Posted on 05/29/2004 12:24:36 PM PDT by Destro
Editorial
While the Bush Administration dances around their lies about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction used to justify the conquest of Iraq, let us recall the Clinton administration lied to justify their conquest of Kosovo in 1999. No mass graves were found, except in places where a few dozen Islamic terrorists, and civilians caught in the crossfire, were killed in firefights with Serbian police. There was no "ethnic cleansing" by the Serbian army, which includes thousands of Muslim soldiers. Reports that civilians were forced to vacate cities by evil Serbian police proved false; they fled because they were terrified as NATO aircraft unleashed hundreds of bombs over a three week period, killing 2000 civilians. This destroyed the Serbian economy and terrorized their government into submission, which resulted in a compromise in which Serbia retained sovereignty over its Kosovo province and agreed to allow NATO peacekeepers to occupy Kosovo on a temporary basis.
As with the conquest of Iraq, it is uncertain why this conflict arose. Some think it was created by the powerful NATO bureaucracy to justify their post Cold war existence. Defense contractors made handsome profits though supplemental funding while by contractors like Halliburton continue to pocket billions of dollars to support the occupation of Kosovo. Others claim it was a public relations gimmick by President Clinton, while a few think more sinister reasons were involved. Here is an excellent update on the present situation:
THE NATIONAL POST (Canada) | 2004-04-06 |
We bombed the wrong side?
Major General Lewis MacKenzie - Armed Forces of Canada (retired)
Five years ago our television screens were dominated by pictures of Kosovo-Albanian refugees escaping across Kosovo's borders to the sanctuaries of Macedonia and Albania. Shrill reports indicated that Slobodan Milosevic's security forces were conducting a campaign of genocide and that at least 100,000 Kosovo-Albanians had been exterminated and buried in mass graves throughout the Serbian province. NATO sprung into action and, in spite of the fact no member nation of the alliance was threatened, commenced bombing not only Kosovo, but the infrastructure and population of Serbia itself -- without the authorizing United Nations resolution so revered by Canadian leadership, past and present.
Those of us who warned that the West was being sucked in on the side of an extremist, militant, Kosovo-Albanian independence movement were dismissed as appeasers. The fact that the lead organization spearheading the fight for independence, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), was universally designated a terrorist organization and known to be receiving support from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda was conveniently ignored.
The recent dearth of news in the North American media regarding the increase in violence in Kosovo compared to the comprehensive coverage in the European press strongly suggests that we Canadians don't like to admit it when we are wrong. On the contrary, selected news clips on this side of the ocean continue to reinforce the popular spin that those dastardly Serbs are at it again.
A case in point was the latest crisis that exploded on March 15. The media reported that four Albanian boys had been chased into the river Ibar in Mitrovica by at least two Serbs and a dog (the dog's ethnic affiliation was not reported). Three of the boys drowned and one escaped to the other side. Immediately, thousands of Albanians mobilized and concentrated in the area of the divided city. Attacks on Serbs took place throughout the province resulting in an estimated 30 killed and 600 wounded. Thirty Serbian Christian Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed, more than 300 homes were burnt to the ground and six Serbian villages cleansed of their occupants. One hundred and fifty international peacekeepers were injured.
Totally ignored in North America were the numerous statements from impartial sources that said there was no incident between the Serbs, the dog and the Albanian boys. NATO Police spokesman Derek Chappell stated on March 16 that it was "definitely not true" that the boys had been chased into the river by Serbs. Chappell went on to say that the surviving boy had told his parents that they had entered the river alone and that three of his friends had been swept away by the current. Admiral Gregory Johnson, the overall NATO commander, further stated that the ensuing clashes were "orchestrated and well-planned ethnic cleansing" by the Kosovo-Albanians. Those Serbs forced to leave joined the 200,000 who had been cleansed from the province since NATO's "humanitarian" bombing in 1999. The '"cleansees" have become very effective "cleansers."
