MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents"
|
|
MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents" |
|
The Yugoslav Crisis: How It IsPart 2by Dragana VicanovicWith Accompanying Photo-essay: The Face of WarSpecial to the G21
To receive this article in Deutsch, Francaise, Italiano, Portuguese, Francaise, cut and paste the complete URL("http://www.g21.net/do73b.htm"), then click here.
The question is: What is the aim of NATO? Can the humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo be resolved by the destruction of the entire Yugoslav economy?
According the report of Yugoslav Red Cross,Yugoslavia alone there are over 1, 600, 000 refugees - people without homes, jobs and [a] future due to the NATO bombs.
And when all of the Kosovo Albanian refugees come back - they will find only destroyed houses in a ruined Kosovo.
What are the principles and values for which, allegedly, this war has been initiated?
The Yugoslav Department of Foreign Affairs announced on April 17, that NATO accomplished over 6,000 air strikes, used 7,000 jets, launched 1,500 cruise missiles and cast more than 5,000 tons of explosive on Serbia.
Devastation of economic facilities left 500,000 workers without jobs and 2, 000,000 Yugoslav citizens without any revenue.
On April 16, [the] US Secretary of State, Madelyn Albright, stated in the Serbian language over The Voice of America: "We don't want to harm the Serbian people. I know you will not believe me, but try to trust your own eyes and ears - you will find out that 19 NATO countries are not against you!" She forgot only one thing - NATO bombs continue to produce genocide over the entire population of Yugoslavia. Bombs and cruise missiles can't distinguish Serbs from Albanians.
On April 5, former US Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleberger said: "There are some people who suggest that we should arm the Kosovo Albanians - in that case the KLA --- as an organisation with such a terrorist reputation --- would became the factor of unstability in this region!"
And John Briton, former Irish premier accused Robin Cook [of being a] liar because Cook's statement that no one could predict that the air strikes would have such large humanitarian consequences for the people of Kosovo is dishonest, according to the Irish politician.
On April 6, from his London's office Mr Robin Cook "buried" Dr Ibrahim Rugova, political leader of Albanian people in Kosovo (except KLA terrorists) and a few other prominent Albanians --- among them Baton Hadgiu editor of Albanian newspaper Koha ditorein Pristina. Mr Cook stated that Serbian police killed all of them.
Two days later, Baton Hadgiu was miraculously resurrected in London, hand in hand with Mr Cook himself!
Mr James Rubin US Spokesman of the Department of State at a press briefing (CNN Live) launched another statement about a concentration camp in Pristina's playing-field. He said that this information was to provided him the leader of the KLA, Hasim Taci called "Snake." (Two years ago Yugoslav police requested Taci's arrest for several murders and drug smuggling). Only a day after, a French journalist went to Pristina and denied Rubin's statements immediately.
General Wesley Clark publicly admitted on April 14 that previous NATO accusations that [the] Yugoslav Army entered Albanian state territory and attacked Albanian solders were not truth.
NATO charges Yugoslav forces for the ethnic cleansing of the Albanian civilians in Kosovo. The last evidences are --- according to them --- very strong - newly detected mass graves.
Yugoslav State TV invited on April 19, NATO officials and foreign media to signify and name the places of the crimes such as mass graves, raping centres and concentration camps. Yugoslav State TV and officials announced that on the same day all the journalist accredited in Yugoslavia will be enable the access to those places because, according the Yugoslav authorities there are no such crime scenes on the Yugoslav territory, including Kosovo.
Only few hours latter from the NATO Headquarters in Brussels came the response - Serbian State TV will be a new military target.
Yugoslav Federal Minister Goran Matic held a briefing for domestic and foreign journalists inside the building of State TV. The Austrian correspondent Richard Schnaider decided to spend the night together with Yugoslav journalists. The Belgrade TV Station, according the NATO officials and the Spokesman Jamie Shea, committed several "unforgivable sins" in the last 30 days.
