April 29, 1999

Let's look at the forgotten human story behind the raging war in Kosovo. We don't hear on our nightly news what is happening to the civilians. People like you and I. We only discover the human issue stories on the Internet and in various non-mainstream media.

A language teacher, an American citizen from San Antonio, Texas, writes an e-mail about his experience living in Yugoslavia (Serbia) for 13 years. This is the type of story we never learn about in the mainstream news. All we hear is the propaganda that spurs us to enthusiastically rally behind the President and the NATO forces in their efforts to bomb this foreign country and its faceless people.

This teacher tells about his experiences and how he has come to love the people of Serbia who have openly embraced him over the years. On March 24^th NATO bombs began to fall on his second homeland, which includes his friends and associates, his wife, newborn daughter, and young son (who are half-Serb). He sadly states that the long-time friendship between Serbia and the US is now destroyed. They feel they have been betrayed by their friends.

Let's listen to a rare first-hand objective view from this unnamed teacher about the events that are currently taking place in Kosovo. This is the story they don't want us to know about.

NATO has invaded a sovereign state for the first time in it's 50 year history. They are using advanced technology of precision strikes on both military and nonmilitary targets. The Yugoslavs feel they are being attacked because they refused to sign an agreement that was sold to them by the US, one that would impose a "global" way of life, letting in NATO forces on their sovereign territory. The document signed by the Kosovar Albanians in Paris states that NATO would have the right to move freely throughout Yugoslavia.

There were always differences of opinion on what should be done with Kosovo. Some said the Albanians were welcome (100,000 Albanians live in Belgrade and at the beginning of the bombing they staged a protest against the bombing, this gesture was warmly greeted by the Serbs). Others said that the Albanians should leave and be resettled by Serbs. Thousands of people are now on the road driven from their homes and their country. Whatever people thought before, now they are supporting Milosevic's regime.

NATO claims to have the support of the International Community, yet Russia, China, India, and Greece are being ignored; the International Community means anyone who agrees with NATO's wishes.

This teacher questions why the Serbs are the ones being Satanized by NATO and the western media. NATO's bombs have inflicted irreplaceable damage to Prishtina the capital of Kosovo. Why is NATO labeled a hero and other aggressors as devils?

The people of Kosovo feel that NATO is drawing out the hitting of targets over an extended period of time as part of their psychological warfare. The uncertainty of knowing where and when the bombing will hit keeps the people running. Each day there are concerts in Belgrade's main square, and the people continue to go about their work. They want to proceed with their daily activities despite the bombing and destruction taking place all around them.

This English teacher says that as an ex-patriot who loves the US, he is in a position to observe from a distance (away from our media controlled environment) what is really taking place. For many Serbs, this teacher is the only American they have ever met or will meet, and he feels he must make a good impression.

He asks what is the justification for this bombing? NATO's blatant violation of its own principles (attacking a sovereign state) shows its disregard for anything (including human rights). He feels NATO ceased to exist as a legal entity at 7:55 PM on March 24, 1999.

NATO's decision to bomb Yugoslavia without a specific resolution from the United Nations cast the United Nations as an ineffective institution. NATO knew that if a resolution was put in the Security Council to bomb Yugoslavia that Russia and China would veto it. With this act, NATO now has free reign to attack any country who refuses to comply with a resolution.

The English teacher feels that our taxpayer money that is now being used to blow up factories and schools (which will some day have to be replaced), could have been used more wisely by putting together an intensive study of the problem, a detailed analysis of the history and characters of the people involved and a carefully planned negotiation process.

He thinks that a program was drawn to set the Balkans up in a manageable way, and since the Serbs are the largest ethnic group in the Balkans, their country was to be disunited so that there was no longer a regional power in Europe. Thus in Paris, the Serbs were presented with a fait accompli — agree to NATO presence or we will blow you up!

Why didn't President Clinton come to Kosovo and talk with the Albanians and Serbs and find out what they really wanted and tried to arrange a peaceable agreement. He had a responsibility to do that if we are looking to ensure peace in Europe as he claims. Instead of seeking a greater understanding of the people and the problem, the quickest way to make resolution was to proceed with the bombing. In this way he is putting the lives of American military personnel in danger with very little authorization of the people of the US. He also violated the principles of the Presidency, those principles upon which the UN and NATO were established. We are all being mislead and lied to by the President and the administration.

Both sides should have sat down and tried to resolve the issues. The people of Yugoslavia, and especially the Serbs are not the genocidal monsters that they are being portrayed to the world. He says they are broadminded and loving, sometimes stubborn people (who wouldn't be in this situation). They are a valuable part of the culture of Europe, and to wipe out their heritage is a crime to the world.

In closing, this English teacher says as the sounds of air-raids blast through his community, he will bathe his new baby girl and put her to sleep. He will continue to teach his 5 1/2 year old son to read and count. And he will teach both of his children to live by the principles upon which America and western civilization was founded. He will do this because he believes that the greatness of our culture is not in its material wealth or military power, but in its commitment to principles, justice and morality. He will light a candle and pray for all of us.

