-Caveat Lector- : : Sent: Friday, April 02, 1999 2:28 PM : Subject: An Act of International Charity ? : : : : From wsws.org : : : : WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : The Balkan Crisis : : : : Behind and beyond the propaganda: Why is the US bombing Serbia? : : : : By David North : : 2 April 1999 : : : : Why are the United States and NATO bombing Serbia? The simple answer, : : according to all the governments involved in this enterprise, is to stand : : up for human rights and stop the "ethnic cleansing" of the Albanians in : : Kosovo. : : : : This theme has resonated throughout the media, which has gone so far as to : : proclaim that the attack on Serbia represents an entirely new type of war, : : i.e., one whose purpose is purely humanitarian. As Max Boot of the Wall : : Street Journal declared in the edition of April 1: : : : : "Though it may seem odd to link foreign policy and altruism, it seems : clear : : that NATO's purposes in Kosovo are primarily humanitarian. Whether the : : mission goes badly or well, the objective is simply to stop the ethnic : : cleansing of Kosovar Albanians. The F-16s and B-2s, in short, are being : : used in an act of international charity on a grand scale." : : : : One cannot help but imagine how Orwell would have responded to this : : extraordinary contribution to Newspeak: bombing described as charity! This : : seems to open up intriguing possibilities. Why not simply proclaim this : war : : to be a vast philanthropic exercise and rename the mission, Operation : : Generosity? : : : : In every imperialist war, vast propaganda resources are devoted to the : : manipulation of public opinion. No capitalist government expects to win : : popular support for war on the basis of a frank discussion of the : : financial, commercial and great-power interests that motivate its military : : actions. Thus, it seeks to mobilize public opinion by appealing to the : : nobler sentiments of the masses: "Fight the War to End All Wars," "Make : the : : World Safe For Democracy," "Defend the Free World," etc. : : : : A corollary of such propaganda campaigns is the demonization of the enemy, : : who supposedly represents the antithesis of all these worthy ideals. He : : needs only to be eliminated and an earthly paradise will be achieved. In : : its most developed form, this is known as "The 'Bad Hitler' theory of : : history." : : : : When George Bush prepared for the invasion of Panama, the media suddenly : : discovered quite shocking similarities between Noriega, a one-time asset : of : : the CIA, and Hitler. A year later, Bush declared that Saddam Hussein was : : "Hitler revisited." Now has come the turn of Milosevic. : : : : In the weeks leading up to the bombing of Serbia, it was frankly admitted : : in the press that the Clinton administration was finding it difficult to : : explain to the public why the United States should go to war against a : : small country that was not viewed as an enemy by the overwhelming majority : : of the American people. Indeed, Clinton admitted somewhat ruefully that : : most Americans (and this probably includes the vast majority of news media : : celebrities) would not be able to locate Kosovo on a world map. : : : : Finally, the administration concluded that claims of gross violations of : : human rights by the Serbs--chillingly described as "ethnic cleansing" and : : evoking images of Nazi genocide--would be the most effective means of : : rapidly winning public support for a bombing campaign. : : : : From the standpoint of the administration, the claim that the war is being : : fought to stop "ethnic cleansing" is seen as particularly effective : because : : it serves to de-legitimize all opposition to the war. After all, how can : : any decent person oppose a war that is being fought simply to prevent mass : : murder? : : : : The effectiveness of such a simplistic argument is enhanced by the fact : : that the media is in a position to control and manipulate the images of : the : : war that are broadcast over the airwaves. After all, sitting in front of a : : television, the average viewer is not in a position to question the : : commentary that accompanies video footage of refugees. The context is : : presented by the networks. The viewer has no way of independently : : determining why or from whom the refugees are fleeing. : : : : For example, the media simply does not report that one of the essential : : constituent elements in the violence that has produced a flood of refugees : : is the clash between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)--which has enjoyed : : increasing political and logistical support from the United States--and : the : : Serbian army. We have no doubt that the Serb forces have targeted Kosovan : : civilians and bear responsibility for much misery and death. But they are : : not the only actors in this tragedy, and the refusal of the media to : : examine the role of the KLA serves only to distort reality and conceal the : : political aims that underlie the intervention of the United States. : : : : Earlier this year, on February 2, the director of the Central Intelligence : : Agency, George J. Tenet, appeared before the Senate Armed Services : : Committee. Describing Kosovo as "the most acute problem" in the Balkans, : : Tenet asserted that "The Kosovo Liberation Army will emerge from the : winter : : better trained [by whom?], better equipped [again, by whom?] and better : led : : than last year. With neither Belgrade nor the Kosovar Albanians willing to : : compromise at this point, spring will bring harder fighting and heavier : : casualties, unless the International Community succeeds in imposing a : : political settlement." : : : : Tenet provided a brief review of the history of the KLA: "By 1996, a : : loosely organized insurgency, the Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA, had : : emerged--dedicated to overthrowing Belgrade's rule by force. The KLA grew : : quickly and was able last spring to mount low-level attacks against Serb : : police forces and expand its presence throughout the province, even : : exercising effective control over some areas in central Kosovo." : : : : In Tenet's view, the counterinsurgency efforts of the Serb army had : : achieved only limited results, and the KLA had successfully exploited the : : cease-fire to which Belgrade had agreed in October "to improve its : training : : and command and control, as well as to acquire more and better weapons. As : : a result the KLA is a more formidable force than the Serbs faced last : : summer. We estimate that there are several thousand KLA regulars augmented : : by thousands more irregulars, or home guards. Moreover, funds pouring into : : KLA coffers from the Albanian Diaspora have increased sharply following : the : : massacre at Recak." : : : : Tenet then offered the following prognosis: : : : : "We assess that if fighting escalates in the spring-- as we expect--it : will : : be bloodier than last year's. Belgrade will seek to crush the KLA once and : : for all, while the insurgents will have the capability to inflict heavier : : casualties on Serb forces. Both sides likely will step up attacks on : : civilians. There is already evidence that the KLA may be retaliating for : : the slaying of Albanian civilians at the hands of Serb security forces by : : attacking Serb civilians. The recent attacks against Serb bars and : : restaurants in Pristina and Pec could be the beginning of a pattern of : : tit-for-tat retaliation that will grow more severe as fighting : intensifies. : : Heavier fighting also will result in another humanitarian crisis, possibly : : greater in scale than last year's, which created 250,000 refugees and : : internally displaced persons along with hundreds of destroyed buildings : and : : homes" (emphasis added). : : : : A number of important political conclusions emerge from this testimony. : : : : First, in contrast to the propagandized presentation, the human tragedy in : : Kosovo is unfolding within the context of a bitter civil war between : : competing nationalist forces for control of the region. The United States : : foresaw that Kosovan civilians would be caught in the crossfire of this : : struggle. : : : : To state this fact is not to condone atrocities or shrug one's shoulders : in : : the face of human suffering. But it is necessary to point out that the : : indiscriminate use of the term "ethnic cleansing" prevents an objective : and : : serious examination of the political dynamic--regional and : : international--of this conflict. : : : : Second, Tenet's testimony before the Senate committee sheds disturbing : : light on the calculations of the United States. The Clinton administration : : believed that the Kosovan insurgents were developing into a significant : : military force. Within the framework of an autonomous region--which was to : : be imposed upon the Serbian government at the talks in Rambouillet--the : KLA : : would be able to develop under American tutelage into a useful regional : : asset of the United States, one that could be utilized to maintain steady : : pressure upon Belgrade. : : : : But the United States miscalculated. It had expected that the Serbian : : government, faced with the threat of aerial bombardment and increasingly : : effective ground operations by US-and-NATO-backed KLA forces, would buckle : : under the pressure applied at Rambouillet and accept Kosovan autonomy. : : : : Instead, the Serb government refused to back down. It then responded to : the : : launching of the US-NATO bombing campaign by moving against the KLA forces : : with far greater speed and effectiveness than the Clinton administration : : had expected. It would appear from the results of the past week that the : : CIA grossly overestimated the fighting capacities of the KLA. : : : : One cannot help but suspect that it is the fate of the KLA, far more than : : that of Kosovan civilians, which accounts for the vitriolic response of : the : : media to the Serbian resistance. : : : : Tomorrow: A closer look at the strange US double standard on human rights : : : : See Also: : : : : "Executed" Kosovar leaders reemerge: Easter miracle, or media fraud? : : [2 April 1999] : : Why did the events in Kosovo take the Clinton Administration by surprise? : : [1 April 1999] : : Clinton signals a shift to a wider war against Serbia : : [31 March 1999] : : NATO war on Serbia has repercussions for Europe as a whole : : [31 March 1999] : : US, NATO prepare public opinion for ground war against Serbia : : [30 March 1999] : : Whom with the United States bomb next? : : [26 March 1999] : : : : Top of page : : : : Readers: The WSWS invites your comments. Please send e-mail. : : : : : : : : WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : The Balkan Crisis : : : : "Executed" Kosovar leaders reemerge: Easter miracle, or media fraud? : : : : By Barry Grey : : 2 April, 1999 : : : : On Wednesday Reuters carried a two-sentence notice that the prominent : : Albanian Kosovar leaders Fehmi Agani and Baton Haxhiu had not, after all, : : been executed by Serb forces in the Kosovan capital of Pristina. Another : : wire service reported the same day that Ibrahim Rugova, the leader of the : : Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), had not, as reported earlier, gone into : : hiding after Serbs burned down his home in Pristina. : : : : "I am here in my home, where I've been since I returned from Paris with my : : family," Rugova told journalists on Wednesday. : : : : The execution of Agani and Haxhiu had been widely publicized after a NATO : : military spokesman in Brussels on Monday cited "reliable reports" that : they : : were