Operation Irma
Encyclopedia
Operation Irma was the name applied to a series of airlifts of injured civilians from Bosnia and Hercegovina during the Siege of Sarajevo
. The airlifts were initiated after the wounding of five-year-old Irma Hadzimuratovic attracted international media attention. The programme was reported to have evacuated hundreds of Sarajevans during the second half 1993, but attracted significant controversy concerning its scale, evacuee selection criteria, and the motivations of the western European governments and press that inspired it.
Conflict in Bosnia and Hercegovina
had broken out in March 1992, following Bosnia and Hercegovina's declaration of independence from the former Republic of Yugoslavia. In April of the same year Serb forces, representing the Republika Srpska
and the Yugoslav People's Army
, took up positions in the areas surrounding the Bosnian capital Sarajevo
, initiating a siege that was to last for four years. The siege was characterized by sniper fire
and shelling directed at the city's buildings and infrastructure and at civilian residents of the city. Reports showed that between the beginning of the siege and November 1992, an average of eight persons were killed and 44 wounded in Sarajevo per day.
marketplace, injuring five-year-old Irma Hadzimuratovic and killing 15 others, including her mother. Sarajevo's overstretched Kosevo hospital was unable to provide adequate treatment for Hadzimuratovic's spinal, head, and abdominal injuries, and she developed bacterial meningitis
. Edo Jaganjac, the surgeon treating Hadzimuratovic, tried unsuccessfully to have her evacuated on a UN relief flight; he then resorted to distributing her photograph among foreign journalists in Sarajevo. Several picked up Irma's story, giving it widespread coverage in the international (and especially the British) press. On the evening of Sunday, August 8, the BBC
news led with coverage of Irma's injuries. On August 9, British Prime Minister John Major
personally intervened, dispatching an RAF
Hercules
to airlift Irma to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital
.
and Ireland
, organized further airlifts, and the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, and Poland also offered hospital beds.
, spokesperson for the UNHCR, commented that Sarajevo should not be regarded as a "supermarket" of photogenic potential refugees, asking "Does this mean Britain only wants to help children? Maybe it only wants children under six, or blond children, or blue-eyed children?" Patrick Peillod, head of the United Nations medical evacuation committee, said that the UK had treated Bosnian children "like animals in a zoo" and was trying to pick and choose evacuees to suit a public relations
agenda. When the government revised its approach and included adults on flights out of the city, claims were made that wounded combatants had been among those taken to the UK, Sweden, and Italy, and that patients had paid bribes to be included in the transports.
UK Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd
, on 9 August, countered that though the operation would evacuate relatively few of the city's wounded, it was still a benefit: "Because you can't help everybody, it doesn't mean you shouldn't help somebody." Sylvana Foa also later acknowledged that, after months of Western European indifference toward the war in the former Yugoslavia, the new public sympathy inspired by Irma's case was "like day following night."
Beyond these questions of scale and selection, the motives of both the British press and the government in publicizing Hadzimuratovic's case and then in launching Operation Irma were challenged. Some critics disparaged as hypocritical the sudden intensity of coverage devoted to a single victim of what was already a protracted siege. In December 1993 another Sarajevo evacuation program, 'Operation Angel,' received minimal press coverage in the UK, and the Financial Times
suggested that such human interest stories captured the popular imagination only during the British press's summer 'silly season
' when Parliament was in recess. Susan Douglas, in the October 1993 edition of American magazine The Progressive
, said British papers had indulged in "a ghoulish competition to scoop each other over Irma's condition and to use her evacuation to salve British guilt about standing apart from the carnage in Bosnia."
The British government was widely depicted as having launched Operation Irma in direct response to the level of press interest. Rescuers themselves joked that "Operation IRMA" was an acronym for "Instant Response to Media Attention." A Council of Europe
publication later noted that European governments had been criticized for regarding the exercise as having "more to do with a political and media operation than with humanitarian relief." The mission also received some criticism in the domestic press: Mark Lawson
in The Independent
called prime minister Major's efforts with the mission a "failure ... to silence the hostile snipers" based on a misunderstanding of popular indecision about Bosnia and on a failure to manage domestic press skepticism.
Meanwhile, within the former Yugoslavia, Operation Irma was regarded as evidence that the British government had taken sides in the conflict, favouring Bosnian Muslims over Croats or Serbs.
