
the Serb stranglehold on Bihac recedes
General Vlado Santic disappears!
a new military alliance
a Muslim offensive shatters the COHA
political unification of the Krajina and the Bosnian Serbs
the Croatian Army invades Sector West
the beginning of the end for the Krajina Serbs
Operation Storm and the fall of Fikret Abdic.