Aug. 26, 1999

Special Truth in Media Reports on NATO's Kosovo War and "Peace" S99-140, KFOR "Peacefarce" 34

HEADLINES

Pristina                         1. NATO "Peacefarce" Continues: Albanians Kill and Plunder

                                         Under U.S., British Protection as KFOR Arrests Three Serbs

Geneva                         2. Toward a Serb-free Kosovo

Pristina                         3. List of 50 Destroyed Serb Churches

Greenwich                   4. An American Columnist Speaks Out Against KFOR "Peace

                                        Farce:" NATO Is Now the Enemy (By Col. David Hackworth)

Belgrade                      5. Belgrade Presses War Crime Charges against NATO

London                        6. NATO Faced Deep Splits Despite Public Claims of Unity

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1. NATO "Peacefarce" Continues: Albanians Kill and Plunder Under U.S., British Protection as KFOR Arrests Three Serbs

PRISTINA, Aug. 25 - Daily dispatches we have been getting from the Serbian Orthodox Church and other sources in Kosovo since NATO occupied this former Serbian province have been tragically, and almost monotonously similar. So-and-so and so-and-so were killed last night by Albanians. This and that Serb church was burnt down or demolished. Residents of such-and-such village have fled Kosovo, complaining that the KFOR troops did little if anything to protect them from marauding Albanians.

So many stories; so much crime; so little compassion, not to mention real peace. In the wake of all these horror stories, all but less than 10% of the prewar Serbian population has been cleansed from Kosovo. And the NATO vision of a multiethnic Kosovo has been stripped down to what this entire military exercise has been all along - an act of wanton criminal assault on the Serbian PEOPLE, not Slobodan Milosevic. Period.

Still, amid all these sordid daily examples of the "peacefarce" which NATO has brought to Kosovo, some stories stand out, both for their brutality and as examples of KFOR's complicity in the crimes against the Serbs.

• On August 17, Albanian terrorists set fire to, and burnt to death, Lela Dimic and her six-month daughter in Prizren, a southern Kosovo town in the German KFOR sector. Mother and daughter were bestially killed because they "did not respond to the invitation to go to KLA headquarters on an informative talk," according to a Tanjug news report.

• The same day, two Serb teenagers, a 14-year old girl and 16-year old boy, were killed by a mortar shell in the Serbian village of Klokot in the American sector of Kosovo. Five other Serbs were wounded and transferred into the U.S. army hospital. The American troops knew the village was in danger, but did nothing to prevent shelling, Tanjug reported, citing a comment by a KFOR spokesman.

• The same day, Zorka Zizic from Pristina was killed in her flat in the center of the town, reported the Center for Peace and Tolerance. Four armed Albanians broke into her flat, killed the woman and plundered the flat.

• "KFOR has disarmed neither terrorist organization KLA, nor other Albanian terrorist groups in Kosovo and Metohija; they continue to kill and kidnap the Serbs and other non-Albanian inhabitants in the region, to plunder their property and set their houses on fire," the information services of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) reported on Aug. 20.

But KFOR is not totally inactive. In response to the Albanian reign of terror, they moved to arrest and disarm some Serbs!? Go figure…

• "This morning, KFOR soldiers of the German contingent have arrested in Orahovac four Serbs on the basis of the Albanians' accusation," the SOC report continued. Andjelko Kolasinac - ex president of the municipality of Orahovac, Dr. Vekoslav Simic, Dejan Micic and Stanko Levic were arrested on suspicion of that they had taken part in the fight against the Albanian terrorists during NATO aggression on Yugoslavia. Which is - in KFOR's opinion - a war crime, the SOC notes. KFOR intends to take these four men to War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague.

• NATO has also ordered all Serbs to hand in their weapons Saturday, or face arrest in a last-minute crackdown before Dutch troops turn security over to the Russians. Early Saturday (Aug.21), German and Dutch troops posted signs throughout a Serb neighborhood in the town of Orahovac with the names of Serbs NATO believes were given weapons by Serb police.

