>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Status: > >COOKING THE BOOKS-- > NATO'S ETHNIC CLEANSING CLAIMS CHALLENGED > by Michel Chossudovsky (Revised 2-10-00) > >EMPERORS-CLOTHES WWW.TENC.NET > >NATO's justification for bombing Yugoslavia on humanitarian grounds has been >refuted by the Western alliance's own official figures and documentary >evidence. The recently released OSCE report entitled "As Seen, As Told: >Analysis of the Human Rights Findings of the OSCE Kosovo Verification >Mission" suggests that the allegation of mass deportations is a fabrication. >1 > >Although heavily slanted in its main conclusions, the OSCE figures suggest >that there were proportionately more Serbs (as a percentage of population) >fleeing Kosovo than ethnic Albanians which puts an obvious question mark on >NATO's assertion that organized mass expulsions of ethnic Albanians were >taking place. > >According to OSCE numbers and Kosovar Albanian sources on population size and >distribution, an estimated 45.7 percent of the Albanian population and 59.5 >percent of the Serb population had fled Kosovo during the bombings (i.e. from >23 March to 9 June 1999).2 > >The OSCE report summarises the balance-sheet of ethnic Albanian refugees as >numbering 862,979. In a secluded footnote at the bottom of the main table, >the report nonetheless acknowledges that: "In addition [to the 862,979 ethnic >Albanian refugees], more than 100,000 Serb IDPs [Internally displaced >persons] are estimated to have left Kosovo and to have been registered in >Serbia and Montenegro". 3 Whereas ethnic Albanians (including those who fled >to Montenegro) are categorized as "refugees", Serbs who fled Kosovo during >the same period are casually identified as "Internally Displaced Persons". >The figures for ethnic Albanians are very precise in contrast to those >indicated for the Serbs in the footnote. The number of refugees belonging to >other ethnic groups who fled the province during the bombings is not even >acknowledged. > >According to Kosovo Albanian sources, the Province had a total population of >2.1 million of which 90 percent are ethnic Albanians, 8 percent Serbs and 2 >percent are other ethnic groups.4 Based on these figures (which are accepted >both by NATO and the post-conflict KLA provisional government) there were an >estimated 1.89 million ethnic Albanians and 168,000 Serbs in Kosovo. > >In accordance with the above population breakdown, the exodus of Serbs (as a >percentage of population) was larger than that of the ethnic Albanian >population. According to OSCE numbers (from UNHCR sources), it is estimated >that 45.7 percent of the Albanian population and more than 59.5 percent of >the Serb population fled Kosovo during the bombings (i.e. from 23 March to 9 >June 1999). > >In other words, Serbs --who ostensibly were not the target of "ethnic >cleansing perpetrated by the Serbs"-- had also fled the theatre of the war in >Kosovo. If there had been a deliberate and cohesive policy of ethnic >cleansing and massacres directed against ethnic Albanians, the percentages >would have been markedly different and this is something which NATO was >cautious not to reveal to public opinion while the bombings were ongoing. > >The above estimates depend on the veracity of the OSCE-UNHCR refugee figures >as well as on the reliability of the data on population size and >distribution. In estimating these percentages, we have accepted official >OSCE-UNHCR refugee numbers at face value, namely that the OSCE Report has not >artificially "inflated" the number of ethnic Albanian refugees nor has it >"deflated" the number of Serbs who fled Kosovo during the bombings with a >view to vindicating NATO's claim of ethnic cleansing. We have also taken >Kosovar Albanian assumptions pertaining to population size and distribution. >In other words, the percentages are derived from their numbers! Moreover, it >should be emphasised that the percentage of Serbs who left Kosovo estimated >at 59.5 percent is based on the 100,000 figure given by the OSCE. Yet the >OSCE report states that the number of Serbs who fled Kosovo during the same >period is "more than 100,000". > >Accounting for biases in the OSCE-UNHCR figures and margins of error in the >data on population, the estimates do not support NATO's allegation of a >policy of mass deportation directed against ethnic Albanians. > >Ironically, the OSCE Report rather than using Kosovar Albanian sources on >population, acknowledges the assumptions of Belgrade's 1991 Census data (also >in a discrete footnote) which indicates the ethnic Albanian population at 82 >percent of total population. Yet the Census was boycotted by ethnic Albanians >and the figures were never recognised by the parallel provisional government >of Kosovo. Why does the OSCE acknowledge Belgrade's 1991 Census when NATO and >KLA statements repeatedly indicate that the ethnic Albanian population is at >90 percent? Evidently, the use of the 1991 Census data by those who have >rejected it, is in this case to their political advantage. Based on the 1991 >Census figures, the estimated percentage of each population group which fled >Kosovo would be 53.7 percent for the ethnic Albanians and more than 51.5 >percent for the Serbs.5 Yet even in this case, NATO's claim of mass >deportations is not borne out. > >The refugee crisis, we were told repeatedly during the War was limited to >ethnic Albanians. According to the Western media, Serb civilians had been >protected by the Serb police and Armed forces. The large scale exodus of >Serbs from Kosovo prior to June 9, 1999 (acknowledged by the figures >contained in the OSCE Report) was simply not mentioned. To reveal the numbers >would have discredited NATO's main justification for launching its >"humanitarian war". > >FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH > >Other documentary evidence including an official report of the German foreign >ministry published prior to the War, confirms that there was no evidence of >"ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo in the months immediately preceding the >bombings. Who is lying? German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had justified >NATO's intervention pointing to a "humanitarian catastrophe", yet the >internal documents of his own ministry stated exactly the opposite: "Even in >Kosovo an explicit political persecution linked to Albanian ethnicity is not >verifiable. The East of Kosovo is still not involved in armed conflict. >Public life in cities like Pristina, Urosevac, Gnjilan, etc. has, in the >entire conflict period, continued on a relatively normal basis. The actions >of the security forces [were] not directed against the Kosovo-Albanians as an >ethnically defined group, but against the military opponent [KLA] and its >actual or alleged supporters."...6 > >Moreover, a report of the United States Committee on Refugees (USCR) confirms >a significant reduction in the number of refugees and internally displaced >persons in the period following the signing of the October 13, 1998 agreement >between U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke and Federal Republic of >Yugoslavia (FRY) President Slobodan Milosevic. According to USCR, the overall >refugee situation had improved with the entry of the OSCE Kosovo Verification >Mission (KVM). The USCR report also confirms that "KLA ethnic cleansing of >ethnic Serb civilian population pockets intensified in December [1998]" >substantiating the results of the German Foreign Office intelligence report. >But we were told time and again that the Serbs rather than the KLA had been >responsible for ethnic cleansing in the months leading up to the War... 7 > >The OSCE-UNHCR figures on the number of refugees rather than supporting >NATO's main justification for waging the war, suggest that more than half the >Serb population had also fled Kosovo during the war. This tendency could be >explained by the fact that the KLA had been responsible for relaying >intelligence to NATO pertaining to potential targets in the bombing >operation. Moreover, a history of the war also suggests that the massacres >and atrocities directed against the Serbs by the KLA Military Command (amply >documented for the period after June 9) had already commenced prior to the >arrival of KFOR forces in Kosovo. > >NATO'S TWO "HUMANITARIAN PREMISES" INVALIDATED > >NATO's pretext for bombing Yugoslavia on humanitarian grounds rests on two >central premises: 1) the alleged indiscriminate mass killings of Albanian >civilians (premise number one); 2) the implementation of a deliberate policy >of mass deportations or "ethnic cleansing" (premise number two). Both these >premises have now been refuted by NATO's own evidence and documentary >evidence > >The alleged indiscriminate mass killings of Albanian civilians had earlier >been invalidated by the FBI and European forensic teams working under the >auspices of the Hague Tribunal (ICTY) casting doubt on NATO's justification >for waging the war. The forensic and police investigators had uncovered >several hundred bodies in grave sites in Kosovo as opposed to the 10,000 to >100,000 civilian massacres claimed by NATO and Western governments as a >pretext for waging the War. British Prime Minister Tony Blair had announced >that President Milosevic was "set on a Hitler style genocide equivalent to >the extermination of the Jews during World war II".8 " "Genocide is >starting," stated German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping.10... > >The Hague Tribunal (ICTY) (while upholding the war crimes indictment against >members of the Yugoslav government), has acknowledged the exhumation"the >allegations of indiscriminate mass murder, rape camps,...crematoriums, >mutilation of the dead have not been borne out" by the police investigations >and forensic evidence. 