Apr. 21, 1999; 1:30PM GMT - DAY 29, UPDATE 1

Phoenix                 1. Back Home! A Notice to TiM Readers

Belgrade               2. NATO Madness Attacking Media and Office Buildings to Get at Milosevic!?

Belgrade               3. Serb TV HQ Next Target? Journalists as "Human Shield"

Novi Sad              4. The Third Bridge Attacked NATO to Sever Vojvodina from Serbia?

Phoenix                 5. Why Do the Serbs Not Show More Photos of NATO Losses?

                                Tape of Sunday's NATO Plane's Shootdown Now Available?

PHOENIX, Apr. 21 - Your editor is back home again, after a grueling, but otherwise fairly uneventful, 35-hour Belgrade-Phoenix trip. One of these days, when and if the war subsides, we may bring you some human interest-type travel vignettes from this journey. Meanwhile, back to reporting and analysis of NATO's war against Serbia...

But first, a notice to TiM readers. We have told you before that our Web site (www.truthinmedia.org) has been deluged by millions of hits from 80 countries around the world just during the first half of April. To accommodate such an enormous surge in demand, we are having to move our Web site to a faster server (computer). This work is in progress as we write.

While the transfer is being done, TiM readers will NOT experience any difficulties in accessing our Web site, except for the SEARCH function, which will not be available for a few hours. But until the move is completed, we at TiM will not be able to update our Web page with any new information. Which means that for the next day or so, the Special TiM GW Bulletins will be send out only by e-mail. Thank you for your patience while we upgrade so as to serve you better.

Also, since the faster server (computer) will mean considerable new expenses for our non-profit organization, we would appreciate additional donations from our readers. Just send your checks or money order to the TiM address shown at our Web site. Thank you.

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BELGRADE, Apr. 21 - The NATO madmen are getting personal. And killing the TV relays and an 18-story office tower supposedly to get at Slobodan Milosevic!?

In the early hours of the morning, several cruise missiles hit the 18-story "Usce" ("Confluence") office tower in New Belgrade, across the river Sava from downtown Belgrade. And NATO also destroyed the Iriski Venac TV relay on Mt. Fruska Gora, depriving Serbia's second largest city, Novi Sad, and much of its northern province of Vojvodina, of TV reception.

That's like hitting the Rockefeller Center in New York with cruise missiles, because that's where NBC HQ is, one of many U.S. establishment networks which is a part of Clinton's "lie and deny" PR factory. And taking out TV relays around New York City, so as to cut of the rest of the eastern states from the New York-based programming.

Mad? It's worse than mad. Eyewitness reports from Belgrade suggest that there were numerous human casualties as a result of NATO's attack on the "Usce" office tower. Several missiles reportedly hit the top and bottom stories of the building.

"I am looking right now at the burning building from my balcony," a TiM Belgrade source reported at 3:31AM local time. "Top and bottom floors of the building are on fire. But office lights are still on in the middle section. Flames are spreading from the bottom floors upward. I don't think the people trapped in the mid-section could be saved even if helicopters were to come to their aid."

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TiM Ed. Anyone trying to imagine what it was like to be a journalist or a worker on a night shift trapped in the mid-section of the "Usce" building, should see again the 1970s film, "Inferno." Except that in this case, the fire was no accident. Thus the title of this real life horror story is, "Murder by NATO Pyromaniacs."

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BELGRADE, Apr. 21 - We've just been advised from Belgrade that NATO has signaled that its next target may be the Serb TV headquarters - by advising the foreign journalists to leave the SerbTV premises. Like NBC's HQ at the Rockefeller Center, the Serb TV offices are in the heart of downtown, surrounded by residential and other office buildings.

The Yugoslav federal minister for information, Goran Matic, led a group of 100 domestic and foreign journalists last night on a tour of Serb TV buildings, so as to show them its purely civilian nature. A number of foreign correspondents reportedly decided to stay at the Serb TV building as another "human shield" against NATO's madness.

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NOVI SAD, Apr. 21 - Earlier on in NATO's air campaign against Serbia, we noted that its attacks on the bridges across the Danube were, in fact, attacks on Europe's trade and commerce which flows along the continent's longest waterway. And we said that they signaled a possible new front of a future NATO attack - on the northern Yugoslav province of Vojvodina (see Day 11, Update 1, Item 1, Apr. 3).

At the time, Pentagon has denied that it has any such intentions. But we warned TiM readers based on our past experienced to watch carefully what the Washington and Brussels actually DO, while disregarding what they SAY.

Well, last night NATO attacked the third bridge in Novi Sad, a railroad line across the Danube. According to our last reports, the bridge is still standing, although one of its arches has been damaged in the attack. But the fact that NATO is now trying to destroy Novi Sad's last remaining bridge, and has cut off much of the northern province of Vojvodina from Serb TV programming, is yet another confirmation of its to separate Vojvodina from the rest of Serbia, and turn it into a NATO protectorate. A German insider's report, published in our yesterday's TiM Bulletin (Day 28, Update 1, Item 4, Apr. 20), also unequivocally confirmed that conclusion.

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PHOENIX, Apr. 21 - As you saw in our yesterday's report, various Serb and Russian sources had put the total number of downed NATO airplanes as of Apr. 18 at 40, and the total human casualties at 90 (see Day 28, Update 1, Item 4, Apr. 20).

Not surprisingly, there have been a number of "Doubting Thomas's" among the TiM readers who demanded in their e-mails to us to see the photos as "proof." To which we say...

