Bosnia is a true multiethnic and multicultural state

It is true that pre-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, as part of the Yugoslav Federation, displayed a reasonable degree of ethnic and religious tolerance and integration, and that most Bosnian Muslims (particularly in bigger cities) showed little religious fanaticism. However, it is also true that in the only multi-party elections in Bosnia (Fall 1990, a year and a half before the war began), votes went almost entirely along ethnic lines, bypassing even prominent multi-ethnic parties. Leadership of the Muslim (SDA) party was shorty thereafter taken, for good, by its radical Islamic wing led by Alija Izetbegovic, which has politically and militarily been representing the Bosnian Muslim cause ever since. Likewise, the idea of a Bosnian "nation" is flawed, as virtually all Bosnian Serbs and Croats (more than half the population) do not identify with it.

"Regrettably, the Bosnian polity had organized itself into political parties based largely on ethnic identity. As the world moved toward recognition of the Bosnian state, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic's Party of Democratic Action and its Croat and Serb counterparts exercised near-absolute control over regions where their ethnic groups were in the majority. Izetbegovic's party today runs Bosnia as a one-party state."

March 1996, Tuzla, Bosnia.
Bosnian Muslim troops carried Islamic banners in a parade.

"The most dubious of all Bosniac claims pertains to the self-serving commercial that the government hopes to eventually establish a multiethnic liberal democratic society. Such ideals may appeal to a few members of Bosnia's ruling circle as well as to its generally secular populace, but President Izetbegovic and his cabal appear to harbor much different private intentions and goals. Poignant pleas for Western help to the contrary, his interviews for Oslobodjenje, the Sarajevo daily newspaper, constantly remind his audience that their best friends are 'other Islamic countries.' Additionally, his cocky (albeit infrequent) propensity to let down his guard has resulted in some inadvertently revealing interviews for Westerners.

Izetbegovic had been imprisoned twice for Islamic activity under Tito's communist regime. With the now almost universal hatred of Tito and his followers, the President has astutely exploited these events to his favor. His noble act of protest on behalf of religious freedom, however, does not necessarily make him a proponent for freedom of religion in his country. He has yet to renounce his 'Islamic Declaration,' written in 1970, which states: 'There can be neither peace nor coexistence between the Islamic religion and non-Islamic social and political institutions.' "

"The Bosnian Muslim government certainly does not reflect the image of a liberal western-style democracy as the press misleadingly portrays it. This group remains Islamist-dominated and desperately attempts to hide its true sentiments"

"[...] the echelon of Muslim leaders, deeply penetrated by radical Islamist elements from Iran, continues to talk to its domestic constituency of prolonged warfare."