Improvements Visible in Kosovo

American Forces Press Service ^ | Aug. 15, 2005 | By Jim Garamone

[mark502inf]

It's easy to spot the changes to Kosovo from the air -- all the U.N.-provided plastic tarpaulins that provided shelter in the years after the NATO intervention are gone. In their place are orange roofs covering homes that have been rebuilt. Roughly 1,700 American servicemembers -- almost all National Guardsmen -- are part of the 17,000-man Kosovo Force helping provide the environment the province needs to recover.

Four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters fly over Kosovo in support of a troop visit by Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and USO celebrities on Aug. 15. Myers is visiting American troops deployed around the world to assess morale and to thank servicemembers. Photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, USAF (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

NATO intervened in the province after then-Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic initiated ethnic cleansing against the Kosovar Albanians.

Americans today command Multinational Brigade East, headquartered here. Army Brig. Gen. William H. Wade II commands the unit, which includes Poles, Ukrainians and Lithuanians, among others.

The American side is predominantly a "composite" unit. Most Americans here are volunteers from the California, Kansas and Pennsylvania National Guards. The medical task force supporting the effort is made up of Army Reservists drawn from all over the Southeastern United States. "I have got portions of 42 different units from 27 states," Wade said during an interview. "I'm amazed at how well they work together."

The guardsmen come from all over the U.S. and demonstrate to the people of the region that diverse populations can work together. "They see black and white and Oriental and American Indian," Wade said. "They see Catholic, Jews, Protestants and Muslims. They see men and women working together, and we set the best example, I believe, that can be set for the people of Kosovo."

"The Guard ... is uniquely able to do this," Wade said. "We bring our civilian skills to this mission. We have attorneys; we have firemen; we have chiefs of police; we have (chief executive officers) of corporations; we have city managers. Those are the kind of skills that we bring here."

Servicemembers deployed here maintain the job in Kosovo is not yet done. "There are still men preaching hate around here," said Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Darren Dreher, a Pennsylvania Guardsman who flies Black Hawk helicopters.

Army Spc. Paul Roath and Cpl. McKindree Perrin, both of the Kansas Guard, know this well. Roath, a field artilleryman, and Perrin, a tanker, patrol the region on foot and in vehicles. They search for arms caches, conduct cordon-and-search missions, and work with local and international police. "We work with the people on a very positive basis," Roath said. "They like us. They know the United States stepped in to stop this country from going into chaos."

Spc. Stefanie Davison, a guardsman from Bellingham, Wash., agreed, saying that Serbs and Albanians living in the province tell her: "Because of us, they can live in peace."

Cpl. Danielle Grudzinski, an aviation specialist from the Pennsylvania Guard, said she believes local residents are beginning to understand not just freedom, but also the responsibility that goes with it. "On Earth Day this year, we worked with children from around the area to clean streets," she said. "Now I notice they are taking responsibility for cleaning the streets themselves, and there are other encouraging signs just since we have been here in February."

Wade said the unit has seen progress. "We see the institutions of self-government start to move forward," he noted.

In March 2004, there were a number of violent clashes between Albanians and Serbians. These may have served as a turning point for the province. "After the March riots, I believe all the people realized that it is in their best interest to cooperate and to move forward to whatever the future holds for all the people of Kosovo," Wade said.

Related Site: Kosovo Force

Related Article: Kosovo Mission Successful, Important, U.S. Forces Say

News Archive http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2005/20050815_2447.html

[mark502inf]

some 40 Serbs were brutally killed

Sorry, MarMema, your source is off by 450%; which--come to think about it--is actually more accurate than most of the Serb victimization posts around here. A total of nine Serbs and eleven Albanians were killed in the 2004 riots. Three other Serbs were killed for the entire rest of 2004. The lack of Serb victims would normally be considered good news, but when Serbs in Kosovo are valued less as human beings and more as poster children to support Serb ethno-bigotted nationalist rants, the more dead Serbs, the better--even when you have to lie about it.

[mark502inf]

IMO it will be a 'success' when Condi and Bolton initiate the return of Kosovo to Serbia.

I hope you're not holding your breath!

