In 10 years, when American and European Union peacekeepers have left Bosnia, "the Serbs can just vote themselves to take the whole country," said Halilovic, who was commandant of the 4th Muslim Brigade defending against the Serb invasion.

"But Bosnia will not get deleted," he added. "It's just up to the whole world, and up to us a little, to be very hard, and try and try."

Multinational Bosnia

Bosnians who fought the invasion, both Muslims and non-Muslims, made a lot of compromises with the Serbs in the hopes of having their own territory, Halilovic said.

"We want a multinational and multicultural Bosnia and Herzegovina (the country's formal name), a place that every citizen will have all the rights he deserves. And because of that, we share this country and law.

"Unfortunately, we're used to getting bullied, so they attack us the most. The world should do everything to help Bosnia and to delete Republika Srpska, because it was formed on a genocide."

It's hard to get a functioning parliament or law in Bosnia, because the government is based on the Dayton agreement "and it's wrong," he said.

He recalled a comment by a former president of Bosnia, the resistance hero Alija Izetbegovic, that a divided Bosnia "looks like a man that just suffered a hard car accident, and he's in the hospital covered up with bandages."

Metaphorically, half of the accident victim is missing. People think he should be whole, he added, "he should be normal."

Conservative Islamists

King Fahd Mosque has attracted a number of what the press terms Wahhabi, a name its members generally dislike. They are adherents of a strict interpretation of Islam. Immediately in front of the huge mosque, some of its members have erected a small market. Members of the group walked about the vicinity, men with long beards and trousers shorter than most Bosnian men's, women wearing black burqas.

Some Muslims interviewed were wary of the Wahhabi, saying they were attempting to win moderate people to their beliefs.

"All things that go about in that mosque are done the right way, the traditional way we have here in Bosnia," Halilovic said. "The mosque is open from the first prayer to the last prayer.

"Anybody can come there and do their prayer, it's an open mosque. Concerning the place in front of the mosque, the little marketplace: that is public property and doesn't belong to the mosque."

The government owns that property in front, and it is up to the government to regulate it, he said. "For a long time we've been talking to the people in government to put on that location ... a normal kiosk."

He added, "People that pass by just think that's a part of the mosque."

Halilovic said it's important to protect the integrity of the Bosnian Islamic community from the Wahhabi.

"But still, the Islamic community and the government cannot forbid these people to practice Islam in their own way, just the same way that here the law says you can dress like you want. Nobody can tell you you can't dress that way."

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com