Posted on 02/21/2008 11:04:42 AM PST by 11th_VA
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people.
Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices and parts of the facade also caught fire.
Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities.
The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack strongly urged the Serbian government to protect the U.S. Embassy. He said the U.S. ambassador was at his home and was in contact with U.S. officials.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.
Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.
But Serbia — and Kosovo's Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo's population — refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs' state and religion.
Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.
The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia's religious and national heartland. (AP Photo)
I tips me hat ta ya.
This decision was very badly received by many conservative people in Poland. Actually many people cheering for the Serbs burning American embassy, this something unbelievable what Bush administration achieved. You could not witness such situations in the past. Also keep in mind that those people are not any Russian allies. I heard about similar gestures in other astern European countries but Albania stands firmly with Bush, this is the most important! :)
Exactly the kind of thoughtful, reasoned argument one expects from a Serbia-booster.
The US embassy was destroyed by Serbian nationalists without any attempt by the Serbian government to defend it, and without any apparent investigation or criminal proceeding.
Any American who loves his country will consider this a contemptible insult.
Anyone who justifies it has removed his mask and revealed his true self.
Once the bag was passed, there were a lot better things that could have been done with it. Having gone this many years without changing the policy, Bush owns this puppy now - there ain’t no excuse for this malfeasance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Liberation_Army
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/bomb162.htm
KLA has ties with OBL.
That picture always brings a smile to my face. :-)
Yep.
It's winter. If there is going to be bloodshed, it will begin in the spring. Logistics.
Well, it’s definitely Clinton legacy, but it was Bush who ran right out and recognized Kosovo. I think even they were stunned by how fast we did it.
This was one of the most disastrous things he has done. If he had even waited a few months, until things had simmered down or the “new” Kosovo had self-destructed on its own, it wouldn’t have been this bad.
We obviously expected it, too, because there’s no other reason the Embassy would essentially have been empty and unguarded.
Source please? And if true, was this on the same scale of the Serbians in Bosnia? Or are you deliberately using an extremely narrow focus? All rape rooms are bad. But the Serbs practically defined rape rooms...
And, how many, exactly, did they ‘massacre’. Go find out how many bodies were actually discovered (under 10,000, total), and it’s doubtful many were civilians at all, with open warfare going on vs the insurgents.
Keep the shilling coming, we know where your loyalties lie. Break out your Bin Laden poster and give it a stroke.
And I for one, will be rooting for the Serbs. They are by no means perfect, but if Mexico did the same thing to my home state, I hope to God that Presidente Arbusto would think it was worth a fight. Not at all clear that he has that opinion, btw. More is the pity. Somehow I doubt we’ll keep our troops out of this since KFOR is made up of about 9% US soldiers.
http://www.nato.int/kfor/structur/nations/placemap/kfor_placemap.pdf
Thank you Bill Clinton AND George Bush AND John McCain. Bush supported that war as well and has kept troops there ever sense. McCain, of course, was even worse than Clinton on Kosovo.
How many Mexican Embassies in the United States would suddenly find themselves in flames?
You are so right. That some on FR can't make that connection with how the Serbs must see this is mind boggling.
Contemptible insult, heh ? What about recongnizing and supporting partition of another sovereign country ? What’d ya call that ?
Around 3000, the 10,000 number proposed by a statistician without the bodies to substantiate the claim. We all know how statistics go...
I thought Saddam Hussein defined rape rooms. Mixing up your propaganda cue cards? Or just have one that applies to any purpose?
“Let azltan(spel?) slice off a piece of the US and see how Americans would react over that.”
They’d just roll over and fall asleep again, just like they today when it comes to the threat of Islam.
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