among five ethnic Albanian political leaders, journalists and : : intellectuals murdered by the Serbs as part of a campaign to exterminate : : the cream of Kosovar society. NATO officials had previously reported the : : disappearance of Rugova. : : : : Agani was a member of the Kosovar delegation at last February's peace : talks : : in France. Haxhiu is editor-in-chief of the main Kosovo Albanian : newspaper, : : Koha Ditore. Both are linked politically to Rugova's LDK, a more moderate : : wing of Kosovan Albanian nationalism that has been at odds with the Kosovo : : Liberation Army (KLA). : : : : The evening news programs on US television made no mention of the : : reemergence of Agani and Haxhiu, and the New York Times buried the story : on : : page 13 of its Thursday edition. No explanation has been given either for : : the false reports of the deaths and disappearance of these Albanian : : leaders, or for their apparently miraculous resurrection. : : : : Are we dealing here with a wondrous phenomenon of the Easter season, or an : : embarrassing exposure of the thoroughly dishonest methods of the US and : : NATO, and their media mouthpieces? The reader can decide for himself. : : : : One thing that has been exposed by the return from the dead of the : Albanian : : leaders is the fact that the "reliable sources" cited by American and NATO : : officials are, more often than not, the KLA. The source for the reported : : execution of Agani and Haxhiu was the KLA news agency, Kosovapress. : : : : On Thursday it was reported that Rugova was in Belgrade seeking to : : negotiate a basis for ending the warfare with Serb President Slobodan : : Milosevic. Any such initiative is anathema to the KLA, which considers the : : pro-autonomy LDK a political obstacle to obtaining independence for : Kosovo, : : with the aid of American and NATO military power. : : : : Given these political realities, KLA reports of the death and : disappearance : : of LDK leaders take on a sinister cast. Many questions are raised. Who : : would be better served by the elimination of the LDK, Milosevic--who might : : view the LDK as a more palatable ethnic Albanian alternative to the KLA : : guerrillas--or KLA head Hashim Thaci? It is not far fetched to suggest : that : : Rugova, Agani, Haxhiu and other LDK leaders have been targeted for : : elimination by the KLA, which issued reports of their disappearance and : : death prematurely. : : : : Another story reported prominently by the American and European media on : : Wednesday was the charge that Serbia had set up concentration camps in : : Kosovo, into which tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians were being : herded. : : German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping told a press conference Wednesday : : morning that he had "serious reports" of such camps. He said these : reports, : : as well as the reported execution of Agani and Haxhiu, "brought to mind : ... : : tactics used by Nazi Germany." : : : : The previous evening, KLA leader Thaci said in an interview on German : : television that the main stadium in Pristina was being used as one such : : camp, and 100,000 people were being held there. : : : : But later on Wednesday, at a US State Department briefing, a journalist : : cited an independent report from a newsman who visited the stadium and : : found neither prisoners, nor any evidence that large numbers of people had : : been in the facility in recent days. The reporter asked State Department : : spokesman James Rubin, in light of this development, to comment on the : : reliability of the KLA as a source for US reports on events in Kosovo. : : Rubin dodged the issue, but acknowledged subsequently that Thaci was his : : source for other atrocity allegations, and indicated that he is in daily : : contact with the KLA leader. : : : : Serb forces are carrying out brutal actions against civilians in Kosovo, : : and opposition to the US-NATO war does not imply the slightest support for : : the regime of Serbian President Milosevic or his chauvinist and repressive : : policies. But it is impossible to obtain an objective picture of what is : : happening in Kosovo--the extent of Serb violence, the role of the KLA in : : attacking Kosovan Serbs, the destructive impact of NATO bombing on the : : Kosovars--under conditions in which official and media reports are : dictated : : by the political and military aims of the US and its KLA allies. : : : : Given Washington's record of militarism and covert operations on the : : international arena, and the notorious role of the American media as an : : adjunct of the Pentagon and the CIA, no conscientious observer can accept : : as good coin any claims that are being made so long as there is no : : credible, independent verification. : : : : ------------------------------------------------------------------------ : : : : Copyright 1998-99 : : World Socialist Web Site : : All rights reserved : : : : : : : : : : : : ~~~~~~~~~~~~ : : A<>E<>R : : : : The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking : : new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust : : + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + : : Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved : : the absolute rejection of authority. -Thomas Huxley : : + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + : : Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed : : + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + : : In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material : : is distributed without charge or profit to those who have : : expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information : : for non-profit research and educational purposes only. : DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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