>The charges of genocide and mass rapes in Bosnia were the >beginning of a massive, well-orchestrated public relations >campaign to demand U.S./NATO intervention in the Balkans. > >Claiming to be a force for peace and stability in a bloody >civil war, the Pentagon has now established a whole network >of military bases in Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, >Hungary and the Czech Republic. > >Serb towns in Bosnia were the targets of more than 4,000 >U.S. bombings in 1994 and 1995. In 1999 the Pentagon and >NATO bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days. > >The charge of rape made against the Serbs shaped the views >of millions of people who previously had little interest in >the Balkans. > >In late 1992 and early 1993, sensational news reports >charged that mass rapes were a planned, deliberate strategy >of the Bosnian Serb leadership. > >Women are the first victims in every war. Rape and the >degrading abuse of women are all too often carried out as a >stamp of conquest by invading armies imbued with patriarchal >attitudes. > >But the charge of rape has also often been consciously used >as an essential prop of war propaganda. The supposed defense >of women is used to mobilize armies and to galvanize blind >hatred. > >A LIE REPEATED BECOMES FACT > >Without any examination of the highly biased sources, the >major Western media gave lurid descriptions of rape camps >where it was claimed that between 20,000 and 100,000 Muslim >and Croatian women were raped. This crystallized the public >view that Serbs were the evil aggressors and Muslims and >Croatians the helpless victims. > >The charge that 30,000 women and girls had been raped >originated with the foreign minister of Bosnia, Haris >Silajdzic, in order to stall peace talks in Geneva in late >1992. > >In January 1993 the Warburton Report authorized by the >European Community estimated that 20,000 Muslim women had >been raped as part of a Serb strategy of conquest. This >report was widely cited as an authoritative, independent >source. > >No coverage was given to a dissenting member of the >investigative team--European Parliament President Simone >Veil--who revealed that the estimate of 20,000 rapes was >based on interviews with only four victims, two women and >two men. > >The Croatian Ministry of Health in Zagreb was the main >source on which the Warburton Report based its estimate of >20,000 rapes. > >Because the charge of systematic Serbian rapes of Muslim and >Croatian women has been repeated so often, it is now >accepted as an undisputed fact. > >Publications vied with each other for sensationalized >accounts. USA Today told the story of a 5-month-old baby who >was supposedly the result of Serbian rape. The New York >Times carried a photo story with the caption, "Two-month-old >baby girl born to a teen-age Muslim woman after she was >raped in a Serbian detention camp." The war was not yet nine >months old. > >Ms. Magazine ran a cover story that accused Bosnian Serb >forces of raping for the purpose of producing pornographic >films. No such films were ever found and the charges were >not supported by the findings of Helsinki Watch or Human >Rights Watch. > >CROATIAN (DIS)INFORMATION CENTER > >The woman who was the star witness and main media >spokesperson in the New York trial and judgment, Jadranka >Cigelj, is a paid propagandist who worked for the Croatian >Information Center. > >She was well known in radical Croatian nationalist circles. >She was also the vice-chair of Croatian President Franjo >Tudjman's fascist HDZ Party. > >The HDZ is closely linked to the Ustashe Party that led >Croatia during the Nazi occupation in World War II. > >Perhaps because of her fascist political background, in >interviews Cigelj always brands the Serbs as "far worse than >the Nazis." > >Cigelj's rape charges are extensively quoted in almost all >articles and testimony on rapes in Bosnia. However, her >accounts have changed several times. > >Thomas Deichmann, a German researcher and journalist, has >documented Cigelj's varied testimony and her political >background in a chapter of the book, "War, Lies and >Videotape," published by the International Action Center. > >In one publication produced by the Croatian Information >Center, Cigelj charged that a Serbian reserve officer raped >her. In a later article with Roy Gutman of Newsday, she >charged that Zeljko Mejakic, the Serbian commander of a >refugee camp, and two camp guards raped her. > >Later, in a German publication, her story changed again. She >testified in the highly publicized case of another man, >former Serbian soldier Jezdimir Topic, who faced deportation >from the United States in 1999. > >Cigelj offered to become a key prosecution witness against >another Serb, Dusan Tadic, at the Hague Tribunal. She was >rejected because she was seen as an unreliable source. > >However, Cigelj has been featured in documentaries, received >financial awards, and was the main spokesperson of a 25-city >U.S. tour organized by Amnesty International. > >None of the discrepancies in her story or her right-wing >political activities was reported in the coverage of her >testimony against Radovan Karadzic. > >CAPITALISM PROMOTES SEXUAL SLAVERY > >Nowhere in Newsday's three pages of coverage recounting >charges of Serbian rapes in Bosnia were the conditions women >face today under NATO occupation even mentioned. > >Throughout Eastern and Central Europe, in Russia and the >former Soviet republics, the chaos and dislocation of the >capitalist market have eroded the enormous gains women made >under socialism. > >A decade ago these countries guaranteed full employment and >two years paid maternity leave. Now unemployment of 30-40 >percent is the norm. Health care and child-care services >have collapsed. > >Women's organizations were understandably outraged by the >lurid reports concerning mass rapes in Bosnia seven years >ago. They would make a contribution if they focused their >resources on exposing the conditions for women living under >U.S. domination today. > >U.S. troops and bases do not protect women. They exist to >protect the extraction of profits for giant capitalist >institutions. In every U.S. military operation an entire sex >industry of bars, strip joints and brothels is created >around the bases. > >This experience of Vietnam, Thailand, Korea and the >Philippines is now the reality around U.S. bases in Tuxla, >Bosnia, and at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. > >At the United Nations Beijing Plus Five Conference of 10,000 >women in June, the worldwide status of women was examined. >It was estimated that more than half-a-million women from >Central and Eastern Europe are shipped abroad each year as >part of the worldwide trafficking in prostitutes. Bosnia was >cited as one of the worst examples. (New York Times, June >11) > >Flounders is co-director of the International Action Center >in New York. Background materials for this article appeared >in two IAC books, "NATO in the Balkans" and "War, Lies and >Videotape," both available at leftbooks.com. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <026e01c009e0$425d29e0$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Israeli settler state in crisis as deadline looms >Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 09:20:34 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Aug. 24, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >Israel > >SETTLER STATE IN CRISIS AS DEADLINE LOOMS > >By Michael Bar-Am > >The Israeli settler state is in the midst of a deep >political and ideological crisis. A military crisis also >looms as Sept. 13 approaches. > >That is the date when the Palestinian Authority has said it >will declare an independent state of Palestine. The PA now >administers a small percentage of Palestinian land from >which Israeli ground forces have withdrawn. > >In May Israeli troops were forced to make a humiliating >retreat from southern Lebanon, which they had occupied since >June 1978. The retreat was brought on by a heroic armed >struggle and people's war conducted by the Lebanese people. > >Lebanese youths played a leading role in attacks on Israeli >military bases and in the daily ambushes of Israeli infantry >and armored vehicle patrols. > >Less than two months later, the Clinton administration tried >to broker an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian >Authority at the Camp David compound outside Washington. > >President Bill Clinton chaired the talks. Secretary of State >Madeleine Albright was close at hand. > >Prime Minister Ehud Barak led the Israeli delegation. Yassir >Arafat, the leader of Fatah, the largest Palestinian >political movement, and head of the PA, lead the Palestinian >delegation. > >The talks collapsed over control of Jerusalem, Palestinian >sovereignty and the right of Palestinian refugees to return >to their homes in Palestine, including Ashquelon, Haifa, the >Galilee and the West Bank. > >When Barak returned to Israel, he found his shaky >parliamentary coalition near collapse. Israeli political >parties and establishment media are deeply divided over how >to try to deal the Palestinians a historic defeat that would >once and for all legitimize the Israeli settler-state >worldwide. > >Liberals, centrists and moderates are for using the carrot, >that is, offering concessions to Palestinian statehood. >Right-wingers, racists and religious fundamentalists are for >using the stick and repressing the Palestinians militarily. >But all support the existence of an apartheid-like state >with a virtually all-Jewish population. > >With armed struggle throughout Palestine a real possibility >in September, the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz, in an >Aug. 11 editorial entitled "The return of despair," >observed: "It has been a long time since we heard so many >saying there is nothing to keep them here. All those who >have not heard anyone make such a statement recently--all >dozen of you--please stand up." > >In his desperate bid for the Clinton administration's >support--and more importantly, to bolster sinking Israeli >morale--Barak exposed the real role of Washington in keeping >Israel afloat. The United States gives Israel billions of >dollars in military and economic aid annually, as well as >political backing in all domestic and world forums. > >Barak got Clinton to give a 30-minute "feel good" interview >on prime time Israeli television. Clinton praised Barak and >attacked the Palestinians for not giving in at Camp David. > >PALESTINIAN YOUTHS TRAIN FOR STRUGGLE > >At this time it is impossible to tell what will happen on >Sept. 13. > >The clock is ticking. The United States is putting >tremendous pressure on the PA not to declare an independent >state. The Israelis are threatening a land, sea and air >blockade if independence is declared. > >The Palestinians have studied the successful military >campaign in southern Lebanon and thousands of Palestinian >teenagers are spending their summer vacation in military >training learning to use live ammunition. > >Palestinian legislator Ziad Abu Zayyad told the Associated >Press Aug. 13 that a final decision would not be made until >a PLO leadership meeting in late August-early September. > >Meanwhile, Ha'aretz reported May 26, the "crisis of >motivation among Israel's youth has been an officially >recognized phenomenon since 1996" by the Ministry of >Defense. Compulsory military service for all 18-year-olds is >a thing of the past. Now there is conscription." > >"The four years of the great war on draft dodging have not >reduced the number of those avoiding the draft," Ha'aretz >warned. > >Roni Barkan, from the town of Ra'anana, entered the Israeli >Defense Forces after college. He left the army after two >months. "For me, the so-called enemy nations are not enemies >at all. I have no personal interest in waking up in the >morning to find therea State of Israel," Barkan explained. > >This growing disaffection of Israeli youths offers perhaps >the best opportunity to de-fang the Pentagon's aggressive >ally in the Middle East. > >[Bar-Am served in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1973 >Arab-Israeli War and since that experience has been active >for decades as a supporter of the Palestinian liberation >struggle.] > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <027401c009e0$5fed85e0$0a00a8c0@home> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Cape Cod drives Army out of Camp Edwards >Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 09:21:23 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Aug. 24, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >CAPE COD DRIVES ARMY OUT OF CAMP EDWARDS > >By Richard Hugus >Cape Cod, Mass. > >After almost 90 years of environmental abuse, the people of >Cape Cod, Mass., have forced the Army and Department of >Defense to end mortar, rocket and artillery fire bombardment >of the Camp Edwards impact area. The Pentagon has also >agreed to clean up the unexploded ordnance, contaminated >soil and polluted groundwater it left behind. > >The cleanup will be enforced under the Safe Drinking Water >Act by an Environmental Protection Agency administrative >order that went into effect on Jan. 14. This order followed >two from 1997 that required an environmental study of Camp >Edwards and a "cease-fire" of the guns that have been firing >steadily there since World War I. > >This retreat came only after years of struggle by residents >living around the base concerned about noise, high cancer >rates, and contamination of air and drinking water. The >Defense Department had fiercely resisted setting a legal >precedent by which it could be held responsible for >remediation of as much as 65 million acres of active and >inactive firing ranges it owns in the United States. > >And with the struggle against U.S. bases now white hot in >Puerto Rico, south Korea and Okinawa, this development has >international implications, too. > >Because Camp Edwards sits at the very top of a big mound- >shaped aquifer, explosives left behind from military >training have traveled in all directions toward nearby >ponds, wetlands and water-supply wells. Among the munitions- >related contaminants detected in groundwater at Camp Edwards >are RDX, TNT, HMX, DNT and nitroglycerine. > >Levels of RDX in groundwater are as high as 370 parts per >billion. The EPA's "lifetime health advisory" for this >compound is two parts per billion. > >Camp Edwards comprises two thirds of the 21,000-acre >Massachusetts Military Reservation, which also hosts Otis >Air Base. The historic dumping of toxic fuels and solvents >at Otis has already destroyed large areas of western Cape >Cod's aquifer, with many big plumes of contaminated >groundwater. This aquifer is the sole source of drinking >water for the region's 200,000 year-round and 500,000 >seasonal residents. > >In the fall, F-15s from Otis are scheduled to go to Iraq to >enforce the illegal no-flight zones. Though some people >oppose the base only because of environmental concerns, in >September members of the group Cape Codders against the Iraq >War will demonstrate against this deployment of the >Massachusetts Air National Guard at the entrance to the >base. > >Cape Codders have also been active in opposing an "upgrade" >of a military mega-radar facility called PAVE PAWS. This >upgrade could make Cape Cod home to one of three radar >systems planned for the National Missile Defense "Star Pork" >program. The other two radars are in Alaska and California. > >Besides opposing the program as an escalation of the arms >race, residents are outraged at the prospect of being >exposed to another 20 years of low-level microwave radiation >from the radar. > >Last November, an activist from Cape Cod visited Vieques, >Puerto Rico, to share with resisters there information about >environmental laws that might be used to bring about an end >to U.S. Navy bombing, a study of the effects of this >bombing, and full restoration of the land. > >However, last January President Bill Clinton signed a >directive that lets the Navy bomb Vieques until 2003. At >that time, should the people of Vieques decide against >permanent bombing, "the Live Impact Area will be swept for >ordnance and fenced." In other words, if Clinton has his way >at Vieques there will be no cease-fire, no environmental >study, and no cleanup of an impact area that has seen far >worse damage than Camp Edwards. > >Why does Massachusetts merit a cleanup but Puerto Rico >doesn't? Simply put, Puerto Rico is a colony of the United >States. > >Clinton's directive states that the Vieques impact-area >closure will meet the same range standards used by the Navy >at Nomans Land, just south of Martha's Vineyard. Nomans is a >small, uninhabited island bombed by the Navy from 1943 to >1997. It is an ancestral land of the Wampanoag Tribe of >Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard. > >At Nomans, the Navy simply set its own standard, which was >to find whatever unexploded ordnance was lying about, pick >it up and leave. No one was watching. The Wampanoag Tribe is >struggling with the Navy for a proper cleanup. > >U.S. bases and bombing ranges are now known to cause severe >environmental problems. Gradually, people living around >bases in the United States are fighting back, just like the >people of Vieques, Maehyang-ri in south Korea and Okinawa. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