• The signs ordered Serbs to turn in their weapons Saturday to NATO collection points in the center of town. "If you respond to this, you will be freed of punishment," the signs said. The warning added that peacekeepers would begin house-to-house searches after the deadline, and "if we find any weapons, you will be arrested."

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TiM Ed.: So disarm and intimidate the victims, seems to be the NATO tactics. Meanwhile the KLA terrorists, whom NATO was supposed to have disarmed upon entering Kosovo, according to the armistice agreement signed on June 10, are evidently free to roam the countryside as they please, and kill as many Serbs as they please.

Funny how KFOR's actions in Kosovo sound similar to the NWO governments' efforts to disarm the population in U.S. and many other countries (e.g., Britain, Australia), the 2^nd Amendment rights (in America) notwithstanding. If We the People let them, soon enough only the criminals - both state and street thugs - would end up with weapons.

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The Serbs from Orahovac have sent a letter of protest to the UN Civil Mission and to KFOR, asking that the German soldiers release these four arrested Serbs; otherwise, the remaining two thousand Serbs will move out of Orahovac.

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TiM Ed.: Which is exactly the point of all this Albanian and KFOR harassment of the Serbs - kill them or force them to flee.

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2. Toward a Serb-free Kosovo

GENEVA, Aug. 24 - Meanwhile, the Albanian terror continues unabated. Here is a summary of the reports about it from the U.N. European in Geneva; from the NATO headquarters in Brussels; as well as some of the latest news from Kosovo:

• The prospect of a Serb-free Kosovo was approaching, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency warned on Tuesday (Aug. 24). The UNHCR spokesman, Kris Janowski, said, "we are pretty much approaching the line of an almost Serb-free Kosovo, which is an extremely sad phenomenon, and the joy of the huge return (of Albanians) is now spoiled by what is happening to the ethnic Serbs. The scenario we also warned against unfortunately, of one exodus following the other, is happening."

• On Aug. 24, a group of Albanians again set on fire another three Serbian houses in Gnjilane, the HQ of the American sector in Kosovo. The assailants also broke into many Serbian homes and plundered them, moved into some of the apartments, and molested and maltreated some of the ex owners, the SOC sources report.

• The last Serb - Vojislav Stojanovic - has been forced (Aug. 24) to move out of Ajvalija (a part district in Pristina), as the Albanians set his house on flames. A Serbian woman - Svetlana Mikic was physically attacked in Pristina. Two unidentified bodies in the phase of decaying were found in the vicinity of Pristina. Remaining Serbs in this town live in poverty, lacking the life necessities. Many of them are starving and ill, a UNHCR mission has just reported upon visiting the Pristina Serbs still left in Kosovo's capital.

And yet, even when some NATO diplomats try to speak out against the KLA terror, they are muzzled by the U.S. and Britain, the Agence France Presse reported from Brussels. "NATO ambassadors on Wednesday discussed a public warning to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) against its anti-Serb violence in Kosovo, but dropped the idea under opposition from the US and Britain, which favored a more discrete approach," a NATO diplomat told the AFP.

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3. List of 50 Destroyed Serb Churches

PRISTINA, Aug. 24 - In an interview with the German paper, Frankfurter Rundschau (Frankfurt/Main), published Aug. 18, the Serb Bishop Artemije said, among other things, that, "the international peacekeeping troops have only brought freedom to the Albanians. The facts speak for themselves: in the first two to three weeks more than 150,000 Serbs were expelled from Kosovo. Over 200 people were murdered. Many were beaten half to death, a few hundred kidnapped. Many families were thrown out of their homes. Many homes have been plundered, many houses torched. And all of that took place after the signing of the peace agreement and after the arrival of the international forces."

Interestingly, the German paper ran the interview under the headline, "Serbia Has Enough of Milosevic."

