----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 9:09 AM Subject: [STOPNATO] Letters to BAS by Stop NATO Members STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM www.bullatomsci.org/issues/2000/ja00/ja00letters.html. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists July/August 2000 Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 3-5, 65 In "Smart Bombs, Dumb Targeting?" (May/June 2000 Bulletin), William M. Arkin criticizes some of the decisions made by NATO during the war against Yugoslavia, but can't contain his enthusiasm for the potential benefits of precision bombing. With pride, he says, "Out of 10,000 strikes there were 90 incidents in which civilians were killed because of technical failures, or because they were too close to military targets, or because of errors in judgment by pilots or targeters." Only 90 World Trade Centers. Only a few Murrah Buildings. Only 500 humans like Polly Klaas, if we believe Mr. Arkin's figures. (The Serbian government list of those killed has four times as many names.) There is no such thing as humanitarian bombing or humanitarian war. To say it of a one-sided war which was prosecuted and propagandized by the United States, Britain, Turkey, and the others, surpasses Orwell. The Bulletin should avoid tracts like Arkin's, lest it become known as the "Bulletin of Atomic Sociopaths." Lester Schonbrun Oakland, California * * * * I am an American scientist--a senior Fermilab physicist, emeritus--born in Belgrade. I am ashamed of the article you published ["Smart Bombs, Dumb Targeting?"]. It takes very little research to find that what the United States did in the Balkans was not to minimize the human tragedy but to aggravate it. Drasko Jovanovic Chicago, Illinois * * * * I suppose if you were capable of publishing an appalling apology for war and aggression like William M. Arkin's "Smart Bombs, Dumb Targeting?," you're not likely to be open to arguments against his barely disguised lament that yet more devastation wasn't wrought by NATO in Yugoslavia. Contrary to the Human Rights Watch estimate of 500 civilians killed in last spring's terror bombing spree in the Balkans, the names of some 2,000 victims have been gathered by the government of Yugoslavia [Serbia]. Perhaps another 1,000 have perished under the "humanitarian" KFOR regime and its Kosovo Liberation Army allies since then. How many more will die because of the release of toxins into the water, earth, and air; because of unexploded cluster bombs (one of the many topics not mentioned by Arkin); because of residue from depleted uranium weaponry; because of impaired medical services resulting from the "insufficient" destruction of Yugoslavia's power grids? I suppose all this wasn't considered worthy of mention. Let's put it all behind us and get on with the next humanitarian war. Rick Rozoff Chicago, Illinois * * * * Regardless of the smartness or dumbness of bombs and targeting, even bombing of military and political targets under false pretenses is morally wrong. NATO has no business in the Balkans, not as a self-appointed world policeman of human rights, nor as a "peacekeeper." The United States and other NATO states ignited and fed the fire in the Balkans. Arsonists don't make good firefighters, as is obvious from KFOR's performance in Kosovo. Statements like "Our damage assessment once again contradicted the conventional wisdom that bombing is, by its nature, indiscriminate and immoral" make me scratch my head in light of Arkin's obvious bias and deficient scientific scrutiny. What could Arkin see from behind the windshield of his car in the course of two weeks while rushing through 250 of the 900 targets and through only a sample of the "collateral cases" meticulously documented by the government of Yugoslavia? And how does one determine the morality of bombing by looking solely at the results on the ground, while ignoring the history of vile scheming that led to it? I would say this to Arkin: I don't like your writings at all and I have a very smart bomb for you. I know the satellite coordinates of your home and behind which window is your desk. I am about to send a B-2 with these bombs especially for you. The bomb will strike with two-meter accuracy, and will only destroy the window it enters through, your desk, and you. Your wife and kids might die, too, from falling chandeliers, but that is just collateral damage. I do not wish them ill since I am not familiar with their writings. Some children passing by might die on your street, hit by dumb shrapnel from the smart bomb. I can't control that. Their parents should have told them that when NATO is out on a humanitarian mission, they better stay inside damp and cold basements for months. Piotr Bein Vancouver, Canada __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! Invites. http://invites.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb
