-Caveat Lector-
<<Interesting how those who seek the limelight tend to inflate things like
their egos (and then provide numbers or statistics for support thereof). And,
then, when the numbers don't pan, ... Sounds like a good reason to stay out of
other peoples' affairs, including wars. The Grail weren't not never in no
Middle Eastern burg and it ain't in Kosovaria; yet, how many died seeking
justification for their faith, ignoring fact? A<>E<>R >>
>From TheTorontoStar
Via LewRockwell.CoM
{{<Begin>}}
November 3, 1999
No genocide, no justification for war on Kosovo
IN THE GENOCIDE of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo by the forces of Serb leader
Slobodan Milosevic, the worst incident occurred at the Trepca mine.
As reported by American and NATO officials, large numbers of bodies were
brought in by trucks under the cover of darkness. The bodies were then thrown
down the shafts, or were disposed of entirely in the mine's vats of
hydrochloric acid. Estimates of the number of dead began at 1,000.
That was six months ago, in the middle of the war undertaken to halt what both
U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair called ``a
human catastrophe.'' Estimates of the number of ethnic Albanians slaughtered
went upward from 10,000. U.S. Defence Secretary William Cohen put the count at
100,000.
Three weeks ago, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
released the findings of Western forensic teams investigating the horror at
Trepca. There were not 1,000 bodies down the mine shafts at Trepca, reported
the tribunal. There were not 100 bodies there. There was not one body there,
nor was there any evidence the vats had ever been used to dispose of human
remains.
Shortly afterward, the tribunal reported on its work at the most infamous of
all the mass graves of ethnic Albanians, at Ljubenic near the town of Pec.
Earlier, NATO officials had said 350 victims had been hastily buried there by
the retreating Serb forces. There were not 350 bodies at Ljubenic, though.
There were five.
So far, not one mass grave has been found in Kosovo, despite four months' work
by forensic teams, including experts from the FBI and the RCMP.
This discovery - more accurately, this non-discovery - first was made public
three weeks ago by the Texas-based intelligence think tank, Stratfor. Stratfor
estimated the number of ethnic Albanian dead in Kosovo at 500.
Last weekend, the story was broadcast for the first time by the TV Ontario
program Diplomatic Immunity. (Last Sunday's New York Times was still using the
``10,000 deaths'' figure.)
The story has begun to appear in European newspapers. Spain's El Pais has
quoted the head of the Spanish forensic team, Emilo Pujol, as saying he had
resigned because, after being told to expect to have to carry out 2,000
autopsies, he'd only had 97 bodies to examine - none of which ``showed any
signs of mutilation or torture.''
Because 250 of 400 suspected mass graves in Kosovo remain to be examined, it's
possible that evidence of mass killings will yet be found. This is highly
unlikely though, because the worst sites were dug up first.
No genocide of ethnic Albanians by Serbs, therefore. No ``human catastrophe.''
No ``modern-day Holocaust.''
All of those claims may have been an honest mistake. Equally, they may have
been a grotesque lie concocted to justify a war that NATO originally assumed
would be over in a day or two, with Milosevic using the excuse of some minimal
damage as a cover for a surrender, but then had to fight (at great expense) for
months.
There's no question that atrocities were committed in Kosovo, overwhelmingly by
the Serb forces, although the ethnic Albanian guerrillas were not innocent.
Quite obviously, these forces, acting on Milosevic's explicit orders, carried
out mass expulsions of people, terrorizing them and destroying their homes and
property.
Acts like these are inexcusable. That they occur often in civil wars (far worse
are being committed by the Russians in Chechnya), is irrelevant to their
horror. But they have nothing to do with genocide.
No genocide means no justification for a war inflicted by NATO on a sovereign
nation. Only a certainty of imminent genocide could have legally justified a
war that was not even discussed by the U.N. Security Council.
No genocide means that the tribunal's indictment of Milosevic becomes highly
questionable. Even more questionable is the West's continued punishment of the
Serbs - the Danube bridges and the power stations remain in ruins - when their
offence may well have been stupidity rather than criminality.
The absence of genocide may mean something else, something deeply shaming. To
halt the supposed genocide, NATO bombed targets in Serbia proper. Because of
``collateral'' or accidental damage, such as the bombing of a train, some 500
civilians were killed (Belgrade claims almost 1,000 deaths). NATO very likely
killed as many people as were killed in Kosovo.
The number of these dead isn't large enough to justify NATO's actions being
called a ``human catastrophe.'' But, unless proof of genocide can be produced,
NATO's actions were clearly a moral catastrophe.
Richard Gwyn's column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in The Star. He can
be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Editorial cartoon
Contents copyright © 1996-1999, The Toronto Star.
User interface, selection and arrangement copyright © 1996-1999, Torstar
Electronic Publishing Ltd.
{{<End>}}
A<>E<>R
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