Meanwhile, the Serb church has enough of demolishing, burning and destroying of the Orthodox churches and monasteries throughout Kosovo. For the record, here is a partial list of the 50 Serb churches which have been torched, blown up or otherwise destroyed by the Kosovo Albanians during KFOR's "peace farce" so far, according to an official report issues by the Serbian Orthodox Church on Aug. 19:

1. The Medieval Holy Trinity Monastery (the church was frescoed) near Musutiste (Suva Reka), 14th century, plundered, set on fire and completely destroyed by explosive.
2. The Medieval church of Dormition of the Mother of God, (painted in frescoes), built in 1315, in Musutiste, burned and afterwards torn down.
3. The Medieval St. Mark's Monastery, near Korisa, Prizren, built in 1467, looted, set on flames and totally destroyed by explosive.
4. The Medieval Monastery of St. Archangel Gabriel (with frescoes) in Binac village, near Vitina, 14th century, looted and burned.
5. The Medieval Monastery of St. Joannicius of Devic (painted in frescoes), near Srbica, 15th century, demolished and robbed.
6. The Monastery of Dormition - St. Uros (14th century, reconstructed in 1996), Gornja Nerodimlja, blown up with a mine and torn down.
7. The Monastery of St. Archangel (14^th century, frescoed, reconstructed in 17th century), Gornja Nerodimlja, set on fire and blown up with a mine, the graveyard has been destroyed, the pine dating from 14th century has been cut down and burned.
8. St. Nicola's church (old church, reconstructed in 1983), Donje Nerodimlje, demolished, set on fire, and blown up with a mine.
9. St. Stephen's church (14th century, reconstructed in 1996), Donje Nerodimlje, situated at the graveyard, demolished, set on flames and blown up with a mine.
10. . The Presentation of the Virgin church in Dolac, near Klina, built in 1620, (with frescoes), burned, the Holy Throne demolished, afterwards mined and torn down by explosive.
11. . St. Nicola s church in Slovinje village near Lipljan, founded in 16th century, reconstructed in 19th century, utterly destroyed by explosive.
12. . St. Apostles Peter and Paul's church in Suva Reka, dating from 1938, demolished and afterwards razed by explosive.
13. . The Holy Trinity church in Petric village, near Pec (from 1993), destroyed by explosive.
14. . The Presentation of the Virgin church in Belo Polje (near Pec), from 16th century, reconstructed in 19th century, demolished and set on flames.
15. . The Cathedral of St. Uros in Urosevac, built in 1933, demolished, its interior set on fire.
16. . The church of St. Elijah the Prophet, in Vucitrn, built in 1834, plundered, demolished and partly burned.
17. . The church of St. John the Baptist, Samodreza, near Vucitrn, old church - reconstructed in 1932, demolished, burned and torn down.
18. . St Parasceva s (St. Nicola s) church in Drsnik near Pec (frescoed), dating from 16th century, ruined, its interior set on flames.
19. . The church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Naklo village, near Pec, from 1985, destroyed and burned.
20. . The Holy Trinity church in Velika Reka village, near Vucitrn, dating from 1997, demolished, set on fire and nearly destroyed.
21. . The Holy Apostles church in Petrovce village, near Kosovska Kamenica, demolished and set on  flames.
22. . The church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Podgorce village, near Vitina, demolished and burned.
23. . The church of St. John the Baptist, in Pecka Banja, near Pec, from 1996, demolished, its interior set on fire.
24. . The church of the Most Holy Mother of God in Djurakovac, near Pec, built in 1997, demolished.
25. . The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, in Djakovica, built in 1998, vandalized, its interior set on fire, a valuable mosaic over the entrance destroyed, completely razed by explosive (July 24-25, 1999).
26. . St. Nicola s church in Osojane village, near Pec, demolished.
27. . The church of St. Elijah the Prophet in Bistrazin, between Prizren and Djakovica, reconstructed on the old foundations before 1941, during the World War II ruined by the Albanians, afterwards reconstructed for the second time in 1988, now completely demolished.
28. / St. Demetrius church in Siga, near Pec, reconstructed in 1937 on the medieval foundations, completely razed.
29. . St. Elijah s church in Zegra village, near Gnjilane, from 1931, demolished and then completely burned down (the roof collapsed), also, two church buildings were set on flames, and crosses and tombs in the graveyard were destroyed.
30. . The church of the Holy Unmercenaries (old, reconstructed in 1991), Novake - Prizren, demolished and set on fire, its mining was unsuccessful, the tombs around the church were ruined.
31. . The parish church in Krusevo, near Pec (old, reconstructed), broken into and partially burned.
32. . The Monastery of Sts. Cosma and Damian, the Unmercenary Healers, in Zociste (with frescoes), from 14th century, looted and demolished, the greatest part of the residential building was burned.
33. . The parish church of St. John, in Grmovo, near Vitina, first set on fire, then completely destroyed by explosive (July 25, 1999).
34. . St. Nicola s church in Kijevo, near Klina, built in 14th century (painted in frescoes), levelled to the ground, crosses and tombs in the graveyard ruined.
35. . The church of St. Mark, the Evangelist, (on the foundations of the old church of Presentation of the Virgin) in Klina - Metohia, destroyed by explosive.
36. . St. Nicola s church in Ljubizda, near Prizren, from 16th century, plundered and demolished; the parish centre was set on flames.
37. . In the same village, Ljubizda, the church of St. Elijah, the Prophet (16th - 17th century), situated at the graveyard, reconstructed on the old foundations, looted, demolished, its interior set on fire, mined, the graveyard around it destroyed.
38. . St. Petka s church, in Dobrcane village, between Gnjilane and Kamenica, burned, the roof collapsed.
39. . The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Pristina (a new one), first it had been tried to set it on fire, and later, on August 1, 1999, at 01:00, the explosive was placed at four sites: two mines exploded, and the other two did not.
40. . St. Elijah s church (new, 1994), - Smac village, near Prizren, set on flames, demolished, its interior mined, but not all explosive packages exploded.
41. . The church of St. Basil the Great (19th century), - Gornja Srbica, near Prizren, burned and torn down.
42. . St. Petka s church (recently built), Zaskok village, near Urosevac, blown up with a mine, torn down.
43. . St. Nicola s church (old, reconstructed in 1985), Gatnje village, near Urosevac, demolished and  blown up by explosive.
44. . The church of the Most Holy Mother of God (old, reconstructed), Gornje Nerodimlje, demolished and torn down.
45. . St. Elijah s church (the old, broadened in the reconstruction), in Nekodim village, near Urosevac, demolished and set on flames.
46. . The church of the St. Apostles Peter and Paul, in Talinovac, near Urosevac (recently built), vandalized, its interior set on fire, the graveyard around it destroyed.
47. . The Holy Trinity church, in Babljak village, near Urosevac, demolished, its interior set on fire.
48. The church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, Softovic village, near Urosevac, demolished and burned.
49. . The parish church in Novi Kacanik - destiny unknown.
50. . The church of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God (old, reconstructed), in Korisa village, near Prizren, razed to the ground, as well as the old site of the church, the graveyard destroyed.