Our media has totally ignored the reports of Kosovo Liberation Army killings of Serbian police and civilians, including an attack on a refugee camp holding 300,000 Serbs forced out of Croatia.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on 4/5/99 that NATO's bombings were ordered to halt the terrible atrocities that Milosevic was inflicting on the Albanians in Kosovo, but the only specific example that she discussed was the alleged massacre of 45 Albanians in the village of Racak in mid-January.

Yet, this only alleged massacre that Albright cites is claimed to be a battle between Serb police and the KLAS and that the 22 bodies laid out in a ravine were KLA guerrillas killed in the fight. Journalists saw little blood and only a few cartridges around the site of the alleged massacre. They speculate that the KLA gathered some of the bodies killed in the fighting and tried to make it look like a massacre.

NATO's mass bombing of Kosovo is causing the mass flight of refugees. NATO continues to mistakenly bomb innocent civilian targets, such as a civilian convoy and a passenger train.

The Yugoslav government and President Slobodan Milosevic refused to negotiate on Kosovo, which is a region of Yugoslavia where ethnic Albanians are the majority. Yet in reality NATO bombs are falling on all people of Yugoslavia. There were no negotiations (as will be discussed next).

Yugoslavia is seen as the aggressor in this conflict and Milosevic is portrayed as another Hitler. The reality is that there are no Yugoslav soldiers, planes, or ships attacking another country. The conflict in Kosovo is an internal affair. Why is this country of 10 million people being attacked by 19 countries, including the US?

There was concern by the Clinton administration that ethnic cleansing and human suffering were being done in Yugoslavia. The reality is that the US, Germany and other NATO members were a key player in breaking up Yugoslavia in 1991 and 1992 by arming and supporting secessionist movements. In truth, the biggest single act of human rights violation was when 600,000 Serbs were forced to leave the Krajina region of Croatia by the US trained and armed Croatian military in 1995. More than 55,000 Serbs were resettled in Kosovo who are now among the hundreds of thousands made refuges by the current conflict. (What about the ethnic cleansing the US and Canada conducted upon its Native people? Does this count?)

It is stated that the NATO goal is to protect the rights of the predominantly Muslim Albanians in Kosovo. In reality we pretend to care about the Muslims while our policy of sanctions and war kills 300 Iraqis every day, predominantly children under the age of five years old. Most Iraqis are Muslims. We don't really care about the people. This is not the real issue.

The Serbs are now the victims of genocide by NATO. Are we right in killing innocent people in the name of justice?

The news we receive is adultered facts, it is not the truth, but a fabrication of what they want us to believe. Major media is big business, and big business is run by those in power. It is the best propaganda machine for the government. What we hear is what they want us to believe. That is the truth of it.

Stories are planted in the media about genocide and other atrocities to move the people toward a common cause. Sensationalism keeps us in the proper frame of mind for the killing of innocent people. The legitimizing of force is a common denominator in all these events. This is in total violation of the human rights of all people.

In international affairs we set ourselves up as authoritative judges of the world common good, totally disregarding the views of others. From our slanted perspectives we judge the world. We are the self-appointed judge and jury of other nations. Who gave us this right to condemn our chosen enemies?

The question to ask ourselves is our humanitarian intervention justification for war?

The alleged peace agreement that was designed to start the war in Yugoslavia contains the truth of the matter.

There was never any negotiations with Yugoslavia. What was devised was the Rambouillet Agreement, an ultimatum that was presented in France to the Yugoslav government. It was written in such a way that it would be impossible for the Yugoslavian government to sign.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other top US officials pointed out that there was no room for discussion of the document that was penned by international mediators.

The Rambouillet agreement would turn Kosovo into a colony of the UN (with the US as its dominant power). The agreement contains provisions that would subject all of Yugoslavio to NATO occupation. This official presentation was stated to be at the autonomy for Kosovo being secured by the stationing of a peace force in Kosovo. In reality this agreement was never meant to bring about peace, but instead was a declaration of war.

The refusal (which was no surprise) of the Milosevic government to sign this agreement provided NATO the official justification for its war against Yugoslavia. The contents of this agreement was kept a secret for some time until the text was published weeks later on the Internet site of the Albanian Kosova Crisis Center.

Article 8 of the Appendix to the agreement states:

Article 6 guarantees the occupying forces absolute immunity:

Article 10 secures for NATO to cost-free use of all Yugoslavian streets, airports, and seaports.

Who were the members of the world community that were involved in this agreement? The five Western members of the Contact Group were the US, Britain, Germany, France, and Italy.

If the Yugoslav government would have signed this agreement they would have had to relinquish all claims to sovereignty over their own territory.