12 > >NO REMAINING LEG TO STAND ON Since the release of the forensic reports >--which have invalidated premise number one--, the policy of mass >deportations against ethnic Albanians (premise number two) is now being >upheld by NATO and the Western media as "a sufficient justification" for >launching the war. In the words of Madeleine Albright "opposing ethnic >cleansing is central to our values... We are reaffirming NATO's core purpose >as a defender of democracy, stability and human decency on European soil."13 >Yet NATO's claim of mass deportations has now also been refuted by the >figures contained in the OSCE report. NATO has no remaining leg to stand on. >Official documentary evidence (including the forensic reports and the data on >the number of refugees) unequivocally refute NATO's two central postulates >for waging the war. What then was the justification for the humanitarian >bombings? What was the hidden agenda? Ultimately the truth must prevail, >public opinion must be informed and those who are responsible for waging this >criminal war must be brought to trial. > >NOTES > >1. OSCE, Kosovo/ Kosova, As Seen, As Told, An analysis of the human rights >findings of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, October 1998 to June 1999, >Warsaw, 1999. > >2. Ibid > >3. Ibid. > >4. Figures for 1993. See Albania Worldwide Web, GOTOBUTTON BM_1_ >http://www.albanian.com/main/. See also Musa Limani, Pristina, The >Association of Lawyers of Kosova, 1992. Kosovar Albanian estimates place the >population of Kosovo at 2.3 million for 2000. > >5. The Government of Yugoslavia 1991 Census data for Kosovo identified a >total population of 1,956,196 of which 82.2 % are Albanians, 9.9 % Serbs and >7.9 % other ethnic groups. The Census was boycotted by the ethnic Albanian >population. During the 1990s, the evidence suggests that Kosovar Serbs left >the Province in large numbers. > >6. Intelligence Report from the German Foreign Office, January 12, 1999 to >the Administrative Court of Trier. (See >http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/german/Germany.html) > >7. See USCR GOTOBUTTON BM_2_ >http://www.refugees.org/world/countryrpt/europe/yugoslavia.htm > >8. Quoted in Peter Gowan, Kosovo; the war and its aftermath, Labour Focus on >Eastern Europe, no. 64, 1999, p. 26. > >9. CBS , May 17, 1999. > >10. Quoted in Peter Gowan, op. cit. > >11. Reuters, 10 November 1999. > >12. Wall Street Journal, 31 December 1999. > >13. Quoted in Time Magazine, May 17, 1999, p. 25-26. > >IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ REPORTS OF the German Foreign Ministry and various >German courts repudiating claims of ethnic cleansing PRIOR to the NATO >bombing, please see http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/german/Germany.html > >MORE ARTICLES BY MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY > >"Seattle and Beyond: Disarming the New World Order" >http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/seattle.htm > >"NATO's Reign of Terror in Kosovo" >http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/chossnato.htm > >"The KLA: Grim Origins" >http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/kla.html > >* To browse articles at Emperors-clothes please click here or go to >http://www.emperors-clothes.com >Click here to send this article to a friend > >If you would like to help Emperors-Clothes... please click here or go to >http://www.emperors-clothes.com/howyour.htm to use our secure server. The >Internet search tools we use for research are paid for by donations. If you >would like to send a check, please mail it to Emperor's Clothes, P.O. Box >610-321, Newton, MA 02461-0321. Thanks. > >WWW.TENC.NET > >On AOL: <A HREF="http://www.emperors-clothes.com/">Click here: The Emperor's >New Clothes</A> > > > >C Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, February 2000. All rights >reserved. Permission is granted to post this text on noncommercial community >internet sites, provided the essay remains intact and the copyright note is >displayed. The text can also be photocopied for non-commercial distribution. >To publish this text in printed and/or other forms contact the author at >[EMAIL PROTECTED] or fax: 1-514-4256224. > >Copyright, Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, February 2000 > > __________________________________ 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] ___________________________________
