UNMIK is hiding graves of Serb victims, Kosovo Serb association says

BBC Monitoring

December 01, 2005

Excerpt from report by Serbia-Montenegrin radio Kontakt Plus on 29 November

[Announcer] Milorad Trifunovic, the coordinator for northern Kosovo of the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons, today accused UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] representatives that they are hiding the graves containing corpses of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija. I believe that UNMIK hides complete graves, they hide corpses, Trifunovic told [Kosovska Mitrovica-based] Kontakt Plus radio.

[Trifunovic] We cannot be satisfied with UNMIK and its work, not at all. They hide complete graves, they hide corpses, in our opinion, because there are no corpses. Where are those people? Where are 800 people, 1,000 people, 1,300 people? We know only about 10 per cent of them and this is due to their [UNMIK's] complete failure to do anything or because they are hiding someone's crimes.

[Reporter] Talks between Belgrade's and Pristina's working groups for missing persons is not helping, Trifunovic said, adding that the time is not ripe yet for Albanians and Serbs to sit down and talk about crimes.

[Trifunovic] No, the time is not ripe yet to discuss these things. Albanians do not want to face criminals from their ranks. Serbs have revealed Batajnica, Petrovo Selo and other mass graves in Serbia; 86 per cent [of the corpses found in those mass graves] have been identified and handed over to their families. In Kosovo, everything is hidden.

[Passage omitted: more details]

[Reporter] Criminals should be treated as criminals, regardless of their religion or nationality, Trifunovic believes. According to him, some 1,350 Serbs have been kidnapped or have gone missing in Kosovo, and only 153 persons have been identified.

Source: Kontakt Plus, Kosovska Mitrovica, in Serbian 1500 gmt 29 Nov 05

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http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2005/December_01/14.html?w=p

Kosovo Protection Corps to transformed into operational force - commander

BBC Monitoring

December 01, 2005

Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive

Prishtina [Pristina], 25 November: Starting from January the Kosova [Kosovo] Protection Corps [TMK] will start their restructure to turn into a fully operational force.

At the inaugural of the new National Training Centre building, TMK Commander Lt-Gen Agim Ceku and UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Liaison Officer to the TMK said that parallel with resolving of status, the transformation of the TMK should follow a path that turns it into a modern force.

"The future of the TMK will be determined from the outcome of the status talks. Preparations for this future transformation will require a lot of work and change. For this reason we should start immediately after the new year. This will not be suitable for someone, but the changes will have to take place. The changes that we will make will enable the TMK to move forward and be ready for the future," General Balfour [as received, presumably Ceku] emphasized.

General Ceku has announced conceptual changes at the TMK structure starting next year. "The future of the TMK is going to be addressed now. Whereas the future army of Kosova is foreseen not to be as the TMK is today. The TMK today represents a structure, which must be transformed into a force in the future. Therefore some reorganizations and changes must take place," said General Ceku, adding that it is the concept and the doctrine that must be modified.

Senior TMK and Kfor [Kosovo Force] officers and Ferizaj municipal authorities attended today's ceremony, which will provide better working conditions for TMK members.

Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 25 Nov 05

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Thursday, December 1, 2005

Kosovo: Clinton 'lied,
people died'?

Posted: December 1, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Larry Elder

The White House – finally – began pushing back against irresponsible charges that Bush "lied" to the American people in making the case for war.

The garrulous Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., made many "Bush lied" accusations: "There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January [2003] to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud." And Kennedy later intoned on the Senate floor, "Before the war, week after week after week after week, we were told lie after lie after lie after lie."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said, "... [T]he administration intentionally misled the country into war." Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan, speaking to the president in a TV ad, said, "You were wrong about the weapons of mass destruction. You were wrong about the link between Iraq and al-Qaida. You lied to us, and because of your lies, my son died."

Question: If Bush "lied," did former President Clinton "lie" about Kosovo?

Clinton, in a March 24, 1999, Oval Office broadcast, explained his military action in Kosovo:

We act to prevent a wider war, to defuse a powder keg at the heart of Europe, that has exploded twice before in this century with catastrophic results ... By acting now, we are upholding our values, protecting our interests and advancing the cause of peace ... Ending this tragedy is a moral imperative. It is also important to America's national interests ... Do our interests in Kosovo justify the dangers to our armed forces? ...

I am convinced that the dangers of acting are far outweighed by the dangers of not acting – dangerous to defenseless people and to our national interests ... I have a responsibility as president to deal with problems such as this before they do permanent harm to our national interests. America has a responsibility to stand with our allies when they are trying to save innocent lives and preserve peace, freedom and stability in Europe. That is what we are doing in Kosovo.

The former president called Kosovo a humanitarian crisis. The New York Times, on April 19, 1999, wrote:

In San Francisco on Thursday, President Clinton said that the Serbs had displaced 'over a million Kosovars' and had killed and raped 'thousands upon thousands of them.' From interviews that journalists and relief workers have conducted with scores of refugees from Kosovo, there is no reason to doubt him. But at this point it is also impossible to prove that he is correct.

Actor-activist Mike Farrell, who opposes the Iraq War, nevertheless supported military action in Kosovo, stating:

I am in favor of an intervention ... I was in Rwanda shortly after the slaughter there. I was infuriated then – and am now – that the international community did not step in ... I know that the escalation of violence and violations of human rights in Kosovo have been going on for some time ... I reluctantly find myself supporting the notion that something needed to be done and that it is appropriate for us to act, and if this is the only way, so be it.

But what about Clinton's assertion of the displacement of "over a million Kosovars"? According to USA Today on July 1, 1999:

Many of the figures used by the Clinton administration and NATO to describe the wartime plight of Albanians in Kosovo now appear greatly exaggerated as allied forces take control of the province ... Instead of 100,000 ethnic Albanian men feared murdered by rampaging Serbs, officials now estimate that about 10,000 were killed.

But is the 10,000 number accurate?

The Orange County Register, in a Nov. 22, 1999, editorial, said:

Months after the bombing has ceased, United Nations and European Union investigations have bolstered what critics had argued: NATO's estimates of Serbian genocide against the Kosovars were greatly overblown. Many observers now think the inflated numbers simply were part of the U.S.-led propaganda effort to build support for the war.

The latest evidence suggests that fewer than 3,000 Kosovars were murdered – horrifying, yes, but not many more than the number of Serbs who were killed by NATO bombing attacks on Yugoslavia, roughly estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 soldiers and civilians.

Does this mean that Clinton "lied, people died"? The intelligence turned out to be wrong, very wrong. Something like this always warrants a serious examination of intelligence failures. But intelligence failures, bad intelligence or failing to properly analyze the intelligence is a far cry from accusing a commander in chief of deliberately and intentionally misleading the American people.

Can we, perhaps, now drop the "Bush lied" nonsense, and pursue the business of winning the war against Islamo-fascism? Perhaps?

Larry Elder is a popular radio and TV talk-show host from Los Angeles.

[news] Clintoris 'lied, people died'

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