Vindicating the Serbian People: An 'Aerial' Counter-Attack

Serbianna ^ | Friday, November 12, 2004 | T.V. Weber

[Paratrooper_501]

I did not know them.

[GeraldP]

I thank you very kindly for taking the time to write down your memories and notes of this horrible event. There is no doubt in my mind that over the years this thread will become one of the most read on FR.

Like you said "For those that have their minds made up the posts are probably irrelevant. Those who still think freely can judge the posts for what they are worth."
Still I imagine you must feel a bit like the Geology professor who found himself trying to explain to his freshman student why the Earth could not possibly be hollow.

[ehoxha]

If you don't know them then it is pretty certain that you weren't in Kosovo & Metohija from Nov '98 until Jan '99

Remi, Ramush, Shala, Bardhi, and Drini met often with the observers................Remi was a particular favorite of William Walker.

[Paratrooper_501]

ok, whatever.

[Paratrooper_501]

So, I am supposed to personally know every high ranking UCK member?

[wonders]

From the alb-net article for which you provided the link:

"A picture is beginning to emerge from the autopsies, and it is a tragic one," said another source, explaining that the types of wounds on the victims indicate that they were "humiliated" before being fired on from several directions.

Can someone please explain what wounds and how they indicate the victims were "humiliated"? Or is this pure sensationalism?

He said that he and other men had been rounded up by security forces in house-to-house searches and ordered to walk along a ravine before troops "started shooting from the hills at us. . . . Firing came from all over."

Yet another version? I'm not discounting this eye-witness at all, mind you, but then what about "close range"?

[wonders]

Thank you again for posting your account. I'll wait until you're finished, and then ask you a few questions, hoping you will kindly confirm and/or debunk some of the published accounts of what happened at Racak.

[Paratrooper_501]

I will try and add some more tonight.

[ehoxha]

You provided a list of towns, etc. in which you said you operated/observed.

Ramush, Remi, Drini, and Shala were the key KLA commanders in these OZ's while you said you were there. They were also the KLA commanders with the most active fighting teams.

Anyone even remotely involved with the OSCE-KVM-UNMIK-Kfor-etc. etc would most certainly recognize some (if not all) of their names.

You don't even have the slightest idea who these KLA commanders are. Therefore, one can only conclude that you are a poser..........There are Freepers who have met these guys and trust me........These KLA commanders aren't the sorts of individuals whom one would forget.

I asked you about these guys precisely to ferret out if your eyewitness reports are fantasy or real. Their names are only recognizable to people who actually were there. Posers only know of Ceku, Thaci. Witnesses know Remi, Ramush, Drini, and Shala.........because these guys would have been exactly the KLA individuals you would have been liasioning with

ask Sargent Major [:)] Wonders..........it has been nearly 10 years since her professional encounters with some HVO nasties. She hasn't fogotten their names or faces.

ask P.O. Wraith - he'll tell you the same thing You may have been part of the 501st, and yes you may have been to Kosovo and Metohija - but it sure wasn't from Nov 98 to Jan 99.

[Paratrooper_501]

You asked me what I thought of them. I said I didn't know them, which was true. Since I didn't know them I thought nothing of them. If you wanted to know if I had ever heard of them you should have asked that question. That would have proven nothing however because an internet search will reveal their names and what they did.

[Wraith]

To Mr. jump out of perfectly good airplane. If you were in the Racak area in 1999,which KLA comander was in charge of that OZ and who was his main man i.e. KLA commander in the Racak Stimlje area? Hint, its not Ramush, Remi (the psycho), Drini or Shala.

If you went to Racak after the Serbs left on the 15th you would have run in to this local KLA commander. Have a name? Even the local Albanians hate this dude, wonder why? Racak was staged by the KLA and the the villagers of Racak paid the price for NATO intervention into Kosovo. Albanians eat their own if its in their best interest.

