-Caveat Lector- =========================== The Committee for National Solidarity Tolstojeva 34, 11000 Belgrade, YU I AM NOT GUILTY, AND MY CHILDREN ARE NOT GUILTY. Interviews with Witnesses to Bombing of Aleksinac, Yugoslavia. Interviewed by Barry Lituchy, Ken Freeland, Ayman El-Sayed, and Joe Friendly. August 10, 1999. Transcribed and edited by Gregory Elich. Dragoslav Milenko. [Lituchy] What happened when the bomb hit? [Milenko] Everything was shaking, breaking apart. No one knew where it all would fall. [Lituchy] What happened to your apartment in that building? [Milenko] You can see what happened. Large shrapnel smashed through the wall, and everything was on fire. [Freeland] What floor? [Milenko] The fourth floor in the building, on the edge. [Lituchy] What did you lose in the-? [Milenko] Everything. [Lituchy] You lost all of your property? [Milenko] Everything. All I have is what I am wearing now. [El-Sayed] Was there anyone else in the house? [Milenko] My daughter and my wife were in the shelter. My son was in the Army. [Lituchy] Would you give us your name? [Milenko] Dragoslav Milenkoje. [Lituchy] That's part of the evidence. [Milenko] I have photographs, videocassettes. [Lituchy] We can contact you if we need that. Also, did you know any of the people who were killed? Did you know them personally? [Milenko] Yes. [Lituchy] What were they like? [Milenko] Great people. They always worked on something in the backyard. [Lituchy] That was one family. It was the father, the mother, and a daughter. What did the daughter do? [Milenko] She was working in Nis, but - [Lituchy] She was 40 years old. She was not yet 40. She was 39. [Milenko] I don't know specifically what kind of work. [Lituchy] Were you friends with the family? [Milenko] Neighbors. [unidentified voice] Their son is a doctor, and they were very honored in the town. [El-Sayed] Where are you living now? [Milenko] It's a private flat, here in the neighborhood. [Lituchy] Is it his own, or somebody else's? [Translator] No. It's not his own. [Lituchy] You're staying with friends? [Milenko] My family is with them. They gave us two rooms for us to settle down in. [Lituchy] That's very difficult. [Milenko] Homeless. [Lituchy] We're very sorry, and we condemn this action. [Milenko] I condemn them, too, and I would hang them for doing something like that. Or give them the electric chair. [Lituchy] What message would you like to give to the American people? [Milenko] They don't even know where this happened, and what has happened here. Just a few of them know where Serbia is. God help the people who have a president like Bill Clinton. [Lituchy] Thank you, and we hope we can bring some justice to what was done to you. Dragoljub Todorovic. [Translator] That was his house. [Lituchy] Would you tell us your name and your address? [Todorovic] Dragoljub Todorovic. That was some time ago. [Lituchy] That was his house? [Translator] His house. [Lituchy] Would you tell us what happened on the day of the bombing? [Todorovic] I was outside. [Lituchy] Standing here? [Translator] Yes. Standing there. [Todorovic] The bomb fell there, in the center, where the machine is. [Lituchy] The bomb fell there? [Translator] Yes. [Lituchy] And he was standing here? [Translator] Yes. [Lituchy] And then what happened? [Todorovic] I was knocked down. I was unconscious. When I awoke, my house was on fire. I didn't feel my legs, and help came immediately. My wife was in the house. Air pressure from the blast hit her, knocking her down. My wife came out to see what happened with - [Lituchy] She was shocked? [Todorovic] but she couldn't help me. I survived a big heart attack at the clinic in Nis. They cleaned my internal organs of toxins. They operated on me. This part of the leg - [Lituchy] The heel. [Todorovic] And this was totally crushed. I was in the hospital for three and a half months. [Lituchy] You must have had a lot of pain. [Todorovic] Yes, it was very painful. Even now it is still painful. [Lituchy] You still have - [Todorovic] But I have some medications and I - [Lituchy] You're still in great pain. You still have a lot of pain? [Todorovic] Now it's a little bit different. [Lituchy] How many years did you live in this house? [Todorovic] Thirty-three years. [Lituchy] And did you build this house? [Todorovic] Yes. Yes. In the year of 1965. [Lituchy] So you've lived here since 1965? [Todorovic] Yes. [Lituchy] How much do you think it would cost to rebuild this house? [Todorovic] Two hundred thousand Deutsche Marks. I just think so. Perhaps it might be more. [Lituchy] Do you think that you will rebuild this house? [Todorovic] I am trying to work something out, but it's an open question. [Lituchy] Where are you living