From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] URL: http://www.users.bigpond.com/agitprop You might not have seen this illuminating article by Richard Estrada, of the Dallas Morning News, 9/04/99. It gives an extraordinary insight into the current NATO attacks on Yugoslavia. For more fascinating stories like this on the NATO/Yugoslav war, go to http://www.users.bigpond.com/agitprop/stopnato.htm ---------- US Funding the Kosovo Liberation Army Richard Estrada. Source: The Dallas Morning News, 9/04/99 If ethnic Albanians in Kosovo can't depend on the Kosovo Liberation Army to fight rear-guard actions against "Arkan's Tigers" and the Serbian army, would the United States be warranted in placing big bets on the KLA? The idea of ignoring the KLA's spotty record against Serbian ethnic cleansers and investing it with formal U.S. support is gaining momentum in high places. Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., are poised to introduce legislation that would provide the organization with $25 million in arms and training. But what about the beliefs and goals of the KLA? How much will they end up costing the United States in the long run? Aren't those legitimate concerns, especially given the recent experience with unjustifiably low estimates for the intervention in Bosnia? "I don't think we have to do a background check any more than we did on the contras," Mr. McConnell recently said. "I'm sure we spent more than $25 million on the first day of the bombing." That pragmatic viewpoint calls to mind an old saying: When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. In this case, politicians like Mr. McConnell and Mr. Lieberman are shopping for U.S. soldier surrogates, purchased with taxpayer dollars. Certainly, no one is criticizing the ethnic Albanian diaspora in Western Europe and North America for funding "freedom fighters." Pro-Irish Republican Army Irish-Americans can grasp the sentiment. Less than a week ago, former Rep. Joe DioGuardi tells me, a group of restaurateurs from Dallas delivered $300,000 for the KLA cause at a gathering in New York City. By the end of the evening, the total rose to a respectable $1.6 million. But where such ethnic solidarity is understandable, the KLA's alleged criminal connections are troubling. Journalists and police agencies throughout Europe are convinced the KLA is tied to drugs and prostitution and connected to mafia elements from Albania. Those looking for a democratic resistance also may be disappointed. Observers say the KLA leadership draws its inspiration from the late Enver Hoxha, a maniacal hard-line Communist who held sway over Albania for more than four decades until he died in 1985. Some of the leaders are said to be Islamic fundamentalists with ties to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. Even so, the United States may have a KLA in its future. After all, U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization goals in the military campaign are all over the place. First, the point of the bombing was to get Slobodan Milosevic to agree to the Rambouillet peace accords; then it was to degrade his military capabilities; then it was to stop the ethnic cleansing; then it was to reverse the ethnic cleansing; now it appears to be unconditional surrender. The catchall justification increasingly given is Mr. Milosevic's genocide in Kosovo. Yet before equating Mr. Milosevic with Adolf Hitler - who systematically slaughtered 6 million defenseless Jews because they were Jews - let's consider a basic example that is closer in time to us. Five years ago, the Rwandan Hutus killed almost 1 million people while the world stood by. In truth, peace is the last thing on the KLA's mind. Pressed to sign the Rambouillet accords, KLA leaders hemmed and hawed for fear that they were negotiating themselves out of a job. They signed mainly because they knew that after three years they could start up their war for independence again. But now that Rambouillet appears to be DOA, they once again are pounding the war drums for outright independence. Pretending that any good will come out of an alliance with the KLA bent on regaining all of Kosovo and scrapping autonomy for statehood is a risky undertaking. At some point, the KLA's goals figure to come into conflict with NATO's. The KLA's desire for a Greater Albania, beyond the borders of Kosovo, may leave NATO asking who fathered the KLA Frankenstein. In the end, negotiating with Mr. Milosevic may be the only remaining option. Partitioning Kosovo by giving the Serbs the northwest part, and the Kosovars the rest, may be the best deal for all concerned, if all concerned choose to agree to it. That may run against the multicultural goals of President Clinton and the mother of the war on Yugoslavia, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. But maybe their goals were wrong in Kosovo, even if, for the sake of argument, they were right in Bosnia. As for the observation about how inexpensive an alliance with the KLA would be, consider this: The experts now believe the U.S. tab in the war against Yugoslavia may reach $2 billion, which is what it costs to deploy troops for one year in Bosnia. What will it be if the Serbs decide on their own guerrilla war at a later date? Mr. McConnell, call your office. Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