) wrote in November 1993 to the British Medical Journal
:
The press coverage surrounding the evacuation was later cited as an example of "disaster pornography", in academic analyses concerned with the portrayal of child victims of violence and disaster in ways that reaffirm those victims' remoteness from and subjectivity to western (here, Northwestern European) agency. In a similar vein, Dominic Strinati has presented the press interest in Operation Irma as evidence of a popular appetite for news stories that resemble the structure and tone of fictional narratives on war: "War films work most effectively ... by stripping back the too easily confusing contextual details of a conflict and focusing instead on the 'existential' problem of the protagonist's experience – the problem of being human in dehumanising circumstances ... News reporting – in this case from the Balkans – then has to compete even at the level of basic comprehension with this already established way of understanding things ... It may not be surprising, therefore, that one of the most memorable news 'stories' to come out of Bosnia was that of Irma, a rescued child." The operation has also been portrayed as representative of a trend whereby public reaction to media coverage of disasters leads and shapes official state response, even precipitating the creation of policy where none has existed before. Erica Burman
, developing this theme, has argued that Irma Hadzimuratovic became an "emotional focus" for a British public dismayed by its government's ambiguous and cautious attitude to the conflict in Bosnia:
A textbook on public relations
cites the episode as an example of a "bargaining game" in which various players – the UNHCR, British government, and press – all sought to achieve individual advantage.
Despite initial improvement, Irma Hadzimuratovic was paralyzed from the neck down and required a ventilator to breathe. She died of septicaemia in Great Ormond Street in September 1995 following 20 months in intensive care. The coroner at her inquest called Irma "a victim of war".
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
. The airlifts were initiated after the wounding of five-year-old Irma Hadzimuratovic attracted international media attention. The programme was reported to have evacuated hundreds of Sarajevans during the second half 1993, but attracted significant controversy concerning its scale, evacuee selection criteria, and the motivations of the western European governments and press that inspired it.
Siege of Sarajevo
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
had broken out in March 1992, following Bosnia and Hercegovina's declaration of independence from the former Republic of Yugoslavia. In April of the same year Serb forces, representing the Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
and the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
, took up positions in the areas surrounding the Bosnian capital Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, initiating a siege that was to last for four years. The siege was characterized by sniper fire
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
and shelling directed at the city's buildings and infrastructure and at civilian residents of the city. Reports showed that between the beginning of the siege and November 1992, an average of eight persons were killed and 44 wounded in Sarajevo per day.
July 1993 marketplace mortar
On 30 July, 1993, a mortar shell fired by Bosnian Serb troops hit a SarajevoSarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
marketplace, injuring five-year-old Irma Hadzimuratovic and killing 15 others, including her mother. Sarajevo's overstretched Kosevo hospital was unable to provide adequate treatment for Hadzimuratovic's spinal, head, and abdominal injuries, and she developed bacterial meningitis
Bacterial meningitis
Bacterial meningitis refers to meningitis that is caused by bacterial infection.-Signs and Symptoms:*Fever*Seizures*Meningismus*Headache*Vomiting*Photophobia*Altered mental status and coma*Anorexia...
. Edo Jaganjac, the surgeon treating Hadzimuratovic, tried unsuccessfully to have her evacuated on a UN relief flight; he then resorted to distributing her photograph among foreign journalists in Sarajevo. Several picked up Irma's story, giving it widespread coverage in the international (and especially the British) press. On the evening of Sunday, August 8, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
news led with coverage of Irma's injuries. On August 9, British Prime Minister John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
personally intervened, dispatching an RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Hercules
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...
to airlift Irma to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children is a children's hospital located in London, United Kingdom...
.
Commencement of "Operation Irma"
In the following days and months dozens more Bosnians were evacuated under a program the UK media dubbed 'Operation Irma.' During the week beginning August 9, 41 people were taken out of Sarajevo. It was reported later that hundreds were eventually evacuated under the programme. Other countries, including SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, organized further airlifts, and the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, and Poland also offered hospital beds.
Reaction and criticism
Though Operation Irma was widely publicized, and was reported in September 1993 to have raised £1 million in donations to evacuate the wounded from Sarajevo, it attracted a number of criticisms. These addressed the operation's limited scale; the motivations of the British press and foreign governments in launching the airlifts; the devotion of resources to evacuation instead of supplying material support to local medical services; and the broader issue of the UK's response to the war in Bosnia.Criticisms over scale
Some critics focused on the small numbers of persons evacuated via the operation. During August 1993 the violence in Bosnia killed on average three children each day, and thousands of others were injured or made homeless. Between the beginning of the siege on April 5, 1992 and the first airlifts under 'Operation Irma' the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had approved only 200 of Sarajevo's 50,000 critically wounded patients for medical evacuation. The British press storm had prompted offers of 1250 hospital beds in 17 countries by August 15; though a vast increase on prior offers of help, the total was dwarfed by the estimated 39,000 children requiring hospital treatment throughout Bosnia.The "supermarket" argument
As well as the scale of the response, critics questioned the criteria against which patients were selected for evacuation. At first the UK was challenged over its decision to include only children in the transports while tens of thousands of adults remained wounded in the city. Sylvana FoaSylvana Foa
Sylvana FoaFile:Sylvana Foa 1996.jpg Sylvana Foa is a former war correspondent and Spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations.Foa shattered glass ceilings within the media and the United Nations...