right now? [Todorovic] In an older part of the town. [Lituchy] And you mentioned that in World War II, you were in the Partisans. [Todorovic] Yes. [Lituchy] So you didn't expect that Aleksinac would be bombed again. [Todorovic] Nobody expected this. [unidentified voice] The Partisans saved American pilots whose planes crashed here. [Lituchy] Oh really? In World War II? [unidentified voice] Yes. And now they don't say thanks. [Lituchy] This is their thanks. Thank you for your interview. Zago Militic. [Militic] My hand was damaged, broken during the bombing. Here are some documents from the doctors - [Lituchy] What happened to you? [Militic] About my hand. [Lituchy] Would you tell us your name first? [Militic] Zago Militic. [Lituchy] And where do you live? [Militic] In the neighborhood. I was on the stairs. My son also has a house there. Everyone in my family was hurt. [Lituchy] Everyone in your family was injured? [Translator] Yes. But everyone is still alive. [Militic] I have two grandchildren, twins. They lived in the home of their godfather. [Lituchy] Would you tell us, is there any message you would like to give to the American people? [Militic] We have been friends until now. But this is something that none of us expected. We always thought they were our friends. I am 65 years old, and now I must think about finding a new home. I am very happy that my children survived. I believe you and the American people, but not the American government. [Lituchy] Do you feel betrayed by the American government? [Militic] Yes. Yes. At Empa Plant. [Lituchy] Your position here? [director] I am director of Empa in Aleksinac. [Lituchy] What did this company manufacture? [director] Traffic lights and street lights. [Lituchy] Was this factory bombed on April 5th? [director] Yes. And also on May 28th. [Lituchy] And also May 28th? So it was bombed twice. Why would they bomb this factory? [director] I don't know. [Lituchy] There's no reason. It's not making guns or bombs? [director] No. No. We don't work with the Army. [Lituchy] It's purely for residential and civilian -? [director] Yes. And industrial lights for factories, and lights for civilian homes. For roads. [Lituchy] What time of the day was this factory bombed? [director] Thirty minutes after nine. [Lituchy] Nine thirty P.M. Morning or in the evening? [director] In the night. [Lituchy] In the evening. Night. [director] One of our workers was killed in this bombing. [Lituchy] What was his name? [director] Draza. And one worker was very badly hurt. [Lituchy] Were you here when that occurred? [director] Yes. [Lituchy] You were here? [director] Ten minutes after. [Lituchy] And what did you see? [director] I took the man who was killed into my car, and the other man was hospitalized. [Lituchy] Is this a state-owned company? [director] Yes. You don't have something like this in America. It's a cooperative. [Lituchy] Oh, it's a cooperative? A cooperative? A worker cooperative. [Translator] Yes. [Lituchy] So it's a worker cooperative. Do you have any idea why they targeted this factory? [director] Perhaps they wanted to test the world's reaction. It's insanity. [Friendly] Do the workers continue to work? [director] Yes. [Lituchy] They've come back to work. [director] They worked also during the war, as the bombs were falling. During the air raid warnings, they also worked. [Lituchy] How much damage was done to this company? [director] One million Deutsche Marks. [Lituchy] Million or billion? [unidentified voice] Million. Million Deutsche Marks. [Lituchy] Okay. And who will pay for this damage? [director] No one. [unidentified voice] Clinton. Clinton. [Lituchy] Do you think that the pilots who bombed, or the governments responsible should pay for this? [director] Both of them. [Lituchy] Is there any message you would like to give to people in America, or who may not have known about this? [director] It's not for the news. [Lituchy] Thank you very much for your interview. Witness to bombing. [unidentified woman] We ran away when the first bomb fell down in the military complex there. [Lituchy] And then what happened? [unidentified woman] When we saw that everything was destroyed, we were crying and we saw that our neighbors were dead, and we were shocked. [Lituchy] What was the name of your neighbor? [unidentified woman] Dusan Kovalje. Look. [Lituchy] This is Dusan Savic. Oh look at the memorial. There's a memorial to her there. [Translator] But I must say something. She wasn't killed there. She was in her neighbor's basement. [Lituchy] And where did the bomb hit exactly? [Translator] There. [Lituchy] Right in that field there. [Translator] Yes. [Lituchy] It's been plowed over already. [Translator] There were two