[Wraith]

If you were in Racak 501 and surrounding area in some kind of military capacity, you would certainly know whose who in the zoo in terms of the locals. Why were you there in the first place? Certainly you had been briefed prior to going on your official business in the Racak area especially while the VJ operation was on? Kept any information, names of interesting KLA personalities not posted on the Web? You got to know somebody bud or maybe you kind of wished you were there because I for one do not believe you. Lets have some convincing facts!

[mark502inf]

Wonders, you asked what was meant in the Washington Post article :) I linked to that described the Albanian victims as having been "humiliated" before being killed. I have no idea.

However, what you incorrectly called "another version" of Racak was entirely consistent with previously published first hand accounts as well as Paratrooper's narrative. The witness describes how he was rounded up by the Serb police and led with the other male villagers up a ravine where Serb police opened fire on them; all consistent with numerous eyewitness reports as well as the forensic evidence.

In your post, you seem to make a distinction between the description of: "started shooting from the hills at us. . . . Firing came from all over." and another account that said the victims were shot at "close range". I'm not trying to discount your ability to make meaningful distinctions, but that isn't one.

[Paratrooper_501]

http://www.siri-us.com/backgrounders/Archives_Kosovo/KLA-as-Army.html

I'm a smart guy. I can do an internet search too.

Kacanik Region (162nd "Agim Bajrami"); Commander Bardhi., suspected of carrying out the January 25th murder of the Shaban Keljmendi father of Besim (12) and Hadziu (11) as well as Sanija Kurti and Hisen Kurti.

No, I never met him.
1. We did not know about him at the time. The KLA was very secretive about the names of their high command and we had not yet discovered this information.
2. To the best of our knowledge Buja was in charge of the Stimlje and surrounding area. At least that is what he told us.
3. KDOM turned over the Urosevac region to OSCE in early Jan 99. From 5-15 Jan I did not operate in that area. I only went there on 15-17 Jan because something was happening.

As to definitive proof of my identity I could post my ID documents on the internet. For obvious reasons I am not going to do that. If someone wants to travel to meet me to see them e-mail me. You can find out what state I live in on this site. I can produce the following picture ID:
KDOM ID card dated 11/19/98
Passport with FRY visa dated 11/25/98

[Paratrooper_501]

This is speculation based on what I saw and heard.

Probably the word humiliated was poorly translated. It probably referred to the people being verbally accosted and beat.

Firing at close range probably refers to the Police standing on the edge of the ravine and firing at people in the ravine. The ravine was fairly narrow, maybe six feet wide at the bottom with banks four to five feet high. If the police were on the edge firing into the ravine the range would have probably been around 10 to 20 feet. So, it boils down to what one's definition of "close range" is.

[Paratrooper_501]

If you were in Racak 501 and surrounding area in some kind of military capacity, you would certainly know whose who in the zoo in terms of the locals. Why were you there in the first place?

As I explained earlier I was not there in a military capacity. I was attached to the State Dep't to be a KDOM Observer. The military "as such" had no presence, that I knew of, in Kosovo at that time. If there was a military presence, i.e. Special Forces, then it was classified beyond my need to know. It may surprise some of you but the US Government is neither Omniscient nor Omnipotent. There was very little known about the area in the fall of 98. The information we were briefed on was very general in nature. Anyone who has served in either the State Dep't or the Military would not find this unusual.

As I explained earlier, I received no briefing about anything on the 15th. I was in a KDOM car driving north of Pristina towards Podujevo when we heard a report of tank fire near Stimlje over the radio. We were going up there to observe the ongoing VJ build up south of the city. I called KDOM HQ, told them I was going to Stimlje, and I went.

At this point I could start making stuff up and claim to know really neat secret stuff that has never been on the internet. What possible purpose would that serve since it could not be verified.

For what its worth, I will post the following since it is a matter of public record in Kosovo.

I interviewed the man who said he was police chief in Urosevac several times. His name was Bogoljus Janicevic.

I never met the man, but I was told that Srboljub Vujinovic was head of state security in the area of Stinlje, Urosevac, and Kacanik.