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TiM Ed.: You can view many of the Serb Christian churches destroyed by Albanians at the TiM Web site - http://www.truthinmedia.org/Kosovo/Peace/PhotoAlbum/photos-peace-index.html.

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4. An American Columnist Speaks Out Against KFOR "Peace Farce:" NATO Is Now the Enemy (By Col. David Hackworth)

PHOENIX, Aug. 25 - Regular TiM readers may recognize Col. David Hackworth not only as America's most highly decorated living soldier, an author and a nationally syndicated columnist (see "Defending America"), but also as an occasional source quoted in the TiM GW Bulletins. This time, however, we bring you his latest column, "NATO Is Now the Enemy," in its entirety. It needs no further editorial comment:

GREENWICH, CT, Aug. 24 - Bill Clinton and British leader Tony Blair don't want us to get the word that:

• Their promises to end the bloodshed and ethnic cleansing and bring peace to Kosovo aren't happening.

• Bullets and grenades are still flying in Kosovo.

• Americans and other NATO soldiers are now targets along with the Kosovars.

Just as they lied to us about how NATO air power was clobbering the Serbian Army, their spinmeisters are now working overtime to put the best face on a situation that daily becomes nastier.

The facts are that since VK-day -- "Victory in Kosovo" -- more Serb civilians have been slaughtered than ethnic Albanians were before the NATO air campaign began. Since NATO's last bomb fell, scores of Serbians, Gypsies and Jews have been murdered, over 200 Serb villages have been torched and 50 Christian churches have been defiled or destroyed. Grannies are being murdered in their homes.

