Kudos to Croatia but please, @FranklinFoer and other sports writers, don't turn its complex role in the Balkan wars into a fairy tale. Franjo Tudjman, Croatia's president back then, would have faced war crimes charges if he hadn't died first. theatlantic.com/international/… 
In 2013, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ruled that Tudjman was part of a "joint criminal enterprise" that led to the rape and killing of Muslims and Serbs in Bosnia in 1992 and 1993. nytimes.com/2013/05/30/wor…
I covered the Balkan wars and reported on the Croatian militia controlled by Tudjman, the HVO, as it seized control of a swathe of Bosnia. In 1999, I wrote this op-ed about Tudjman for the Times. nytimes.com/1999/05/31/opi…
In 1995, Croatia launched an offensive to retake territory seized by Serb separatists in its Krajina region. More than 200,000 Serbs were forced from their homes in this offensive, and elderly Serbs who stayed behind were executed. hrw.org/reports/1996/C…
Goes without saying that the players on Croatia's World Cup team (children back then and some not yet born) do not bear responsibility for any of this. They are wonderful athletes. My concern is with the writers who are creating a narrative about Croatia that defies history.