As to Serbia's right to rule over Kosovo, Senator Jesse Helms explicitly covered that in his famous speech to the United Nations:

The sovereignty of nations must be respected. But nations derive their sovereignty -- their legitimacy -- from the consent of the governed. Thus, it follows, that nations can lose their legitimacy when they rule without the consent of the governed; they deservedly discard their sovereignty by brutally oppressing their people. Slobodan Milosevic cannot claim sovereignty over Kosovo when he has murdered Kosovars and piled their bodies into mass graves. Neither can Fidel Castro claim that it is his sovereign right to oppress his people. Nor can Saddam Hussein defend his oppression of the Iraqi people by hiding behind phony claims of sovereignty.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER.

[MarMema]

Oh sure. Whatever you say. Your bias toward the KLA is not well-known here either, right?

[duckln]

Slobodan Milosevic cannot claim sovereignty over Kosovo when he has murdered Kosovars and piled their bodies into mass graves

Helmes was naive as to what Islamists were all about. He bent to all the preposterous accusations of the MSM, all of which was completely false or exaggerated. Problem is that there were literally no 'mass graves'. This has been proven at the Hague Tribunal. 'Kosovars' involved were soldiers of the KLA and legitimately opposed by Milosevic.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER.
Huh??
Get serious!!!
#1 Sadam's mass graves are all over for all to see. He personally ordered suspect politicians beaten and then shot during a party public meeting.
Milosevic is no Sadam!
#2 Castro confiscated all property and outlawed private businesses, down to 'apple peddlers'. In the course of this there were, literally, regular firing squads reminiscent of the guillotining during the French revolution.
Castro was a purist 'communist', Milosevic was a 'socialist' with the highest per capita income in the 'eastern block'.
Milosevic is no Castro.

At least you had the sense not to compare him with Hitler or Pol Pot.

[kosta50]

Yeah "Clashes"

It seems to me that Mark, and his Islamophilic buddies, will do anything to obfuscate the fact that Kosovo Albanians are caveman-like agressors that the world has yet to get to know.

One day, America will wash its hands of any association with Albanians the way we now wash our hands of having supported and built up the Taliban.

[MarMema]

the future seen darkly

Because we missed so many lessons in Kosovo.

[mark502inf]

there were literally no 'mass graves'

You mean no mass graves like this one in a story from a week ago?

Serbia returns bodies of 84 ethnic Albanian war victims to Kosovo

MERDARE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Serbian authorities on Wednesday returned the bodies of 84 ethnic Albanians killed during the Kosovo war - the largest single return of war dead to the province.

The remains are believed to be those of ethnic Albanian civilians killed by Serb forces during the 1998-1999 war and removed from Kosovo in an apparent cover-up attempt by former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.

"The families have been waiting for too long," said Jose Pablo Baraybar, head of the UN-run office of missing persons and forensics in Kosovo. "It is very important . . . not to forget that there are families behind these numbers."

The remains were exhumed from a mass grave on the grounds of a police training centre just outside Belgrade and are believed to be those of ethnic Albanian civilians killed by Serb forces in the central town of Kosovo Polje during the war.

Out of 836 bodies of Kosovo Albanians found in mass graves in Serbia, 486 have been returned to their families. About 350 remaining bodies are still in Serbia and are expected to be identified by the end of the year, Baraybar said.

The families have repeatedly demanded that all the war dead exhumed be returned immediately. Nearly 3,000 people were still listed as missing.

Hundreds of bodies recovered from mass graves in Kosovo and Serbia were to be identified through the matching of DNA from bone samples with that of the relatives of missing people.

[MarMema]

84 or even hundreds is not the 10,000+ we heard about so often from the MSM.

Does the KLA help with donations to FR on your behalf?

[mark502inf]

Marmema, read the whole article; those are just the murdered Kosovars trucked out of Kosovo and buried in police and military training areas in Serbia proper. Sort of puts the lie in a real obvious way to Serb protestations that either the massacres didn't happen at all or else that the Serb government had nothing to do with it. Now, to get a more complete picture, add in the 3,000 killed Albanians recovered from within Kosovo and the close to 3,000 still missing.

As to what the MSM said at the time, I don't care and neither should you.

[MarMema]

I saw a Dutch video which convinced me that the Serbs were on the right track.

[mark502inf]

I saw a Dutch video which convinced me that the Serbs were on the right track.

I saw a whole lot of burned houses, looted villages, ransacked schools, dynamited mosques, and refugee camps which convinced me that there are a whole lot of Serb war criminals.

[FormerLib]

Peace will only return to Kosovo when the Serb Army does.

And they will, bank on it.

[eleni121]

Why don't we substitute them (Americans) with Russians or Serbs?

---

Best thing that could happen in the the Balkans especially in Kosovo. Actually Serbs can do the job alone...it's their land anyway.

