THE HISTORY: In 1991 Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed after World War II and included six republics and two provinces. The nation was held together under the iron fist of its dictator, Marshal Josip Broz Tito. During Tito's 35 year rule it was often forbidden for the various peoples of Yugoslavia to celebrate their own ethnic cultures. This was especially true in Croatia. After Tito's death in 1980 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Yugoslavia began to unravel. In Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic rose to power and he vowed to keep Yugoslavia together with all of the power centralized in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. After Milosevic and his allies made several inflammatory political and constitutional moves that would effectively make Serbia the ruling power of Yugoslavia, the other republics balked and Croatia and Slovenia became the first to secede on June 25, 1991. Ultimately all of the republics seceded from Yugoslavia and Serbia, including Montenegro, a longtime ally of the Serbs. Upon Croatia and Slovenia's secession, Milosevic ordered in the Yugoslav army to attack, ostensibly to keep Yugoslavia together. The war in Slovenia only lasted two weeks before Milosevic turned the troops toward his real target, Croatia. It became quickly apparent that Milosevic's goal was to create a Greater Serbia out of the collapse of Yugoslavia, which ran from Serbia and Montenegro through Bosnia & Herzegovina and ate up most of Croatia. The wars in Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina lasted four years. As the conflict was centered in the heart of Europe, it became a source for heated debate in the halls of international diplomacy. One of the core issues being debated was whether this was a civil war where the combatants shared equal guilt or a war of aggression by Milosevic and his Serb forces. Those who believed that Milosevic was the aggressor were angered by the United Nations arms embargo against all sides in the conflict. The embargo favored Milosevic because he had almost all of the weapons of the former Yugoslavia under his control. The people of Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina suffered miserably from Milosevic's brutal military campaign of murder, rape and ethnic cleansing. During the course of the conflict over one hundred thousand people were killed and millions more displaced. In 1993, while the war still raged, the United Nations formed the International Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a war crimes court to provide justice for the victims of the countless atrocities committed during this brutal war. Even among some of its original proponents there are many critics of the ICTY who charge that the court is being used to create a narrative that justifies the UN position during the conflict that this was a civil war where all sides are equally guilty. Near the war's end Croatia launched Operation Storm, an offensive to win back approximately 30% of its territory, which was under Serb control. The operation, which was under the command of various generals, including Ante Gotovina, was a stunning success. In just 72 hours Croatia regained all of the territory and was now in control of its entire nation. Ante Gotovina was hailed a liberator and hero. However, in the aftermath of Operation Storm, many crimes were committed by Croats who had been previously displaced from the territory. Bent on revenge, many Croatians burned homes, looted and even murdered Serb civilians. General Gotovina was later indicted for his command responsibility of the operation. The ICTY prosecutors contend that Gotovina either planned or willfully ignored the crimes being committed against the Serbs. Gotovina's defenders respond that he is being made a political scapegoat and that he was not even in the area when the crimes were being committed because he had moved on with his troops in a joint Croat-Bosnian effort to fight the Serbs in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Searching for a Storm filmmakers travelled through Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Paris, London, The Hague and the United States to interview lawyers, politicians, soldiers, journalists, ordinary civilians, clergy, and human rights activists and hear their various viewpoints on the war and whether Gotovina is guilty of war crimes or is being made a political scapegoat to justify UN policy failures during the conflict.