The last one of these sins was on April 19. NATO informed the International Community about mass graves in the village of Izbica near town Istok not faraway from Pec. They showed the evidence - two satellite pictures. The sin of State TV from Belgrade was this - immediately after the NATO press briefing, Belgrade TV crew went to the Izbica and found the small village with only twelve houses. There were 70 Albanians all in very good health. The Albanians claimed that there are no such things as mass graves in their village and no one was ever murdered. They had never even seen a TV cameras before. The crew from Belgrade's State TV proved that geographical details from the NATO satellite pictures do not match the topography of the village of Izbica, and that it is an obvious computer animation. Thus, Jamie Shea and NATO were again nailed in lie.
Yugoslav Minister Goran Matic invited all the foreign journalists [in Belgrade] to accompany him to the village of Izbica and see with their own eyes the facts, talk to the villagers and write about this.
An so on.
The truth always has two sides - the statement of aggressor and the statement of the attacked - it depends on the point of view. But there is only one truth.
In the April 10, issue of the Washington Post, former US diplomat Mr. Walter R. Roberts, considering horrifying refugee TV scenes from the Kosovo border (it was the 10th day of NATO aggression on Yugoslavia) asks what's happened with the concern and the rage of International Community and NATO when Croatia banished almost 300,000 Serbs from their territory. The Serbs were brutally mutilated, killed, and their houses were burned - he says. Now, NATO states that bombs will help [the] Kosovo Albanian people, denying that bombs are destroying Albanian houses. He concludes that no one could believe in NATO statements that Serbian police practised ethnic cleansing right in front of 1,600 foreign observers from OSCE Mission for Verification in Kosovo.
In addition to trained KLA terrorists, foreign mercenaries have also been discovered fighting on the KLA side in Kosovo. A significant number of Mujahedin fighters from various Islamic countries are also fighting alongside the KLA in Kosovo. Most of them gather in Munich, Germany. They usually travel to the Italian port of Bari from where they are ferried to the Albanian port of Drach, and then overland to Tropoje, a major entry point for the KLA mercenaries.
The first large battle in which a Mujahedin unit was eliminated by the Yugoslav army, occurred in the night between July 18, and 19, 1998 on the Djeravici mountain on the Yugoslav-Albanian border on Yugoslav territory. Captured documents and journals name Baba Hadzi Ragib from Munich, Germany and Rahim Ademi - a General in the Croatian Army, infamous for the massacre the units under his command committed in the Serbian villages in Lika, Croatia, in September 1993. He personally commanded a mercenary unit consisting of Albanians from Kosovo, Dutch, Germans, French and British.
High UNPROFOR officials, including French General Jean Kot, testified that: "no sign of life was found, neither human or animal" after the mercenaries left.
One of the captured terrorists told the Yugoslav authorities that the action was supposed to be supervised by an Iraqi officer, who did not arrive in time. Shortly after, Yugoslav police arrested Nuri Salip Muhamed, Iraqi Lieutenant-Colonel, who was educated at the Military Academy in Zagreb.
It's funny, but the world's media report that the refugees from Kosovo are stationed in the Republic of Albania at the refugees camps in Drach, Kukesh, Tropoja - exactly at the places where KLA terrorists are trained.
In the April 12 issue of the Italian newspaper La Republicathe commentator Eugenio Scalfari says that "so-called ethnic cleansing can not be ascribed to the Yugoslavian forces, but the NATO bombs". He quotes the European Commission report where it is clearly written that until March 24, when NATO started air strikes, because of the clash between Yugoslav police forces and the KLA terrorist groups , about 69,000 ethnic Albanians left Kosovo.
On April 6, after fourteen days of bombing, another 496,000 Albanians run away from Kosovo. He concludes: " Therefore, truly, awfully ethnic cleansing happened during the NATO bombing, which signifies the colossal mistake in the NATO predictions, and moreover the mistake from the side of the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission with Emma Boninno in charge, and there wasn't a day that she demanded a total war against Yugoslavia."
Approximately 85 civilians were killed on April 14, when four NATO missiles were fired at an ethnic Albanian refugee convoy returning their homes in the city of Prizren.
Very soon after the massacre, NATO confirmed that a great "mistake" happened, because combat jets did shoot the convoy. They expressed deep regret.
