CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnBOSNIA is the United Nations’ firstrnmajor experiment in nation-building,rnand the experiences of this multiethnic/rnmulticultural state provide discouragingrnevidence that the “international community”rnis no more virtuous or high-mindedrnthan the old rogues who governed nation-rnstates. Take the case of ThomasrnMiller, the United States ambassador inrnSarajevo, who is rumored to have eonspiredrna year ago with Milorad Dodik,rnthen prime minister of the Bosnian-SerbrnRepublic, to divert $500,000 of an Americanrnaid package to the Gore/I iebermanrncampaign. This claim, made privately byrna former minister in Dodik’s government,rnhas been confirmed by anotherrnhighly placed source in Banja Luka, therncapital of the Republika Srpska (RS).rnThe alleged deal was simple: LastrnJuly, Ambassador Miller is said to havernarranged a multimillion-dollar USAIDrngrant for the RS budget. Once the moneyrnarrived in Banja Luka, half a millionrnwas allocated to the prime minister’s “discretionaryrnfund”—over which he had exclusiverncontrol—and promptly sent backrnto the United States as his contribution tornthe Gore/Lieberman campaign. Thisrnwas not the only payment to a Westernrnpolitical figure from the fund (the existencernof which Dodik admitted in a televisionrninterview last November), but itrnwas the largest single disbursement. Thernsource insists that Miller was behind thernscheme but does not know whether the administrationrnor “Gore’s people in Washington”rnwere aware of what was going on:rn”It is possible that Ambassador Millerrnarranged it all on his own initiative, becausernhe is a committed Democrat—justrnlike all other key U.S. officials in Bosnia:rnJacques Klein, U.N. mission chief inrnSarajevo, Ralph Johnson, first deputyrnhigh representative, and Robert Berry,rnOSCE mission chief They all rooted forrnGore, and Miller is known to have expressedrnhis concern for ‘the future ofrnBosnia’ if Bush won. And he could notrnconceal his fury at the outcome of thernelection dispute in Florida.”rnWlien some revelations of Dodik’s corruptrnpractices—including the first partialrndisclosure of the Gore deal—were publishedrnby the Banja Luka magazine Extrarnlast February, it looked like the cat wasrnout of the bag. Interestingly, there hasrnbeen no follow-up. It was widely expectedrnthat the new government of PrimernMinister Mladen Ivanic would makernpublic the results of an investigation intornhis predecessor’s practices. This has notrnhappened so far, and our sources indicaternthat Dr. Ivanic is under heavy pressurernfrom Ambassador Miller and other Americanrnpolitical heavyweights in Bosnia notrnto do so.rnTheir nrotives are easy to understand.rnDodik was persona gratisshna in BillrnClinton’s Washington —Madeleine Albrightrnonce described him as “a breath ofrnfresh air”—and the proponents of “continuit)'”rnof the U.S. policy in Bosnia wantrnto keep him in reserve as a tried and truernquisling. He could come in handy if theyrnare allowed to play the next act in their arcanernBalkan game: the scrapping of thernDayton Accord in favor of a centralizedrnBosnian state. Even after Dodik’s crushingrndefeat at last fall’s RS general election.rnAmbassador Miller was promotingrnhim for a ministerial position at the federalrnlevel in Sarajevo. Because Dodik’srnreputation for greed and graft has madernhim odious even to the Muslim politiciansrnwho had found him useful in thernpast, he was unsuccessful. In addition,rnMr. Miller, a protege of Richard Holbrooke,rnmay have stiong personal reasonsrnfor wanting the new RS government tornkeep quiet about some of Dodik’s shenanigans.rnIf the allegations are corroborated, itrncould mark not only the end of his diplomaticrncareer but the beginning of a criminalrninvestigation once he is back in Washington.rnThe cover-up may not hold for long,rnhowever, because Miller has stepped onrntoo many toes during his tenure. He hasrnopenly campaigned for the “non-nationalist”rnparties in Bosnia’s elections andrnearned the lasting wrath of both Serbsrnand Groats, who resented his support forrnthe Muslims’ preferred model of a centralizedrnBosnia-Herzegovina. The Serbrnmember of the tripartite Bosnian presidency,rnZivko Radisic, even asked forrnMiller’s recall because “his activities inrnsupport of his preferred political partiesrnand personalities in Bosnia are incompatiblernwith the proper role of a diplomat.”rnThe Groats are equally resentful ofrnMiller in the aftermath of the clampdownrnby the “international communit)'”rnon their stronghold in Mostar, which includedrna raid on the vault of the bankrnused by their main political party.rnEven if the Bosnian Serb governmentrnis bullied into silence, our source saysrnthat it should be possible to learn therntruth about any misuse of USAID fundsrnfrom Deloitte Touche Tohmantsurn(DTT) and KPMG, as those two companiesrnmanage the consulting and lendingrnprogram that makes USAIL^ the largestrnlender in the RS and Bosiria. Right now,rnthe source claims, DTT is covering uprnmalfeasance in its Bosnian projects: “Anrneffort is under way, sometimes desperate,rnby DTT to prevent an independent investigationrnof what is behind observedrnsuspicious behavior in its project. Theyrnprobably know if the alleged contributionrnto the Gore campaign has beenrnmade, but there is reason to suspect a corruptrnconnection between the DTT projectrnand Dodik, and to expect that AmbassadorrnMiller will go out of his way tornthwart an independent investigation.”rnIf there is a scandal involving foreignrnaid, it won’t be the first since the “internationalrncommunity” started its involvementrnin post-Daj-ton Bosnia. In the summer ofrn1999, the office of the high representativern—the U.N. Gauleiter n Sarajevo whornwields the real power in the hybrid “country”rn—confirmed that more than one billionrndollars had been lost in postwarrnBosnia through tax evasion, customsrnfraud, or embezzlement of public funds.rnMuch of that money was simply stolenrnfrom international aid projects, worth overrnfive billion dollars in 1996-1999. Anotherrnform of institutionalized corruption involvesrninternational bureaucrats who lobbyrnlocal politicians on behalf of companiesrnfrom their countries. According tornour source in Banja Luka, “The Britishrndominate the so-called IndependentrnGommission for Media, and they swiftlyrntailored the privatization of the Bosnianrntelevision system so that British companiesrnappear as best qualified potential buyers.rn’Ilie Bosnian tsar himself, High RepresentativernWolfgang Petritseh, tirelessly demandsrnthat Austria Telecom be grantedrnthe license as the second mobile-phonernprovider for Bosnia-Herzegovina. Hisrndeputy, Ralph Johnson of the UnitedrnStates, is involved in setting up consolidatedrnpublic utilities for gas aird electiicit}’ sornthat they can be sold off more easily to foreignrninvestors who fit his bill. Lower downrnthe scale, foreign bureaucrats-especiallyrn6/CHRON:CLESrnrnrn