Out of 350,000 Serbs, Gypsies, Jews and others who've lived in Kosovo for centuries, all but 30,000 have fled to nearby countries. They no longer trust NATO to protect them and don't see the promised peace coming anytime soon. Why should they? NATO troops flat haven't been able to stop the violence or the ethnic cleansing.

Clinton has once again stuck American soldiers into a killing field where he didn't think out the consequences beforehand. And the deal that stopped the war with Serbia, wrongheaded from the get-go, is now slip-sliding away.

How could it be otherwise? Serbia was promised that Kosovo -- a Serbian province -- would remain within its territory, while the Kosovo Liberation Army's objective has always been total independence from Serbia with ethnic Albanians in control of the province. KLA leaders have stated from the onset they didn't see a democratic future for Kosovo or even a multi-ethnic state.

What started the fire that led to NATO's most recent Balkan intervention was the KLA's insurgency campaign. Using standard guerrilla tactics and techniques -- terrorism, violence, insurgency -- they sought political power through the end of a gun barrel. When the KLA attacked Serbian police, military and civilian targets in Kosovo, the Serbs struck back at the KLA with no holds barred. "Ethnic Albanians are being murdered and oppressed by the Serbian monsters," the KLA propaganda apparatus screamed. Led by the Geraldo Rivera school of journalism, much of the press failed to report the other half of the story.

Now it's NATO's bad luck to replace the Serbs in this ancient quagmire as the latest "oppressors and occupation troops." They're beginning to get what the Serbs have taken for years. And the one thing they can count on is that it'll get worse.

The KLA say they've turned in their weapons in accordance with the peace agreement, and the violence in Kosovo isn't their doing -- it's the work of Albanian rogues and gangsters. Right. Just like it wasn't the Imperial Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor -- it was a bunch of rogue Eskimos in flying machines rented from Hertz.

A year ago, our State Department -- headed up by Madeleine Albright -- declared the KLA was a "terrorist organization" big into drug running and organized crime, a finding backed up by international police. But while Mad Maddy was ranting, the rest of the Clinton gang was providing the KLA with secret funds, clandestine training and not-so-covert NATO air support.

Clinton broke a cardinal rule: never jump in bed with terrorists and never declare them "freedom fighters." History repeatedly has shown that yesterday's freedom fighter often becomes today's terrorist and tomorrow's Public Enemy No. 1.

But since German, Italian and French soldiers have been struck down in KLA attacks, it's likely that Clinton and Blair won't be able to keep the lid on the mess they've created very much longer. It's just a matter of time before one or several of the 17 other NATO architects of this fatally incongruent peace deal blows the whistle. Then maybe even the international press corps will put out the straight skinny.

The bottom line is NATO will never accept an independent Kosovo and the KLA will never accept anything less. If the KLA isn't put down, expect the violence to increase and American casualties to mount.

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Col. David Hackworth is co-author of the 1989 international best seller, "About Face" and the subsequent "Brave Men." His latest book is "Hazardous Duty" (see his Web site: http://www.hackworth.com).

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5. Belgrade Presses War Crime Charges against NATO

BELGRADE, Aug. 13 - Prosecutors of Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad and of Kosovo's cities of Pristina and Prizren on Friday (Aug. 13) filed war crime charges against leaders of five Western states and NATO commanders, the Itar-Tass news wire has reported. They sent the charges to the district courts under whose jurisdiction criminal investigations fall, according to the Yugoslav law.

Prosecutor-General, Dragisa Krsmanovic, told reporters in Belgrade that charges had been brought against US President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, their foreign and defense ministers, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and NATO's Supreme Commander Europe Wesley Clark. All are charged with war crimes against the civilian population.

Prosecutors of Nis and Prizren, where NATO used cluster bombs, added to their documents the charge of the use of unlawful means of war conduct.

Krsmanovic said there was not a single statute of the international law that would justify NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia. He cited NATO's gross violation of rules of war conduction laid down by 1949 Geneva conventions on protection of war victims.

