HEADLINES

Belgrade                1. Two Serb Children, 29-year Old Are Killed, as

                                  Tribunal Judge Accuses Serbs of War Crimes

Brussels                 2. Are Serb Phones, Computers Next NATO Target?

                                  Clinton Shows This Is a War between Two Mafias

Zurich                    3. Why Ayatollah Khomeini Was Too Kind to

                                  Be a Western Leader

Auckland               4. Top Secret Serb Document Revealed

--------------------

1. Two Serb Children, 29-year Old Are Killed, as Tribunal Judge Accuses Serbs of War Crimes

BELGRADE, May 27 - Two Serb children, Dejana (4) and her brother Stefan (7) Pavlovic lay dead alongside the 29-year old Biljana Momcilovic (see the photos at our Web site) - victims of NATO's May 26-27 bombing of the Belgrade suburb of Ralja. All three were killed, and the Pavlovic children's parents badly injured, just as Judge Louise Arbour, chief prosecutor of the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague (ICTY), was announcing war crimes indictments of the five Serb leaders.

"If Hitler had such an 'International Tribunal' in 1939, the Polish government and president Moscicki would (also) be indicted as 'war criminals'," commented a Polish-American TiM reader from California today.

"The family moved here just yesterday from New Belgrade, seeking safety," a neighbor told Reuters. Other neighbors were wandering among the debris where belongings were scattered on the ground. One man was reading some old letters, trying to gather the pieces together. A pile of clothes and bed linen lay among the ruins.

In its 65th day of bombing, NATO launched 53 missiles on Belgrade and its suburbs during the night. Reuters television filmed intense anti aircraft fire lighting up the skies above Belgrade, with planes dropping flares. One anti-aircraft missile could be seen seeking its target.

The Belgrade-based Beta news agency said two people were killed and two wounded when a bridge over the Jablanica river in Lebane district in southern Serbia was attacked during the day on Thursday.

NATO aircraft also fired eight missiles into the Leskovac suburb of Donje Sinkovce and the Arap valley, Beta said.

----------------

2. Are Serb Phones, Computers Next NATO Target? Clinton Shows This Is a War between Two Mafias

BRUSSELS, May 26 - By ordering the CIA this weekend to hack into the bank accounts of the Yugoslav officials, Bill Clinton continued to show that NATO's war on Serbia is a battle between the two "Mafia" gangs. One big-time criminal operation - in Washington; one small-time dictatorship - in Belgrade. With the drug-dealing KLA terrorists as the sideshow in Albania, pitching in as fall guys for the Big Boss from Washington.

By showing the same, if not worse, disrespect for the law as the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic had displayed, the American president ordered a U.S. government agency to commit the kinds of crimes for which any other citizen in this country would end up in jail. If not in a coffin. Clinton ordered our civil servants to rob the banks in which the Belgrade officials supposedly keep their cash.

Of course, nowadays, you don't have to wield the Bonnie-and-Clyde-style guns to be a bank robber. All you need to do is know how to use computers, in lieu of the Colts. The crime is nonetheless just as heinous.

Things are getting worse, though, in this war of the thugs. NATO military commanders won political approval on May 26 to attack some of Yugoslavia's civilian telephone and computer networks, the Washington Post reported.

Ostensibly, this is so as to cut communications between the Belgrade government and its military forces in Kosovo, unnamed senior NATO sources told the Post.

---

TiM Ed.: Which is total BS, as anyone who knows anything about military communications could attest. Take a look at this writer's diary notes, following a May 25, 1994 meeting in Belgrade with Gen. Momcilo Perisic, the head of the Yugoslav Army at the time.

"During the siege of the YU Army barracks in Zadar by the Croatian forces (in 1991), the Croatians had cut off the civilian telephone lines to the army post. 'That caused us no military problems. But it was important to me that my soldiers be able to talk to their families and not worry about their safety'."

So the general saw to it - by means far gentler than NATO's bullying today - that the Croatian postmaster in Zadar restored the lines for his soldiers. Which the postmaster did. All too happy to oblige after receiving 'an offer they could not refuse,' the Zadar 'ustashi' even packed the Yugoslav soldiers' bags, Gen. Perisic told this writer (see TiM GW Bulletin 94-06, June 1994).

---

Meanwhile, back to the war of the rival Washington-Belgrade gangs, over the back of the innocent civilians, and the gullible American troops - now accessories to murder, at a closed-door meeting of alliance ambassadors, NATO's supreme commander, Gen. Wesley Kanne Clark, admitted that attacks on the country's telephone system also would cause hardship for millions of civilians. But allied officials say they also will serve an important military purpose by severing telephone connections that have been largely immune from western surveillance.

"The plan is to cut off the main telephone system, drive their computer systems crazy, and make sure the Serbs can only use cellular phones that are most vulnerable to eavesdropping by satellite," a senior alliance official said. "There is agreement [among NATO governments] that this is the moment to apply maximum pressure."

---

TiM Ed.: And is there an agreement among the NATO governments about how to avoid being charged with war crimes worse than that committed by Hitler? We suspect not anymore than there was a consensus about that among the Nazi brass in 1941. Yet...

----------------

3. Why Ayatollah Khomeini Was Too Kind to Be a Western Leader

ZURICH, May 21 - We received the following letter from Gregory Kozlovsky, a TiM reader from Zurich, Switzerland. It speaks for itself:

"Where was a tremendous wave of outrage in the Western world when Mr Khomeini issued his fatwa, sentencing a British Indian-born writer Salman Rushdi to death. In Mr Khomeini's opinion, Salman Rushdi insulted Islam in his book 'The Satanic Verses. Media, governments, international organizations, all joined their voices in the firmest possible support for the freedom of speech. A pitifully mediocre writer was made into an important world dignitary in the process.

