Posted on 11/12/2004 10:48:13 AM PST by Jane_N
Goriented constituencies nationwide are presenting their political bills to the newly empowered Bush administration and the enhanced Republican majority in Congress. Each can, with justice, claim some part of the credit: gun-owners, pro-lifers, tax-cutters, security moms, veterans, small-business owners, farmers you name it.
But of any group, in any state, the one that plausibly can lay most claim to the Bush margin of victory are the estimated 50,000-plus Serbian-Americans of Ohio.
Serbs had special reason to dread a John Kerry presidency. Holding the unenviable distinction of having been the only European people since World War II to have been bombed (twice) by the United States or more precisely, by the Clinton administration Serbs could see the whole collection from the 1990s waiting to assume high posts in a Kerry administration. This group included Wesley Clark, Richard Holbrooke, Jamie Rubin, Sandy Berger, Leon Fuerth and Madeleine Albright.
If the Clinton lineup got a second chance at bat under Kerry, Serbs had no reason to doubt that they would once again be the ball. Even during the campaign, the Clinton-Kerry team began winding up for the first pitch, set for early 2005: final detachment of the Serbian province of Kosovo and giving it status as an independent country. The beneficiary would be the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a terrorist organization whose leadership is composed of the most notorious organized crime mafia in Europe. The KLA has documented links to the global jihad terror network, including the Iranians and al-Qaida.
Following the 1999 Clinton war against Serbia, Kosovo was placed under NATO occupation and the KLA was given free rein to drive most Serbs from Kosovo, the historic heart of their nation. Scores of ancient Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries were destroyed. Even now, five years after the war, the KLA still launches sporadic terror attacks on the dwindling number of Serb targets to punctuate its demands for a "final solution" an independent Muslim Kosovo with no Christian Serbs.
Kerry and his top advisers made clear their readiness to comply. Among the prominent guests at the Democratic Convention in Boston was KLA commander Hashim Thaci, also known by his criminal alias "Snake." On his return to Kosovo, Thaci gleefully declared: "It was confirmed once again that a Democratic administration would recognize and respect the will of the people of Kosova for self-determination."
Earlier this year, a Dutch TV network broadcast a documentary showing Clark and Holbrooke attending a fund-raiser in Brooklyn at which they accepted donations to the Kerry campaign from self-identified members of the KLA. These same KLA members are then shown packing up and shipping weapons to Kosovo for a renewed insurrection, in evident violation of a number of federal laws. They openly spoke of their expectation that their donations would be rewarded once Kerry became president.
The Serbian pro-Bush effort was a true grass-roots event, spontaneously mobilizing itself. "Serbian Americans believe a Bush administration will have the integrity and wisdom to pursue even-handed and objective policies with respect to their ancestral homeland, Serbia," declared www.serbsforbush.com, "and toward Serbs throughout the Balkans."
Moreover, 10 days before the election, the Bush campaign issued an appeal to Orthodox Christians (not only Serbs, but Greeks, Russians, etc.) as a faith community, a first for either major party. Compared to the Kerry campaign's blatant collusion with the criminal and terrorist KLA, the Bush pledge to the Orthodox to seek "equitable and lasting solutions to international crises and conflicts, such as those that continue to afflict the Middle East, the Balkans and the Caucasus" was a welcome alternative. The statement rapidly saturated Orthodox news sites both in the United States (see www.orthodoxchristiansforbush.com) and abroad.
The result was possibly the most lopsided pro-Bush turnout of any community among American Serbs and other Orthodox sympathetic to Serb concerns. So when American Serbs and especially Ohio Serbs tell the Bush White House that they are behind the president 100 percent, they can be taken at their word.
The Bush approach promises finally to rectify what has been the most glaring U.S. inconsistency in prosecuting the war against international jihad terrorism. American and Ohio Serbs know perhaps better than anyone how the Clinton errors of the past have hurt American interests, especially in the war on terror where, very simply, some Democrats were on the other side.
Now it will be up to the second Bush administration decisively to reject the course that Kerry's crowd would have implemented had they been given the chance.
Jatras is an attorney in Washington, D.C. He was previously a senior policy analyst for the Republican leadership team in the U.S. Senate.
Gee I can't imagine why they wouldn't want another Rat in the White House.
A "Ronly Bonly Jones worked for John Kerry" commemorative ping!
Fortunately for all, no "rats" made thier way in to the White House.
Lol, don't you just miss him sometimes ;)
I just hope that RBJ's somewhere where they can make him take his meds on time.
special ping
Lol, I always said he obviously suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Wait? Are you saying that 100% of the serbian vote in Ohio went to Bush? That's a pretty difficult percentage to believe. Although it would be fantastic if true.
The Sink Emperor, Cleaning Lady and Cohen the Coward's fraudulent "War in Kosovo" had at least one bright side. That we sided with pimping, drug dealing, terrorists and created a new breeding ground for the Islamists we now fight is, however, a very, very dark side....
"Are you saying that 100% of the serbian vote in Ohio went to Bush?"
Actually it's the author of the article saying it more or less, not me. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. I would guess that at least 90% of the Serbs in America voted Bush. I doen't think the serbs will ever forget what the last Democrat government did to Serbia
It really is sad, but when you look at the record, the Clinton administration had a special disdain for Christians. Kosovo is just one example, but his support for James Riady and Indonesia as they engaged in their own ethnic cleansing was just as bad.
Hell, we got a sample of what was to come shortly after the first WTC attack in 1993. Instead of targeting the Islamofascists and their terrorist brethren who were responsible, Clinton's federal government found it more important to lay seige to compound at Waco.
Whether it was this or going after the Freeman in Montana...or even Elian, this Democratic administration found it more appropriate to wage war on Americans, rather than dealing with our real enemies. I'm sorry to say, but I don't think this was a coincidence.
H*ll yeah! Serbs rock.
Why am I reminded of Elian Gonzolez?
Kerry did not deserve the Serb vote. But now that Bush is in these people need to watch Bush very closely. Turst no one - including the current admin.
I'm glad to hear this..an idiot friend of mine in Ohio, who also happens to be Croatian voted for Kerry. I actually had to hang up the telephone on him before the election. I know lot's of orthodox russians who voted Bush.
And an "Honorary Serb worked for George W Bush" reply!!!!
Statement by the President
I welcome today's arrest of Slobodan Milosevic, the former President of Yugoslavia. His arrest represents an important step in bringing to a close the tragic era of his brutal dictatorship.
Milosevic was responsible for great suffering throughout the Balkan region. He deserves to be tried for his crimes against the Serbian people. He also deserves to be tried for violations of international law. We cannot and must not forget the chilling images of terrified women and children herded onto trains, emaciated prisoners interned behind barbed wire, and mass graves unearthed by UN investigators.
Milosevic's arrest should be a first step toward trying him for the crimes against humanity with which he is charged. I am confident that Yugoslavia will continue down the path of cooperation with the UN War Crimes Tribunal. I am encouraged by the actions that Belgrade has already taken to work with the Tribunal, including its assistance over the last several weeks in transferring two indictees to the Hague. I call on President Kostunica to continue this cooperation and to see that Milosevic is likewise brought to justice.
The United States appreciates the hard job that Yugoslavia faces in building its new democracy. I assure the Yugoslav government and people that they can count on the friendship of the United States as they continue down the path of democratic and economic reform. We look forward to the day that Yugoslavia is fully part of a Europe that is whole and free and at peace.
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
April 1, 2001
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