In the same week a number of individuals posing as Serbs ambushed and killed a UN policeman and his local police partner. During the firefight one of them was wounded which caused an immediate switch from Serbian to Albanian as he screamed, "I've been hit"! The UN pursued the attackers and tracked them to an Albanian-run farm where they discovered weapons and the wounded Albanian who had died from his wounds. Four Albanians were arrested. Once again, the ambush had been reported in the United States but not the follow-up which clearly indicated yet another orchestrated provocation by the Albanian terrorists.
Kosovo is administered by the UN, the very organization many Canadians have indicated they would like to see take over from the United States in Iraq. The fact the UN cannot order its civilian employees to go or stay anywhere -- they have to volunteer -- combined with recent history that saw the UN abandon Iraq after a single brutal attack on their compound in Baghdad and the reality that Kosovo, under the organization's administration, is a basket case, disqualifies it from consideration for such a role.
Since the NATO/UN intervention in 1999, Kosovo has become the crime capital of Europe. The sex slave trade is flourishing. The province has become an invaluable transit point for drugs en route to Europe and North America. Ironically, the majority of the drugs come from another state "liberated" by the West, Afghanistan. Members of the demobilized, but not eliminated, KLA are intimately involved in organized crime and the government. The UN police arrest a small percentage of those involved in criminal activities and turn them over to a judiciary with a revolving door that responds to bribes and coercion. The objective of the Albanians is to purge all non-Albanians, including the international community's representatives, from Kosovo and ultimately link up with mother Albania thereby achieving the goal of "Greater Albania." The campaign started with their attacks on Serbian security forces in the early 1990s and they were successful in turning Milosevic's heavy-handed response into worldwide sympathy for their cause. There was no genocide as claimed by the West -- the 100,000 allegedly buried in mass graves turned out to be around 2,000, of all ethnic origins, including those killed in combat during the war itself.
The Kosovo-Albanians have played us like a Stradivarius. We have subsidized and indirectly supported their violent campaign for an ethnically pure and independent Kosovo. We have never blamed them for being the perpetrators of the violence in the early '90s and we continue to portray them as the designated victim today in spite of evidence to the contrary. When they achieve independence with the help of our tax dollars combined with those of bin Laden and al-Qaeda, just consider the message of encouragement this sends to other terrorist-supported independence movements around the world.
Funny how we just keep digging the hole deeper!
Maj-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, now retired, commanded UN troops during the Bosnian civil war of 1992.
(c) 2004 National Post . All Rights Reserved.
Serbia is a European democracy which maintains friendly relations with all nations. It delivered Milosevic to the war crimes tribunal in the Hague two years ago, although they are having trouble accumulating evidence that he used excessive force to suppress Islamic terrorists in Kosovo. Fighting had increased in the late 1990s as the CIA shipped arms to the KLA terror group and helped coordinate Iranian arm shipments to Albania funded in part by Al Qaeda. Deposing Milosevic and turning him over for "war crimes" was a key demand, yet NATO (e.g. the United States) has yet to announce when the temporary NATO peacekeepers will depart.
Kosovo has been part of Serbia for hundreds of years, and remains part of Serbia as recognized by every nation on Earth, including the United States. NATO and the UN have failed to keep the peace in Kosovo, and lack the resolve to pursue Islamic terrorists and criminal gangs based there. The United States hasn't the resources to provide security forever, and no European ally is anxious to add troops. The solution is obvious; allow Serbian peacekeepers to return to Serbia's Kosovo province. They are willing and experienced at this task, something they had done successfully for hundreds of years, until NATO pushed them aside.
Yes, there will be increased violence as Islamic terrorists and criminal gangs battle Serbian police, once again. The Serbians will win, once again. The terrorists will be pushed out and criminal activity reduced. Violence will also decrease in neighboring Macedonia which is often terrorized by rouge gangs from Kosovo. Serbians can return to their stolen properties and rebuild their Christian churches. During a 2000 presidential debate, George Bush said: "But one of the problems we have in the military is we're in a lot of places around the world. And I mentioned one, and that's the Balkans. I would very much like to get our troops out of there." Given the strain on the US Army, American troops should leave Kosovo by years' end. The last American officer to leave should tell his Serbian replacement: Sorry about all this, it was our mistake. Good luck and good bye.