Now compare Mr Khomeini's behavior with Mr Clinton's and Mr Blair's recent bombing of TV station in Belgrade. Not only did they order to kill those who produce what they rightly or wrongly called 'propaganda,' they killed also technical personnel, who were just ordinary civilians doing their jobs. The equivalent of their actions would be Mr Khomeini ordering to kill not only Salman Rushdie, but also printers and proofreaders of the publishing house which printed the book.

Clinton did not wish to exercise an option of denying intentional bombing. Had he a rare bout of honesty or did he want to show his enemies and friends alike that he will not stop before any cruelty, as Mafia bosses do to assert their authority? In an interview, which was broadcast shortly after the event, Clinton openly admitted that this was done on purpose.

THE PRESIDENT: Our military leaders at NATO believe, based on what they have seen and what others in the area have told them, that the Serb television is an essential instrument of Mr. Milosevic's command and control... It is not, in a conventional sense, therefore, a media outlet. That was a decision they made, and I did not reverse it, and I believe that I did the right thing in not reversing that decision. (Clinton Says Nato May Intervene Beyond Its Borders USIS, Washington)

By the logic of Mr Clinton, almost any civilian activity can be classified as not 'in a conventional sense,' civilian. Notice, that even if we accept all the accusations of Mr Clinton, in Yugoslavia, state media does not have effective monopoly on dissemination of information. People certainly can at least receive Western radio and TV broadcasts. The availability of this alternative source of news, should be sufficient for such passionate believer in the freedom of information and the marketplace of ideas as Mr Clinton is.

What is more, this outrage was done not by presumably 'right-wing' leaders, like George Bush or Margaret Thatcher, but under 'democratic,' 'labor' leadership, by people who seem to speak about human rights and justice even in their sleep. Are they not proverbial sheep in wolf's clothes?

If western media is not controlled, how can it be explained that there is no tremendous outcry against this undeniable war crime? If western governments care about freedom of information, where are drastic steps which are proportionate to the grave and naked nature of this crime? How much more so should democratic leaders over the world be repulsed at the very thought of shaking hands with a leader who ordered his troops to commit a war crime?

May it be that, after all, Mr Khomeini had too much regard for human life to be a western leader?"

Gregory Kozlovsky, Zurich, Switzerland

----------------

4. Top Secret Serb Document Revealed

AUCKLAND, May 24 - Serbian forces have stunned the world with their determination to defend Kosovo, the Internet Express News correspondent, Pedro Kurdo, reports from Auckland, New Zealand:

"Despite all predictions, they resisted the technically superior enemy for months. Unbeknownst to the public, NATO troops have seized a document that illustrates the thinking behind the military campaign in Kosovo, which helped to keep the Serbian Army casualties to an absolute minimum. This paper is a general order that has been issued by a high-ranking Serbian officer. The text of the secret document follows:

Order to all Serbian troops in the region of Kosovo:

My soldiers, NATO planes mean us no harm. They are on a mission of trying to solve the refugee problem. They have no easy task. Refugees are scattered around and are getting increasingly sophisticated in avoiding the aircraft. We have to assist NATO as much as possible by flushing them out into the open, where the air forces can effectively deal with them.

But this is war. Mistakes can happen. Despite all precautions NATO has taken we can also be hit. To minimize our chances of receiving serious injuries I request you to comply with the following nine points:

1. Do not visit or inhibit civilian buildings: These are prime targets. An attack can happen at any time. You just senselessly risk your life.

2. Do not dig in: They have the technology to detect a dead body under the ground from 30km up. On the other hand, if on the ground, you are safe and sound.

3. Do not transport civilians or refugees, even in covered vehicles. Their missiles are equipped with refugee seeking devices. When associated with the target, you become one.

4. Do not travel in tractors, buses, animal-drawn or any non-military vehicles: They match the missile's target identification pattern.

5. Do not mix with civilians or refugees under any circumstances. In a big crowd, your uniform ceases to be your guarantee of safety.

6. Do not apply for a Chinese visa. If you really have to, do it by mail.

7. Do not travel to Bulgaria.

8. Do not try to make sense of the previous seven points. The rest of the Planet tried and failed; you will only waste your valuable time.

General Nebojsa Pavkovich (Commander of the 3rd Yugoslav Army), Pristina, April 1999

(end of Serbian text)

Though the US military have been in possession of this document for a while, they don't seem to have taken any steps to capitalize on the knowledge gained. The author of this article is no military expert by any means, but he has to say that some of the solutions are almost too obvious to be ignored. So I will give myself the freedom to propose improvements that can have an immediate effect on the battlefield.

Firstly, flying upside down will give crews a much better view of the battlefield. It is also a much healthier position to be in, especially in the situation of repeated stress, according to many gurus of the new age medicine.

Secondly, flight maps are overloaded with information, which increases the risk of loosing the wider picture in an ocean of details. Painting different countries on the maps in different colors will greatly enhance the pilot's chances of hitting the right country.

Finally, each aircraft should be equipped with an underwater camera. NATO can't always rely on the Italian fisherman for damage assessment. This letter has been sent to NATO headquarters. I hope that Jamie Shea will acknowledge my contribution on the next NATO press conference."

This is Pedro Kurdo, the business correspondent for the Internet Express News, reporting from Auckland, New Zealand.

---

TiM Ed.: With a smirk on his his face, as the preceding "secret Serb document" leak was a spoof, of course.

Also, check out... Truth in Media Statement on Kosovo Crisis, "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?", "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"

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"