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TiM Ed.: War crime charges against the NATO leader are certainly appropriate, and long overdue. Now, if only the Serbian Prosecutor-General would continue to serve justice blindfolded. If so, he should similarly charge with war crimes any Belgrade government officials who may have perpetrated them, starting with Slobodan Milosevic.

Such an action would remove an ace out or two from the hands of Madam Kangaroo and the other globalist-NATO kangaroos who had put her up to administering the mockery of justice which is what the Hague court has turned out to be. And it would help reaffirm Yugoslavia's sovereignty, and the jurisdiction of NATIONAL legal systems as the only legitimate venues through which to prosecute crimes, including war crimes.

Unless, of course, Messrs. Clinton, Blair, Schroeder, Solana, Clark, and other NATO leaders do take a front row seat, right next to Milosevic, Croatia's Franjo Tudjman or Bosnia's Alija Izetbegovic, at any internationally prosecuted Balkans war crimes trials.

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6. NATO Faced Deep Splits Despite Public Claims of Unity

LONDON, Aug. 20 - Despite putting on a public face of unity, NATO faced deep splits among its members during its 79-day war on Serbia. Gen. Wesley Clark, waged an internal battle against member states which tried to limit air raids during the conflict, according to a BBC program (Aug. 20). Which is possibly why Clark went got the boot instead of a victory parade, after NATO's "victory."

The US general effectively "sidelined" wavering nations like Germany and Greece, the BBC investigation said. Appearing to back the claims, Clark told the program: "I didn't always defer to those who wanted targets withheld."

The program, featuring interviews with many of the top NATO figures in the air campaign, paints a picture of an alliance split between "doves" and "hawks". Even by the end of the conflict, member states were apparently unable to reach agreement on whether to launch a ground war to force the Serbs out of Kosovo.

The disclosures leave a notably different impression to the united front NATO sought to portray as its commanders turned up the pressure on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to back down, the Agence France Presse reported on Aug. 20.

NATO drew up three phases in the air war: first, attacks on air defences on some headquarters; second, attacks on Yugoslav forces; third, attacks on power stations and other targets which could be called civilian.

However when Germany and Greece would not support an escalation to phase three, "the commanders simply ignored them", according to the program.

Later on, Washington and London combined to quash any suggestion of a suspension to the bombing, telling the reluctant Germans and Italians that there was no point in even putting the idea forward in Brussels.

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TiM Ed.: Check out several CONTEMPORANEOUS TiM GW Bulletins which reported about such NATO splits as they were happening - in the NATO's War section of our Web site - http://www.truthinmedia.org/Kosovo/tim-war.html.

Also, check out... Truth in Media Statement on the Kosovo War, "Wither Dayton, Sprout New War?", "On the Brink of Madness", "Tragic Deja Vu's," "Seven U.S. Senators Suggest Ouster of Milosevic", "Biting the Hand That Feeds You", "A Balkan Affairs Potpourri", "Put the U.N. Justice on Trial", "International Justice 'Progresses' from Kidnapping to Murder", "Milosevic: 'A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery'...", "Kosovo Lie Allowed to Stand", "New World Order's Inquisition in Bosnia", "Kosovo Heating Up", "Decani Monastery Under Siege?", "Murder on Wall Street",  "Kosovo: 'Bosnia II', Serbia's Aztlan",  "What If the Shoe Were on the Other Foot?", "Serb WW II General Exhonerated by British Archives," "Green Interstate - Not Worth American Lives", "An American Hero or Actor of the Year?" (A June '95 TiM story) and/or "Clinton arme secrètement les musulmans bosniaques", "Kocevje: Tito's Greatest Crime?", "Perfidious Albion Strikes Again, Aided by Uncle Sam", "Lift the Sanctions, Now!" (1993)

Or Djurdjevic's WASHINGTON TIMES columns: "Chinese Dragon Wagging Macedonian Tail,"  "An Ugly Double Standard in Kosovo Conflict?", "NATO's Bullyboys", "Kosovo: Why Are We Involved?", and "Ginning Up Another Crisis"

Or Djurdjevic's NEW DAWN magazine columns: "Washington's Crisis Factory,"  and "A New Iron Curtain Over Europe"