Carlton Meyer editor@G2mil.com
G2mil editorials may be freely distributed without permission
G2mil is the only Warfare Research Portal on the Internet. If you are interested in military technology, weapons, tactics, future warfare, and military news, this website has hundreds of pages of unique content and links to hundreds of military related sites. This is not a government or corporate website, but an independent website run by former military officers.
Our editor is Carlton Meyer, a former Marine Corps officer who has participated in military operations around the world. He had written dozens of articles for military magazines, but became frustrated that important issues are ignored by editors fearful of upsetting their corporate advertisers or government sponsors. There are no advertisers or sponsors for G2mil.
What someone doesn't want you to publish is journalism, all else is publicity.
Doubtful. The Serbs had a problem winning hearts and minds in Racak--something about burning 80 houses there in August 98 and then coming back in January 99 and massacring the citizens. Although it is true that some of the citizens were undertandably resentful that the KLA garrison in Racak did not fight better to protect their friends and neighbors from being murdered by the Serb forces.
The KLA went in and gangpressed villagers that morning as per KLA commander Buja's ICTY testimony
I've read Buja's testimony. There is nothing in there to support what you say. The KLA was routed first thing that morning and not able to re-enter even the edge of the village until after the Serb forces left at dark. The transcripts are here and here. Please show me what he said to back-up your claim.
The firefight was filmed by a ABC camera crew. The film directly contradicts 'eyewitness' accounts parroted by HumWarrior media.
Well, Vooch--give some examples how the film "directly contradicts" the eyewitnesses. Eyewitnesses say the Serb police rounded up close to 30 men and led them away up the hill to where most of them were killed. Is there a film clip showing the KLA doing that instead of the Serbs? Eyewitnesses--also known as survivors--escaped through the woods as the Serbs massacred the men in the gully. How is that contradicted? And btw, it was an AP photographer, not an ABC camera crew.
As for evidence that "directly contradicts" other evidence--read the transcripts above and you can read excerpts from two official Serb reports on Racak issued within a day of each other. One says that the Serb forces killed 15 KLA and the other says they killed sixty. So which is right, 15 or 60? And who killed them—however many there were—Serbs or the KLA or—maybe it was MPRI? And of course there was the report in the Washington Post providing excerpts from telephone conversations between Serbian Interior Ministry General Sreten Lukic and Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, who ordered Serb forces to “go in heavy” in Racak. The two later discussed ways that the killings might be covered up to avoid international condemnation.
So lets recap: Forensic reports say the Albanians were unarmed civilians killed where they were found in the gully and that they were killed in the clothes they were wearing when found. Eyewitnesses saw the Serbs lead the Albanians in the direction of the gully and then heard gunfire. Four survivors escaped the massacre and told of the group being mowed down by Serbs.
The Serb stories are that there were 15 dead, no wait 60. They were KLA killed by Serb security forces. But wait, they’re not wearing uniforms! So, they were KLA killed in the battle, but the other KLA changed them into civilian clothes and planted them in the gully in order to blame the Serbs. Uh-oh, the forensic team says that the bullet holes and congealed blood all indicate that the bodies were killed in the civilian clothes they were wearing. Oh, now we have it! They were in fact civilians, but were killed by the KLA in order to blame the Serbs! Pay no attention to the facts that there are no eyewitnesses and zero evidence of any kind to support any of those stories. That OJ Simpson would have been embarrassed to have a story that weak.
There is a Greater Truth to be served: The blameless Serbs are not to be blamed. Eyewitnesses—hah! Forensic reports—hah! The Serbs may only have opinions, conjecture, and irrelevancies on their side(s), but after all the dead were just shiptars--mostly moslem, right? And they “breed” so fast! Besides, since 1389, the Serbs have defended Christian Europe and rescued 500 American flyers in the process. No one should dare to beat you! Whoops, started channeling Slobo for a few seconds.