[zagor-te-nej]

This is not about Milosevic, never was. Kosovo and Metohija is property of Serbian people and Serbian state. By terror, lies and force it was stolen from them. Milosevic is just excuse.
You can negotiate/enforce/impose what ever you want. Criminals and traitors in Belgrade will probably sign everything. Wheel of time turns and when things change, Kosovo and Metohija will be returned to their rightful owners. This will happen - one way or another.

[mark502inf]

Kosovo and Metohija is property of Serbian people and Serbian state.

Except for the five centuries out of the last six when it wasn't. And with Albanians being the majority population in Kosovo since the mid-18th Century, it belongs to you sort of like Michigan belongs to the Chippewa and Ottawa Indians.

Having said that, after Kosovo was awarded to Serbia as part of the Ottoman Empire break-up/WWI settlements, although there were a lot of outraged Albanians, nobody else was pushing for border changes. That is, until the Serbs brought it on themselves by putting Milosevic into power on a platform of extremist Serb nationalism. Your Greater Serbia project, fighting wars with four of your neighbors and your ethnic cleansing of non-Serb untermenschen resulted in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, and Kosovo all cutting away from Belgrade as fast as they could by any means necessary. And even with Milosevic already in jail, such are the joys of living under Serbian rule that it looks like Montenegro is next to go with the minorities in Vojvodina and the Sandzak making noises as well.

You may want to contemplate why NOBODY wants Belgrade in charge. HINT: The reason does not lie outside of Serbia.

This is not about Milosevic

Exactly right. Its about treating people like human beings--with dignity and respect for their individual rights. Any government that does not do so, whether run by Milosevic or anyone else, loses its right to rule. A great American--Senator Jesse Helms--explained that a few years ago in a speech to the United Nations:

We are endowed with ... "inalienable rights,” as Thomas Jefferson proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence, not by kings or despots, but by our Creator.

The sovereignty of nations must be respected. But nations derive their sovereignty – their legitimacy – from the consent of the governed. Thus, it follows, that nations can lose their legitimacy when they rule without the consent of the governed; they deservedly discard their sovereignty by brutally oppressing their people.

Slobodan Milosevic cannot claim sovereignty over Kosovo when he has murdered Kosovars and piled their bodies into mass graves. Neither can Fidel Castro claim that it is his sovereign right to oppress his people. Nor can Saddam Hussein defend his oppression of the Iraqi people by hiding behind phony claims of sovereignty. And when the oppressed peoples of the world cry out for help, the free peoples of the world have a fundamental right to respond.

[ma bell]

mark, the killings are kla-on-albanian violence...many are over drugs/arms/trafficking etc...the remainder is albanian killing Serbs to rid them of that particulary region.

Where can you find Serb killing Serb in Kosovo?

You and I both know that drugs run rampant through Presevo Valley instead of Kosovo. Isn't that why the Albs were fighting for "independance"? So drugs can run through with their mafia couriers?

[ma bell]

UNMIK won't go out in the bad man territory (albanian regions) without NATO support/escort, isnt that right?..:) UNMIK is easy target in the Coca Cola cars... UN is useless there and should be substituted with other forces.

If the US pulled out, Serbs in Kosovo would move out from their barricades and begin fighting back with the same force the Albanians use. The Albanians would try and attack the remaining Serbs, a big mistake on their part.

Keep the US at Bondsteel, the presence needs to remain.

[ma bell]

marmema, mark is right on in many areas, but does slant towards anti-Serb for whatever biased reason.

There are many ppl bought and paid for on both sides, so things aren't what they seem to be in that conflict. Who you think is on the Serb side, isn't necassarily so (i.e Destro) and such.

[eleni121]

I saw a whole lot of burned houses, looted villages, ransacked schools,...

---

Did you see as well the burned out churches, the headless Serbian bodies, the raped Serbian women and children, the Arab jihadis fighting alongside their Muslim cousins?

Hmmm..didja?

[mark502inf]

Did you see as well the burned out churches, the headless Serbian bodies, the raped Serbian women and children, the Arab jihadis fighting alongside their Muslim cousins?

Although you've got some Seselj-like hyperbole going on, there were in fact numerous atrocities committed by the Albanians against the Serbs--especially in the summer of 1999. The difference being that there are not a bunch of nut-job Albanians on this forum variously saying the atrocities never happened, they didn't do it, and the Serbs deserved it anyway.