An APTN reporter came to the spot very soon and did some shocking shots of corpses all over the road, destroyed vehicles and disbelief and suffering of survivors.
Witnesses, the surviving ethnic Albanian children, women and old people, clearly confirmed that they saw the jets attacking them twice.
During the next press briefing, NATO turned all the statements completely by accusing Serbs of committing the massacre.
In the US Pentagon, Kenneth Bacon said that Wesley Clark has no exact information about what happened, but they know that there were two groups of military vehicles at the front and the back of the convoy. After the bombing, soldiers went out of the trucks and started to kill the refugees! Only a moment later, Kenneth Bacon, contradicting himself , said that Yugoslav MIGs, while flying low, attacked refugees and killed them!
CNN reported that some surviving refugees claimed they saw Yugoslav jets shooting over them. A 23 year old man claimed that he actually recognised Yugoslav MIG 29 in the air!
According to [these] unbelievable NATO claims, for the first time since the war began, Yugoslav MIGs managed to fly right behind NATO jets and open fire at the refugees but still remain unseen!
The suffering of Kosovo Albanians is the proclaimed reason of NATO attack on Yugoslavia.
The UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said on April 14, for the BBC News: "I wouldn't believe or take at face value anything the Serb authorities say". A few hours latter, NATO describes the massacre as a "tragic accident", and Jamie Shea stated that despite this deadly error, Albanians knows that NATO is on their side.
But some [of the] world's media (not CNN) stated that according to the well informed sources from the White House, the convoy of the Kosovo Albanian refugees had decided to return home after the meeting of their political leader, Dr Ibrahim Rugova, and Yugoslav President Milosevic. Both men had signed an agreement about the solution of the Kosovo crises. According to these reports, the convoy was targeted on purpose in order to blame Serbia and to disable the returning of the refugees to Kosovo.
On the April 15, the BBC News Online looked at how news emerges.
On April 17, editors and leaders of the seven largest media [outlets] in the US forwarded a protest letter to the US Secretary of Defence William Cohen, demanding the lifting of the limitations in reporting on the NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia. These editors stated that it is often the case that the Yugoslav media have more information on NATO actions than those from [the] USA. Why would NATO hide the truth if it is a truth?
The US "International Action Centre," an anti-war movement organisation involved in the campaign against use of nuclear weapons and radioactive ammunition, on April 13, accused the US Pentagon of imperilling the entire Balkans by usage of A-10 Warthog jets in air strikes. Sarah Flounders from IAC predicted that thanks to depleted uranium bombs, the territory of Kosovo will became a future nuclear havoc.
On April 7, the German section of the International Association of Lawyer Against Nuclear Weapons (IALANA) and 250 [of the] most prominent German jurists and judges stated that German State Chancellor and DoD Minister should be accused as war criminals at the Tribunal in Hague for the preparation and conduct of the war against Yugoslavia. The German jurists are seeking a momentary cessation of the NATO air strikes and [mean to] prove that the German Government dishonoured the UN Charter and the basic NATO document which forbids preparing and conducting an aggressive war.
In the deliberate destruction of the civilian population by using arms which have been prohibited by international conventions, NATO has dropped 3,500 cluster bombs in the area near the Orthodox monastery in Gracanica (14th century).
A three year old girl Milica Rakic was killed in the bathroom by the piece of cluster bomb in periphery of Belgrade on April 18. Cluster bombs are primarily intended for attacks on unsheltered troops, on columns of vehicles and other technical devices, as well as buildings. The use of this type of weaponry indicates without any doubt that the NATO intends to inflict large casualties. They are quite imprecise and it is not possible to control their drop site. According to the reports from the localities targeted until now the most vulnerable are civilians. Some 20-30% of the bombs dropped remain in the targeted area for deliberate delayed action making the civilian population particularly vulnerable
Seventeen still missing passengers, all civilians, from the Belgrade-Salonika international train, hit on purpose by two NATO missiles at the entrance to the Grdelica gorge are another NATO "mistake" according to their spokesman Jamie Shea!