Vooch, wanna know why Serbia is last in line for PfP, NATO, the EU, and even US Aid; behind even Macedonia, Croatia, Albania, and Bosnia? Wanna know why Serbia has a problem getting Serb war criminals released to be tried in Belgrade? Wanna know why Secretary Rumsfeld and Secretary Powell visit Albania and Macedonia, but take a wide berth around Serbia? Wanna know why the USA is asking for help in the War on Terror from just about every country in the world, but won’t accept Serbian troops? Its because of the culture of denial exemplified by you and your fellow-travelers on the Balkans threads. Serb war-crimes are obvious, yet any Serb politician attempting to address them gets shot or almost voted out; a la the Foreign Minister last week. Serbia cannot be trusted and until they can be, they will be on the outside looking in. I think Kostunica and Vuk know the truth and also know what needs to be done, but they are afraid of getting Djindjic’d and therefore are moving very cautiously. Unfortunately, instead of playing a constructive role, you & DTA & Seselj & Former Lib continue to sing chorus after chorus of "Didn't do it, can't prove it, they deserved it"
And, btw, William Walker is a great American who at the request of President Reagan and at the risk of his life represented the USA in Latin America and played a key role in defeating the communists and helping our allies in El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. For which he will never be forgiven by Chris Dodd, CISPES, and the NY Times. It does not surprise me that Slobo fans are also his enemy.
Every "fact" that you cite is not a fact at all. These are things that are in dispute, are contradicted by eyewitness accounts, and/or are propaganda wrapped around half-truths at best.
One day, the Moslems will kill someone that you care about. Count on that, it WILL happen.
When it does, you may begin reviewing these "facts" without your conclusion already firmly placed in your mind and then, maybe then, you might realize the truth.
Of course, your enlightenment will come at quite a price.
This photo is of Major Cliff Patterson. He was going to get out of the Army--I talked him into staying. I then tried talking him into going to the Balkans with me--he wanted to stay in Washington,--his Dad is a D.C. cop. He was killed in the Pentagon on 9-11.
Savage has been right since the start. He was the only one I can remember that said this.
I wonder why almost every Albanian who post here on FR claims things that are mix of fiction and deliberate lies.
I'm not from Albania. I'm only defending a people that supports America and loves freedom.
The Italian people and the Polish people don't support OP Iraqi Freedom. However, the Eastern countries like Poland or Albania are pro-American countries. Albania is the most pro-American of them.
And I see that you've fallen into the trap that anyone on the side of the Serbian people is also somehow on the same side as the commie thug Slobodan Milosevic.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
The Serbian people are not some single-minded monolithic force. That you would even suggest such (and you have in your postings) has fallen prey to the first goal of propaganda: to dehumanize the enemy.
The fact is that the Communists held Serbia in the typically brutal Communist fashion and particularly oppressed the Serbian Orthodox Church. Most of the pro-Serb posters on this board support the Christian Serbs, not the Communist ones.
It doesn't take much looking to realize that the crimes committed by "the Serbs" were in fact committed by Serb Communists. Yet, in Kosovo, we see that it is the Christian Serbs who are being smacked about by the Muslim terrorists. The Serbs have gone from getting kicked by their own Communist thugs to getting kicked by someone else's Islamic thugs.
You'll just have to forgive us for not wanting to see the Serbs getting kicked just because it is someone else who is doing the kicking.
As Americans, we also have to notice that the people who are attacking the Serbs spring from the same well as those who attacked our country on Sept. 11th.
It is unfortunate that the US didn't persue a Contra-style method of removing Milosevic. The Serbs weren't far away from giving Slobo the Ceaucescu treatment to end his career when Kaiser Willie started the illegal bombing campaign and helped turn Slobo into a national hero. That little twist alone is all the reason I need for not forgiving Bubba for what he did.
Wake up, mark! You've fallen for Clinton's propaganda!
So, liberal claim "Kosovo, province of Serbia whose 90% Albanian population favors independence" was a big, fat lie?
More than 225,000 Serbs were ethnically cleansed in the presence of NATO troops in 1999, and some 100,000 remained in Kosovo.
If Serbs were indeed only 10% of Kosovo population (225,000+ 100,000), that would mean that total Kosovo population in 1999 was over 3 million.
This is of course nonsense.
The lie about Kosovo being 90% Albanian was made to justify the bombing and hide subsequent NATO-sponsored ethnic cleansing.
Kosovo is not Albania, it is Serbia.
The Albanians currently occupying Kosovo represent displaced Mafia thugs who fled Albania's economic collapse along with the most radical and virulent Muslim radicals.