(1) First, demand from your congressmen and senators that our Commander-in-Chief, the Pentagon and NATO the "proof" that the F-117 was the only NATO loss. Demand that they provide a full and immediate accounting of all losses to-date. After all, it is our money and lives with which they are playing. And we have the right to know. You would think... Clinton, on the other hand, should be well aware of how badly NATO's face has been bloodied by Yugoslav AAA defenses. And that's even without using as yet to their most sophisticated air defense systems. As a high-level Yugoslav source told us this weekend in Belgrade, "we're saving those for the end."

(2) Every once in a while, however, some "proof" emerges, usually sourced to the media. When we come across those, we share it with TiM readers (search our past TiM Bulletins using appropriate keywords).

For example, TiM readers should tell their congressmen and senators to listen to a recording which we've just received from a Belgrade Web site - Beonet.yu. It is a tape of what appears to be an authentic conversation between NATO pilots and the AWACS controllers, which confirms the loss of at least one American aircraft on Sunday (an F-16, according to Yugoslav sources). You can listen to the clip at http://www.beonet.yu/awacs.ram . But we have to warn you, Beonet's audio line capacity is low, and demand high. So be patient...

Meanwhile, here are some snippets of the conversations which we caught when we listened to a 6 minutes and 48 seconds-long recording

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Right at the start of the clip, one could hear an AWACS controller saying that they had lost contact with "Fortune 5."

At about 125 minutes of the clip, one can hear a dramatic, panic-stricken voice (of another pilot?) shouting, "Mayday, mayday, mayday... [unintelligible] is hit, and is ejecting."

At around 300 minutes of the clip, an AWACS controller says "Bug out now... all aircraft have been instructed to evacuate the area."

At about 420 minutes of the clip, an AWACS controller says "They've got a good shoot.. Now they've got everybody folding out of the target areas... the guy has not come up on the radio yet.... He was making multiple passes underneath the weather."

At about 540 minutes of the clip, an AWACS controller says "I cannot confirm it at this time... Our last contact was when he ejected."

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In addition, there are some other source on the Web which are offering the "proof" for which some TiM readers have asked. One of them is http://members.xoom.com/ggromozeka/aviation/, operated by Venik, an aviation buff and expert. This site even offers a map which shows locations of specific shoot-downs of NATO planes (see below). Here is an excerpt from an explanation which this expert offers as to why there is a dearth of physical evidence:

"Many people e-mail me asking why wouldn't Yugoslav TV show pictures of more downed NATO aircraft, as it showed images of the shot down American F-117. There are at least a couple of good reasons for that

The main problem is that NATO aircraft operate at high altitudes to avoid Yugoslavia's numerous AAAs and man-portable SAMs. When an aircraft is hit by a large SAM missile (like SA-2, SA-3, or SA-6), what falls to the ground are very small pieces of the aircraft - hundreds or even thousands of them, possibly covering an area of several square kilometers. There simply would be nothing to photograph. This was often the case when high-flying Soviet aircraft were shot down over Afghanistan. I have seen numerous photos of Soviet planes crashed in Afghanistan - such images would be interesting only for aviation experts but completely useless in terms of propaganda what remained from crashed planes could hardly be recognized as an aircraft by a non-professional. NATO claimed to have shot down many Yugoslav aircraft (according to NATO, they destroyed 50% of Yugoslavia's MiGs, which would amount to at least 35 aircraft), however, they also failed to provide any proof (except for the one or two MiG-29s of questionable origin shot down over Bosnia, at least one of which looks suspiciously more like an American F-15, and video images taken by an aircraft's targeting camera of, presumably, a Yugoslav Mi-8 helicopter - that's it). And NATO has very capable photo and video reconnaissance aircraft, including the U-2 and a number of highly advanced UAVs, such as Predator and Hunter, not to mention that all NATO aircraft are equipped with video recording devices.

Yugoslav media was lucky to photograph the remains of the downed F-117. This was because the aircraft's pilot was probably trying to crash-land his aircraft or to eject at low altitude (which he did, since he landed only two miles from the crash site). There was a clearly visible landing gear of the F-117 in the video footage shown on Yugoslav TV this is a good indication that the gear was lowered, perhaps as an attempt to crash-land. The pilot wanted to keep the aircraft in one piece, presumably so that it could be destroyed by a cruise missile or a laser bomb before Serb troops got their hands on the remains. Or, perhaps, the pilot was simply forced into low-level flight by the circumstances of his encounter with Yugoslav air defenses.

There were reports in Russian military publications back from the Persian Gulf War again Iraq Iraq claimed to have shot down a US F-117, but failed to present any proof because the aircraft's remains were hit by a laser-guided bomb before Iraqi troops found the crash site.

Yugoslavia is not Russia, but it is a fairly large country nevertheless, with mountainous terrain and forests. If a damaged NATO aircraft crashes in hundreds of pieces (or even in one piece), finding it may be impossible, especially if the aircraft crashed some distance away from populated areas. There is little doubt that NATO pilots would try to eject over unpopulated areas in order to avoid being found by Serb troops or by civilians.

Also, Yugoslavia does not have anything nearly as advanced as NATO reconnaissance aircraft, and searching for aircraft remains on foot or on vehicles is a lengthy and dangerous process, considering that NATO rescue forces have a much better chance of finding ejected pilots, crash sites as well as of directing other NATO aircraft to erase any evidence of crashed aircraft with precision weapons."

Venik, 19 April, 1999

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(3) There are damn good reasons why the Yugoslavs have chosen not to show much evident, such as photos or tapes. One of is to keep the enemy guessing as to what actually happened and where.