SAME SONG, SECOND VERSE by Stella L. Jatras The recent discovery of "Kosovar" bodies in a refrigerated truck that was recovered from the river Danube once again points to an alleged Serbian atrocity. It seems to me I've heard that song before. What is different this time is that the Serbian police have pointed the accusatory finger at former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. But there is something here that just doesn't sit right. There are too many unanswered questions and what I offer is mere speculation on my part. What doesn't make sense to me is that where the refrigerated truck was found is more than a four hour drive, even on good roads, from Kosovo. Furthermore, the area where the truck was found is known for smuggling illegal aliens. Too often we have heard of smugglers, when they thought they were going to be caught, dumping their cargo in the ocean, or abandoning their human cargo to die in the containers in which they were being transported to their illegal destinations. What I fail to understand is why this could not be considered a possibility and why the Yugoslav government is so anxious to blame this unspeakable act of murder on Milosevic even before thoroughly investigating the incident, thereby collectively condemning the Serbs. What it also indicates is that the Serbs may actually be beginning to believe the lies that they have had to endure for so many years. What's the old expression? If you tell a lie enough times, it becomes the truth? Furthermore, we don't even know for sure who these people were - for all we know, they could have been Gypsies, or from any one of the Turkic countries. One report said that "A total of 86 bodies, believed to be [let me repeat that] "believed to be" Kosovo Albanians, were found in the freezer truck," putting into question their nationality whereas another report (UPI) of June 2 stated that "A senior Serbian police officer said Saturday that a mass grave has been located, believed to contain the bodies of women, children and old men from a refrigerated truck hoisted from the Danube River in April 1999." It should be noted that this report mentions no nationality of the victims. Too often we have heard of shocking atrocities attributed to the Serbs - Racak, Trepca, genocide, mass graves, cannibalism, mutilations, castrations, rapes, ethnic cleansing and some of the most outrageous charges known to man which the world was all too eager to believe before they were discredited by the evidence, and yet the accusations keep coming. And now that curse has fallen on the Serbs themselves, all too ready to believe this latest accusation. Once again, we will hear calls to de-Nazify the Serbian nation collectively, just as there were calls to de-Nazify the Germans. And too often the Serbs have been accused of such atrocities only to learn later, after irreversible damage, that the Serbs were not responsible. To the contrary, the alleged atrocities were, in reality, committed by Senator Joe Lieberman's pals, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an army that rapes Serbian nuns, murders Serbian priests, destroys ancient churches and monasteries (all under the protective noses of KFOR), who are engaged in sex slavery, prostitution, murders, kidnapping, and drugs, a band of cutthroat gangsters about whom Senator Lieberman sings high praises: "The United States of America and the Kosovo Liberation Army stand for the same human values and the principles . . . Fighting for the KLA is fighting for human rights and American values." (Washington Post, Apr. 28, 1999). THE QUESTION MUST THEN BE ASKED: Why would Yugoslav investigators go along with what they are calling another unspeakable atrocity allegedly committed by Serb forces supposedly on the orders of former president Slobodan Milosevic? Perhaps the answer lies in an AP report which stated, "Police link former President Slobodan Milosevic on Friday to cover-up of atrocities in Kosovo, including the dumping of bodies in the Danube River - a revelation that could help the U.N. war crimes tribunal." I repeat, "help the U.N. war crimes tribunal." Another relevant headline reads, "Serbs exhume bodies that could, [let me repeat that also] "that could" implicate former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic." As for the Yugoslav investigative authorities cooperating in this latest effort to send Milosevic to The Hague, it conjures up Stalin's show trials where the accused had already been found guilty as an enemy of the State. Today's War Crimes Tribunal serves the same purpose as a warning to others who oppose The New World Order. Do the Yugoslav authorities really believe that their participation in something as doubtful as to who the victims are and who the culprits are before fully investigating is in the best interest of the Serbian people? With this latest revelation, tremendous pressure is being put upon Serbian president Vojislav Kostunica to turn Milosevic over to the War Crimes Tribunal. If he capitulates, he stands to lose the support and trust of the Serbian people. If he stands by the Constitution, he loses the desperately needed financial aid from the very people who bombed his nation back to the stone age and ironically, earning him disrespect from the international community for turning his back on his own people. Either way, it does not bode well for the president. Evidently, there those in the Yugoslav government who believe that by cooperating with The Hague's Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte, she will look upon them with favor and grant them a few crumbs from the table. Do they really think that by handing over Milosevic to a voracious "Inspector Javert," they will be rewarded with their 30 pieces of silver? Or are they more interested in undermining President Kostunica? I totally agree with Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic who has accused The Hague's Chief Prosecutor of exercising one rule for Serbs and another for Croats, Muslims and Albanians. In letters to del Ponte, he criticized her failure to issue war crimes indictments against anyone other than Serb leaders. Batic accuses her of "hounding Serbs and saving her Mother Theresa-treatment for everyone else," calling on the Chief Prosecutor to show that Serbs are often the greatest victims, not merely the executors in every case. And finally, IF this is true, and frankly, in my estimation, it is a big "IF," the Serbs should turn this around to their advantage and say, "We Serbs have owned up to atrocities that we have committed; now it is for you Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Albanians to do the same." Perhaps I'm sticking my head in the sand, but too often the Serbs have taken the rap for atrocities they didn't commit and frankly, I'm tired of it. STOP NOVOM SVETSKOM PORETKU ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrBE8.bVKZIq Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