houses there I think. I'm not sure. [Lituchy] What kind of a person? [unidentified woman] A very good person. She worked in the confection factory. She was technical manager of the factory. [Lituchy] And what -? [unidentified woman] She wasn't rich. She was married. Her husband was in the Army when - [Lituchy] She had children? [unidentified woman] No. [Lituchy] Do you have any personal memories of her? [unidentified woman] She was a very good neighbor. But she regretted that she never had children. Her husband was also a good person, too. The man who was killed there had two children. He was the head man in the hospital, in the clinic of Aleksinac. [Lituchy] Was that Predrag? [unidentified woman] Predrag. [Translator] Predrag. Yes. This man. Predrag Nideljkovic. [unidentified woman] Yes. He had two children. One child was seven years old, and the other one has just now entered school. [Lituchy] Do you have any personal experiences with him? [unidentified woman] He had a flat in the city. But he moved here because he thought he would be more secure from the bombing. [Lituchy] That's tragic. And how many people live in your house? [unidentified woman] My mother-in-law, my children, and my husband and I. [Lituchy] Who will pay for this? [unidentified woman] Some people from our town came here and said that this house cannot be - [another unidentified woman] We are not satisfied with the help we are getting. [unidentified woman] Because the Belgrade committee for this kind of damage said that this can be reconstructed. But our people said this cannot be reconstructed. We live in the hallway. [Lituchy] Do you think the NATO countries should contribute to help rebuild this? [unidentified woman] I'm very sure of that because the factories are not working. Our people have no money for rebuilding. [Lituchy] If you could say something to President Clinton, what would you tell him? [unidentified woman] I am not guilty, and my children are not guilty for anything that has happened. We built our home without Milosevic or Clinton. How would Clinton feel if something like this happened to his family? [unidentified man] It was better when Tito was alive. [unidentified woman] For two months we've had no electricity, because we have no money to pay the bills. [Lituchy] Thank you very much. Brana Milojevic and Masuta Jovanovic. [Milojevic] President Clinton must be punished severely. He must pay for everything. We have no doors or windows or anything. We have no money to reconstruct our buildings. [Lituchy] Would you tell us your name? [Milojevic] Brana Milojevic. [Lituchy] Thank you. [Jovanovic] My name is Masuta Jovanovic. I have no home anymore. The Army has cleared the area of rubble. [Lituchy] Where are you living now? [Jovanovic] I am living temporarily with my son. [Lituchy] Would you like to give a message to President Clinton? [Jovanovic] The children are very frightened as a result of all that has happened. It was a very severe trauma for the people of this town, and this should not have happened. [Lituchy] Thank you very much. Natasa's Aunt. [Aunt] I am Natasa's aunt. The woman from - [Lituchy] We'd like to ask you a few questions. We like to ask you a few questions. [Aunt] I was in the building when it was bombed. [Lituchy] Would you tell us a little bit about Natasa. What kind of girl she was? [Translator] Natasa is alive. [Lituchy] I'm sorry, what -? [Translator] Predrag. [Lituchy] Would you tell us a little bit about Predrag and what kind of man he was? [Aunt] No mother will ever again give birth to such a man. [Lituchy] What else can you tell us about him? What was he like when he was a boy? What did he like to do? [Aunt] He worked very hard in the hospital to help people. He built this house in just the last year. [Lituchy] What did he like to do? [Aunt] He was a family man, a very good family man. [Lituchy] What will you remember the most about him? [Aunt] He was a man with a very good disposition, and he was not ashamed to do anything. He did everything, from cleaning to managing in the hospital. He always had time to talk with people, also with sick people. He was not arrogant. He was - [Lituchy] He was a decent man. I'm very sorry. [Aunt] We were in the basement. [Lituchy] How did he die? [Aunt] This part of the wall fell and crushed him. [Lituchy] What kind of punishment do you think should the person who did this get? [Aunt] The same thing. Maybe worse. We came out of hell, but they will not. Predrag is here in my heart. [cries] [Lituchy] We're very sorry. Secretary General Mrs. Jela Jovanovic Art historian =========================== 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. 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