, spokesperson for the UNHCR, commented that Sarajevo should not be regarded as a "supermarket" of photogenic potential refugees, asking "Does this mean Britain only wants to help children? Maybe it only wants children under six, or blond children, or blue-eyed children?" Patrick Peillod, head of the United Nations medical evacuation committee, said that the UK had treated Bosnian children "like animals in a zoo" and was trying to pick and choose evacuees to suit a public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
agenda. When the government revised its approach and included adults on flights out of the city, claims were made that wounded combatants had been among those taken to the UK, Sweden, and Italy, and that patients had paid bribes to be included in the transports.
UK Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd
Douglas Hurd
Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE, PC , is a British Conservative politician and novelist, who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and his retirement in 1995....
, on 9 August, countered that though the operation would evacuate relatively few of the city's wounded, it was still a benefit: "Because you can't help everybody, it doesn't mean you shouldn't help somebody." Sylvana Foa also later acknowledged that, after months of Western European indifference toward the war in the former Yugoslavia, the new public sympathy inspired by Irma's case was "like day following night."
Criticisms of the British government and press
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
suggested that such human interest stories captured the popular imagination only during the British press's summer 'silly season
Silly season
The silly season is the period lasting for a few summer months typified by the emergence of frivolous news stories in the media. This term was known by the end of the 19th century and listed in the second edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and remains in use at the start of the 21st...
' when Parliament was in recess. Susan Douglas, in the October 1993 edition of American magazine The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
, said British papers had indulged in "a ghoulish competition to scoop each other over Irma's condition and to use her evacuation to salve British guilt about standing apart from the carnage in Bosnia."
The British government was widely depicted as having launched Operation Irma in direct response to the level of press interest. Rescuers themselves joked that "Operation IRMA" was an acronym for "Instant Response to Media Attention." A Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
publication later noted that European governments had been criticized for regarding the exercise as having "more to do with a political and media operation than with humanitarian relief." The mission also received some criticism in the domestic press: Mark Lawson
Mark Lawson
Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author.-Life and career:Born in Hendon, London, Lawson was raised in Yorkshire and is a Leeds United fan. He was educated at St Columba's College in St Albans and took a degree in English at University College London, where his lecturers...
in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
called prime minister Major's efforts with the mission a "failure ... to silence the hostile snipers" based on a misunderstanding of popular indecision about Bosnia and on a failure to manage domestic press skepticism.
Meanwhile, within the former Yugoslavia, Operation Irma was regarded as evidence that the British government had taken sides in the conflict, favouring Bosnian Muslims over Croats or Serbs.
Evacuation or local treatment?
Some UN aid workers immediately criticized the operation, arguing that very sick children were poorly served by programmes that obliged them to travel hundreds of miles. They argued, too, that with costs of around £100,000 per evacuated child the programme was devouring funds that could have been used to improve local facilities and treatment. The head of Kosevo Hospital's plastic surgery department said "It would be much better if you sent the tools to do our jobs properly than for you to make a big show of a few token evacuations." Countering this, A.D. Redmond of the Overseas Development Administration (the predecessor to the Department for International DevelopmentDepartment for International Development
The Department For International Development is a United Kingdom government department with a Cabinet Minister in charge. It was separated from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1997. The goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". The current...
) wrote in November 1993 to the British Medical Journal
British Medical Journal
BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
:
The Overseas Development Administration has been foremost in supplying medical and humanitarian aid to the people of Bosnia throughout the conflict ... In some circumstances medical teams are needed, requested, and supplied, but in others medical supplies alone are the most appropriate form of aid. I have also, however, received personal pleas from doctors whom I know well to evacuate patients who cannot be treated in Sarajevo ... No solution will suffice. We are all trying to help.
Aftermath
Erica Burman
Erica Burman is an influential critical development psychologist based in Britain. Her work has been a conceptual resource for critical research in developmental psychology, feminist perspectives on the connections between different forms of oppression, and methodological debates in...
, developing this theme, has argued that Irma Hadzimuratovic became an "emotional focus" for a British public dismayed by its government's ambiguous and cautious attitude to the conflict in Bosnia:
The widespread anxieties and consternation over government inactivity throughout the crisis could be deflected and resolved by rescuing a handful of children. In terms of recovering a sense of agency (in a conflict characterised by protestations of powerlessness by political and military authorities alike), the desire to do (and be seen to do) something was expressed and assuaged by transporting and incorporating some of the need and distress into the UK where it could be tended to and made better.
A textbook on public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
cites the episode as an example of a "bargaining game" in which various players – the UNHCR, British government, and press – all sought to achieve individual advantage.
Despite initial improvement, Irma Hadzimuratovic was paralyzed from the neck down and required a ventilator to breathe. She died of septicaemia in Great Ormond Street in September 1995 following 20 months in intensive care. The coroner at her inquest called Irma "a victim of war".