Peter Maass

When Bosnian Serbs gained control of nearly 70 percent of Bosnia in April of 1992, Bosnian Muslims banded together and fought back. Resisting domination was made more difficult when Bosnia's neighbor and ally, Croatia, suddenly took advantage of Bosnia's weakened state and invaded the country as well. Yet even when the international community failed to intervene on Bosnia's behalf, Bosnian Muslims continued to fight for their homeland.

Peter Maass, an American foreign correspondent and staff writer for the Washington Post, learned why the Muslims resisted domination by speaking with his Bosnian friends. Maass explains that Muslims felt like Jews during World War II when the Nazis forced them to identify themselves as Jews, not Germans, and attempted to expunge them from the country. Using parallel logic, Maass conjectures that Americans would resist too if Canada and Mexico tried to exterminate...