All in all, I'm sure Albania is glad to be rid of them!
But handing over part of someone else's country is not the answer. Their sustaining campaign of terrorism and illegal immigration must not be rewarded by giving them Kosovo independence. Particularly since we don't want to inspire their behavior is certain parts of our own nation.
Oh, that's the reason why Himler created 21st gebirgs-Waffen SS division Skenderbeg (Albanishe Nr.1), to fight against Nazis.
Please stop posting historical nonsense.
bump.
If after twelve years the answer isn't clear to me (and I pay far more attention to this stuff than the average American voter) then the only conclusion I can draw is that it isn't clear to the government either, and we have no business being involved in the Balkans at all. Bush's first order of business should be to pull all of our troops out of the area. Send them to Iraq, where we at least have some idea who the bad guys are.
Warith, also kindly explain to Mark502 how Buja's gang trolled through the village and gangpressed (er 'asked for volunteers') that day. Tell him a bit about your pals Remi & Gashi.
Joan, please explain to poor Mark502 how the ABC film contradicts his beloved 'eyewitness' stories.
Wonders, you may wish to illuminate to Mark502 how guerillas/paramilitaries such as the KLA would use loyalist villages such as Racak as locations of firefights in order to force the population into extremism
In this interview, already discussed here on FR Ranta revealed the mechanism behind the Racak hoax. It is high time for Albanian propagandists and suppporters paid by heroin money to admit this hoax also. Heck, you should be proud of pulling off the scam comparable to Gliewitz.
Prior to that, the Turks record over 40 Albanian revolts in Kosovo. The last one involved a 30,000 man Albanian force--mostly of Kosovars--that went so far as to capture Skopje from the Ottomans. The Kosovar Albanians have pursued self-rule regardless of whether they were under the control of Ottoman Muslims or Serbian Orthodox. They have tried insurrections, political movements, demonstrations & protests & strikes, forming alliances, establishing a parallel government and so on. All types of Albanians have participated in these movements; whether Sunni, Bektashi, Catholic, irreligious or whatever. And whoever opposes them becomes the enemy, whether Orthodox Serbs or Muslim Turks, Gorani, Roma & Ashkali.
The Kosovar Albanians have selected Christians as leaders in the KLA, elected Christians as leaders in their government, and have established secular law to include freedom of religion. They have not elected imams or mullahs, have not imposed sharia, etc. The Catholic Church has grown over the past five years and Albanian Catholic churches and priests operate openly and unmolested. Similarly with the Bektashi sect--they are sizable in Albania-proper and Kosovo, but are considered as heretics by most Muslims & would be attacked by Islamists just as readily as they would attack Christians.
The problem is not religion. It is the Albanian political goal of self-rule as opposed to continuted Serbian sovereignty. Add in the Kosovo position in Serb heritage, old ethnic rivalries and recent ethnic violence and the problem gets even thornier.
But this I guarantee you. A solution to the Kosovo problem, besides having to provide basic individual rights for all citizens, has to account for Serb heritage, Albanian demographics, Serb legal jurisdiction over Kosovo, and Kosovar Albanian demands for self-rule.
You think the problem is a Muslim-Christian one. Not only do the facts not support your premise, but any course of action designed to solve Kosovo based on that premise would be a waste of time and resources. Which is why nobody serious about the issue--either Serb or Albanian or international--is approaching the problem that way.
In Albania, yes, but I do not believe the same is true of Kosovo.
Just like Serbia with Nedic, the Albanians had a puppet government although they did not have a home-grown fascist movement such as the Serbian "Zbor".
Now, DTA, what about these guys:
Serbisches Freiwilligen Korps der SS
You can read a little bit more about Serb collaborationist and SS forces here.
Mark...
I think, you didn't answer my question...and honestly I didn't ask what he did in South America for Reagan...
So...how comes that William Walker, a honorary member of the NAAC, was the first one who broke the news that there was a "massacre on civilians" by the serbian forces...???
hmmmmmmmm....What do you think, how much money did he get for his "fair" analyzis of the incident from his fellow brothers of the NAAC...???
If you are not ready to put 1 and 1 together, we did...!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.