Over 10 people are identified, six are totally roasted among them is an 10 years old boy, and the estimated number of victims is between 30 and 50 civilians - Serbs, Albanians and foreign citizens. Three entire wagons of this train were smashed and fell into the river. NATO spokesman Jamie Shea stated that the train is guilty - it slithered after the first missile hit the bridge. But, video footage shows that the train was ON the bridge when pilot discharged the second missile!
On April 7, (15th day of NATO aggression) the Human Rights Watch demanded an urgent investigation about another NATO "mistake" - devastation of the small mining town of Aleksinac. In the residential area were killed over 17 civilians and over 40 were wounded.
At first, NATO denied the attack and then admitted the crime. Still, the international investigation on Aleksinac's massacre didn't occur.
In the NATO air strike on Pancevo, a town near Belgrade, at 1:20 a.m. local time on April 18, three industrial facilities were hit: the oil refinery, the ammoniac plant of the fertiliser factory and the petro-chemical complex. A cloud of thick black smoke has risen, containing the toxic matter such as nitrogen deviates, chlorine, ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride monomer. A large number of civilians in Pancevo and Belgrade were injured and affected by the toxins.
The transformer stations were also heavily damaged and very toxic transformer oil flowed into the Danube river.
Due to the power failure and utilities and auxiliary fluids interruption a large quantity of combustible, explosive and toxic matter remained trapped in the equipment, installations and tanks. The plants have been heavily damaged and can't be put in operation. Yet, NATO has bombed these facilities already four times.
According to all the terms and rules of warfare accepted and followed so far, the plants of chemical process industries of this type have never been military targets. Deliberate bombing of this kind of plants might cause danger and catastrophic consequences, which will pose a threat to all the Balkans' neighbouring countries, but France and Germany as well.
The UK's Daily Telegraphreported on April 16, that the USA started secret negotiation with the terrorists of KLA (and according all reasonable evidence the KLA is a terrorists organisation). The aim is to interject KLA groups in Kosovo and Yugoslav territory armed with American weapons.
At the same time, [the] French Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that they held a meeting with KLA terrorists in Paris on April 14, and the subject of the meeting was "humanitarian aid". And for all this time, NATO officials claim that NATO has no contacts with [the] KLA.
A great number of the ethnic Albanian refugees are returning to Yugoslavia in last few days. On April 18, over 20,000 ethnic Albanians came into villages near-by the town Podujevo in Kosovo. A great number of them reported the same story - while they were in refugee camps in Albania and Western Macedonia, the KLA terrorists threatened them with death if they don't state in front of the foreign TV cameras about Serbian police brutality expelled them from their homes.
During the TV interviews, armed members of the KLA were beside, but far away from the cameras.
The refugees also talk about the great show on the territory neighbouring Albania and Macedonia produced by NATO. The Albanians who are citizens of those two countries gather in large groups in front of Yugoslav-Macedonian-Albanian border and play refugees. When the TV crew leave, those people return to their homes.
A Greek reporter showed afew days ago the footage of a crying refugee in Macedonia - Albanian father carrying a little child. The Greek reporter showed another bit of footage of the same man made a week before in a KLA terrorist camp in Albania. I wonder if this film will ever be showed at the US TV stations? In this situation, hardly.
At the end, let me tell you what I believe - there is only one truth.
But there must be an honest journalist [who is] enough of a professional to tell that truth to the public. Not to invent it. It may sound pathetic, but I really think that mankind mustn't enter the new millennium loaded with lies and intrigues. It is very important to find out what the real truth is and then, without any political pressure and interest, to punish the perpetrators - by the law - and ALL of them with no exceptions.
In case of the Yugoslav state, judgement fell without the trial, under the law of the lynch mob. As we know from many examples in American history thanks to the lynch mob rule, the real perpetrator often stayed unpunished.
This is Dragana's second article for the G21. Her first was also on the war in Serbia. | DAY ONE TUESDAY | DAY ONE TUESDAY | The DAY ONE WEDNESDAY (FROM NOVI SAD) | THE ACCOMPANYING DAY ONE | | HOME | THE MAIN EVENT | FAX NIKITA © 1999, GENERATOR 21. Let us know how your experience of our site went. We love your backfeed!  Our Editor does listen!
|
