-Caveat Lector-
Does anyone here still believe in "smart bombs," or even in smart
bombers?
NATO Admits Hitting Albanian Post
By KATARINA KRATOVAC
.c The Associated Press
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- NATO forces mistakenly hit an ethnic Albanian
rebel base, the alliance said Saturday, the same day its jets and missiles
knocked out power to much of Serbia and destroyed a residence of President
Slobodan Milosevic.
NATO acknowledged it accidentally attacked a stronghold of the Kosovo
Liberation Army on Friday, believing it was a position still held by the
Yugoslav army. The rebels seized the border post more than a month ago and
had been using the site as a major staging area to battle Serb forces.
International monitors said at least one KLA guerrilla was killed and at
least 15 others wounded in the strike against the hilltop border post in
Kosare, 37 miles west of Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
``We did strike that border command post,'' NATO spokesman Jamie Shea told
reporters in Brussels, Belgium. ``It was until very recently in the hands of
the Yugoslav army, but it appears that it was then subsequently taken over''
by the KLA. ``I cannot confirm any number of casualties.''
The accidental attack was the latest in a string of errant strikes in the
alliance's eight-week air campaign. It is aimed at forcing Milosevic to
withdraw his security forces from Kosovo and permit the return of nearly
800,000 ethnic Albanian refugees who have fled or said they were expelled
from the southern Serb province.
Two weeks ago, three NATO missiles struck the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade,
killing three people and wounding 20 others. NATO admitted it had been using
maps that had the embassy in the wrong place, although the Belgrade phone
book and tourist maps had the correct address.
Meanwhile, much of Serbia was thrust into darkness by NATO attacks early
Saturday, in what the alliance said was its most intensive night of sorties
so far in the air campaign.
One of the targets was the power plant in Kolubara, 20 miles southwest of
Belgrade. It supplies most of Belgrade and central and northern Serbia.
Serbian media reported that four missiles struck the plant's main
distribution center and a nearby transformer station, crippling it for weeks
to come -- a situation that will likely lead to protracted power shortages
over a wide area.
In addition to the missile strikes on Kolubara, which reportedly injured 13
people, NATO jets dropped special bombs that short-circuit electrical wires
by releasing carbon filaments.
By Saturday afternoon, power was restored to 20 percent of Belgrade, local
media reported, but it was limited mainly to hospitals and other priority
users.
Serbia's power company accused NATO of wanting to ``cause a humanitarian
catastrophe of major proportions'' and urged citizens to conserve power when
it was restored.
NATO said Saturday it had hit power installations, ammunition dumps, highway
bridges, army barracks and a presidential retreat and leadership command and
control center at Dobanovci, 12 miles west of Belgrade.
Alliance officials said 40 targets were hit in Serbia, excluding Kosovo.
Struck in the province were a dozen tanks, 18 military vehicles and nine
artillery positions, said the statement. A total of 684 sorties were flown,
including 245 strike sorties and 90 against air defense systems, it said.
``NATO aircraft took maximum advantage of the opening that was caused by
better weather over Kosovo,'' Shea said.
Belgrade residents reported explosions from several outlying districts of the
capital, including Lipovica forest, the suspected location of an
anti-aircraft and military communications command post. There were no reports
of casualties or damage.
In a sign of NATO plans to boost the pressure on Belgrade, 18 F-18 fighters
arrived Saturday at a base in the southern Hungarian town of Taszar. Six more
aircraft were due to arrive Sunday, the Hungarian news agency MTI said.
Amid the pummeling of Yugoslavia, attempts to end the Kosovo conflict through
diplomacy continued.
Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who has met repeatedly over the past two
weeks with Russian Balkans envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin and U.S. Deputy
Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, briefed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
on his talks.
``On the main issues, we all see eye to eye,'' he said after meeting Annan.
The talks have been based on a peace proposal outlined this month by the
world's seven most developed industrial nations and Russia. The G-8 proposal
foresees a strong international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, but the Western
countries have said the force should be NATO-led, while Russia has not
publicly accepted NATO leadership.
In Kosovo, where Yugoslavia's refusal to halt the harsh repression of ethnic
Albanians led to the NATO air campaign, Serbian forces on Saturday freed an
estimated 2,000 men from prison.
Nearly 500 of them, mostly 20 to 50 years old, crossed into neighboring
Albania near Kukes, saying they had been detained at a prison in
Kosovska-Mitrovica after being plucked from columns of refugees who had been
fleeing Kosovo.
``When the Serbs grabbed me, they said I was a terrorist,'' said Sulejman
Pec, 24. ``Today when they released me, they said, 'You are looking for NATO,
so go find them.'''
Also Saturday, more than 5,000 refugees crossed into Macedonia from Kosovo,
the largest daily total in nearly three weeks, said Ron Redmond, spokesman
for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. That tide came one day after
3,700 refugees poured into Albania.
Some of the newly arrived refugees in Macedonia said Serbs had halted their
train at the border Friday night and ordered them into a field.
``Wait here for NATO. Let them hit you,''' one refugee, Naim Dedushe, quoted
Serb forces as saying. Several other refugees gave similar accounts.
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