Mr. Ibrahim Shabani was murdered by automatic weapons fire on the night of 30 Dec 98 on the main road, EM106927, between Urosevac and Stimlje.

Mr. Enver Gashi was murdered in front of his house in Stimlje at 2200 hrs on 2 Jan 99. There were 13 bullet holes in the front of the house and in his car in the garage. He was shot with AK47s as we collected bullet fragments and shell casings at the house. Mr. Gashi worked as an auto mechanic in Stimlje.

On 5 Jan in a gas station near Urosevac, two Albanian men were murdered.

The UCK ambushed and killed poice in the area on 8 and 10 Jan 99.

A VJ tank company team with MUPs attacked by fire the town of Kisela Banja between the hours of 1425-1605 during the last week of Jan 99 (I don't remember the exact date)

Is that enough????

[mark502inf]

The UCK ambushed and killed police in the area on 8 and 10 Jan 99.

If I recall correctly, that was what instigated the Serbs to "go in heavy" at Racak.

[mark502inf]

So, it boils down to what one's definition of "close range" is.

My definition is, if its aimed at me, its close range!

[Paratrooper_501]

Yes. The Serbian forces built up forces in the area between 12 and 14 January and attacked on the 15th.

I stated at the time, "It is my opinion that the events described involving the deaths of Albanians between 31 Dec 98 and 5 Jan 99 led to the UCK ambushes of police on the 8th and 10th of Jan 99 which in turn led to the build up of Serbian forces between the 12th and 14th Jan 99 and the Serbian attack on Racak on 15 Jan 99."

[Paratrooper_501]

To continue my account:

After I viewed the last body I went back to the center of Racak to rest and decide what to do next. The French reporter was there. I believe he had been with us viewing bodies most of the morning. He asked me more than once if I would characterize what I had seen as a massacre. My personal opinion at that point was that it was a massacre, but I did not tell him that. I told him that it was not my place to make that characterization and that I would leave it to the OSCE leaders to define what it was. As I said before I got a radio call sometime around noon that AMB Walker was coming and tried to find an OSCE representative to take care of him. They were off somewhere else in the town and AMB Walker arrived with a large delegation of assorted international press and other OSCE people before they came back. Amongst these OSCE people were police from various countries who came to begin a “proper investigation”. I took AMB Walker and the entourage to several locations in the village and then ended up the hill at the gully where the 15 bodies were piled up. Here everyone looked at the scene for a few minutes and AMB Walker made a statement to the international press.

After returning to the village I spoke to Femi and arranged for AMB Walker to meet with Buja in Petrova. I cannot remember whose idea it was to have a meeting, but we decided to do it away from Racak because of the crowd and commotion there. I spoke to the KLA MP and asked if he could arrange to prevent the press from following us. As we left I saw that the KLA had blocked the one road out of Racak behind us. The meeting occurred at around 1500 hrs in Petrova. It was informal with the gist of it being AMB Walker asking Buja to exercise restraint and not conduct any retaliations. He also asked why Buja thought the KLA would attack Racak. His reasoning was that Racak was inhabited by friends and family of UCK members; Racak provided the UCK with food and supplies; the Serbian Police sought to drive a wedge between the villagers and UCK in order to cut the UCK lines of supply; and the area around Stimlje and Racak was strategic as it controlled the mouth of the pass to Suva Reka. Buja also repeated his accusation that the massacre was OSCE’s fault since it did nothing to stop it. AMB Walker told him that was untrue as direct intervention was outside the legal charter of OSCE and that all of the observers were unarmed. Overall the meeting ended cordially.

On the way back AMB Walker continued past Racak on to Stimlje and Pristina. I turned at the fork in the road and went back to Racak. I was amused to see that everyone was still there. We had asked the KLA to prevent anyone following us and they not only did that but blocked the road out until we returned to release them. I spoke with the OSCE observers there for a while and then returned to Kosovo Polje. The OSCE rotated observers in and out of Racak all that night and maintained a continuous presence.

To be continued