The Yugoslav delegation were given the choice of either swallowing the ultimatum or rejecting the agreement in total, which they did. The secret content of the agreement and the way it was presented to the Yugoslav government suggests that this was really a pretext for war and not a political solution to the Kosovo conflict. It was never intended to be one. It was penned to inflame a proud people and subjugate them to the powers that be. (Seems to me to be similar to the actions of police upon the populace of America lately. Either go with the flow of the changing new order of things, or be subjected to arrest, detention, and harassment.)

The Berliner ZEITUNG proclaimed of this agreement " This passage sounds like a surrender treaty following a war that was lost…. The fact that Yugoslavian President Milosevic did not want to sign such a paper is understandable."

The politicians were blind to the contents of the agreement. They agreed to attack Yugoslavia without even having read the text that was used to justify the war. NATO's campaign of disinformation, which has accompanied the war since its inception is directed at the public as well as the parliamentarians and state officials. The text of the Accord was only officially presented to the German parliament on 4/9, more than two weeks after the bombing started.

Senator John McCain remarked on 4/9/99: "Russia is a basket case. They cannot do anything…. We cannot be dissuaded from proceeding to victory…. The debate should not be about how or why we got involved… that is academic now. We must proceed to victory."

With NATO's campaign of disinformation, the President's endorsing and encouraging us to blindly accept the battle plans, and the public eagerly following along with the agenda, all fit in with the stated goals of taking over this sovereign state.

What are we really fighting for? Is it the rights to the rich natural resources? Money is at the root of all wars. So what is at stake in Kosovo? The state owned Trepca mines produce lead, zinc, cadmium, gold, silver. There is also a rich source of coal reserves in the country.

A Greek mining company signed a five year contract worth $519 billion with the state-owned RMHK Trepca and the Serbian agency of foreign trade, in which the company will forward one third of the mineral production in the international market. Trepca mines will soon be privatized allowing the Greek company to buy the stock.

The state-owned Trepca mines are worth about $5 billion as real estate, and the potential for earning power is tremendous. The $519 billion contract with Greece obligates the mine to deliver one third of the minerals it produces over five years, and the remaining two-thirds of minerals produced over the five years sold at a comparable price to others would be $1.56 trillion (wholesale cost).

So there is a lot of money at stake here. According to the UN charter NATO could take over the mine in Kosovo and incur a 3 trillion dollar profit over five years and use the stolen proceeds for its "missions of mercy".

Chris Hedges writes in THE NEW YORK TIMES Foreign Desk on 7/8/98:

John Llewellyn, chief global economist at Lehman Brothers told BBC that the air campaign would cost about 3 billion dollars per month to NATO countries, and the "humanitarian bill" going along with this campaign would be 12 billion dollars, bringing the grand total to 15 billion dollars. Yet another source raises that figure, the Financial Times estimates the higher cost of 20 billion dollars a month.

The five biggest spenders in NATO in 1997 to 1998 were: United States ($271 billion), France ($47 billion), Germany ($39 billion), Britain ($33 billion), and Italy ($24 billion).

What a price we pay for tragedy inflicted upon others! Would we ever consider using this money for humanitarian and educational needs instead?

The world media is being more honest with its viewers. They are reporting an enormous amount of NATO losses and the complete failure of the air strikes.

Russian intelligence and other members of the world media are reporting losses that the American people have not heard about. The Greek daily ATINAIKI wrote on 4/18/99 that at least 88 alliance soldiers were killed and 32 aircraft were shot down. European newspapers reported similar statistics. Radio Toronto reported the crash of a NATO aircraft in Israel with the pilot and 22 parachuters were killed.

Three Stealth bombers have been reported downed by the Yugoslavs. Did we hear about these?

NATO's helicopter missions have been having heavy casualties according to world newspapers.

The Yugoslav air defense has shot down a large number of NATO aircraft, and the dead are still unaccounted for. How is NATO going to explain this to the parent's of these airmen killed in battle (when it has not yet been announced in our media)?

Why is the alliance trying to conceal these statistics from us?

What we are doing to the Serbian civilians is what we allege the Serb military is doing to the Kosovos. It is genocide pure and simple.

NATO's mistaken bombs took more lives than the Serb-Albanian war. Who are we killing? And why are we killing? Still a mystery.

What about following the Hippocratic principle of "First, do no harm." If we can't think of a way to adhere to this elementary principle, then we should do nothing. Too often it is easier to fight than seek a compromise. This is a sad state that we all find ourselves in the world community. In international affairs we have set ourselves up as the judges of all. We are too ready to attack. We have the weaponry, the manpower, and the competitive nature waiting to put into action. We are ready for war, and war we have found.

By our remaining silent we are agreeing with the UN's agenda. We are all to blame for the casualties that are coming out of this war. Since when did we forget our humanness and the differences of culture and opinion that shapes us and makes us a world composed of all colors of diversity and beauty?

Time to take a look at who we have become. Time to become responsible citizens of the world and not just our little safe communities. Time to speak up about the realities of these discrepancies. What are we doing to our neighbors (next door and abroad)? And why?