Bullying Bosnia For Six Suspects

By ANDREW PURVIS

Last week's detention by U.S. troops of six suspected al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Bosnia showed just how hard the Bush Administration is willing to lean on other friendly governments in the war on terror. The six Algerians, who at the time held Bosnian papers, were arrested by Bosnian authorities in October after U.S. intelligence picked up phone conversations about possible attacks on the American and British embassies in Sarajevo. Citing the need to protect its sources, however, the U.S. refused to give its records to Bosnian prosecutors. When Bosnia's Supreme Court ruled that it had insufficient evidence to continue holding the suspects, U.S. military officials in Bosnia raised a stink. "They told us to live up to our international obligations," a senior Bosnian official told TIME, and they pressed Bosnia to keep the men in custody or turn them over to the U.S. American officials feared that adhering to the letter of Bosnian law would allow the men to escape. But human-rights groups and some local politicians objected that the men's legal and humanitarian rights were being violated. "We were squeezed on all sides," said the Bosnian official. The U.S. prevailed. When the prisoners were released, Bosnian police spirited them through a crowd of 300 angry supporters chanting "Law! Law!" and rushed them to an undisclosed location. The suspects are expected to be sent to the Guantanamo Bay prison that holds al-Qaeda members caught in Afghanistan.

--By Andrew Purvis