US TO GRANT KOSOVO 279 MILLION DOLLARS AFTER STATUS SOLUTION

6.2.2007 14:49 PRISTINA, (Tanjug) - US President George Bush has proposed that 279 million dollars be allocated from the US budget in the form of additional assistance to be granted after the resolution of the province's status.

what ever happened to the air force pilot who crashed and ate bugs for 6 days?

That was Scott O'Grady who was shot down in 1995 over Bosnia.

A movie was made supposedly loosely based on the incident called Behind Enemy Lines and starred Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman.

By the way, another F-16 pilot, in a quite recent article, describes his being shot down in the Kosovo war over Serbia in May 1999 and being rescued:

Holloman commander recalls being shot down in Serbia
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 01/26/2007 12:00:00 AM MST
The surface-to-air missile that hit the belly of Lt. Col David Goldfein's F-16 in May 1999 came from an unexpected source.
The SAM launch sites had proved to be a constant threat in Serbia, disappearing and reappearing. This one appeared right under the squadron's route as it flew into Belgrade, Serbia, on a night mission to destroy enemy air defenses. The missile destroyed Goldfein's engine.
"I became a very expensive glider pretty quick," said the 47-year-old Goldfein, now a brigadier general in command of Holloman Air Force Base, who recounted the incident last week. He saw the flak clouds from the anti-aircraft fire that was trying to zero in on his damaged plane.
He felt a stinging sensation on his hand and he looked down to find blood welling from a minor shrapnel injury, said Goldfein, who then commanded the 555th Fighter Squadron and led the first of many missions of Operation Allied Force over Serbia.
"That's when your training kicks in," said Goldfein, one of two pilots shot down in the operation. "It was a full-moon night. You don't want to be highlighted (in the sky) too long."
He waited to eject so he would have just enough time for his parachute to deploy while spending as little time as possible as a floating target. The ejection mechanism worked flawlessly.
After landing in a "perfectly plowed field," he rolled and popped off his parachute. Helmet still on, he grabbed his things and headed for a ravine. The ravine sloped down at a steeper angle than he had expected from his hasty survey, and he tripped and fell face first.
"My stuff was like a raft in front," he said. "I was riding it like Indiana Jones down to the bottom."
He collected himself and then made radio contact with the fighters still circling above.
"My first call was answered by my buds who were with me," Goldfein said. "There wasn't a minute I didn't hear jets overhead, and that was very comforting. There was absolutely no question in my mind I was getting out that night."
As his training had taught him, he dumped anything shiny that would reveal his location and traveled along the edge of the plowed field. If the field had land mines, he thought, the farmers would already have dug them up.
The countryside looked a lot like Indiana or Ohio farmland, he said. "There were lots of dogs and roosters up and awake and sounding off at 2 a.m.," he added.
After walking about two miles, he found a relatively remote cleared area.
"I had to find a good spot to stay hidden and coordinate the rescue," Goldfein said. "It was just, 'Don't screw it up; don't get in the way.' "
He once again communicated his position, and then, from his hiding spot, heard a rustling sound and looked in the direction of the noise.
"Whatever it was, it reared up on its hind legs ... I saw beady eyes," he said. "I say it was a Serbian tiger, but my buds said it was probably a field mouse."
He ran for a distance, which turned out to be a blessing because he found a better landing spot. When the rescue helicopter arrived, it brought enemy fire with it. Within seconds of its arrival, Goldfein was in the helicopter. A later inspection revealed five bullet holes in the fuselage.
"We never know when some young airman is going to risk everything to come pull us out," Goldfein said. "You become extremely humble. They get a bottle of scotch from me every year -- a single-malt, good quality."
Goldfein said the unit saves the last of the bottle and, when he is able to bring the new bottle in person, they drink it together. Even though the airmen who participated in his rescue have rotated out of the squadron, he said, "it's the legacy of the unit."
But, he added, "I keep in touch with many of the airmen on that rescue."
Goldfein said he wanted to fly immediately afterward, but his commanders told him to wait a day. Although he flew the next day, he points out that pilots in Vietnam often flew the same day they were rescued and they didn't receive a hero's welcome when they returned home.
Nonetheless, Goldfein could rightfully consider the incident a day at the office.
"My dad is a career fighter pilot in the Air Force century series fighters," Goldfein said. "I've really been in the Air Force my whole life."
His older brother, a two-star general, is vice director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, and his younger brother flies F-16s at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.
Goldfein also deployed to Abu Dhabi for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and to the Vicenza Combined Air Operations Center for Operation Deliberate Force. He has more than 3,900 flying hours in the T-37, T-38 and F-16C/D.

The Question is, who did have Scott O'Grady?

There appears to be more to the Scott O'Grady story than the American people have been told. In a letter to President Clinton on 5 June 1995, lecturer and author of the book Kosovo, Bill Dorich, former President of the Serbian American Voters Alliance (SAVA), wrote, "Dear Mr. President. I have confidential information at my disposal about the downed American pilot and have been advised by Pale [capital of the Bosnian Serb Republic] of the circumstances under which they would release him." Mr. Dorich had been asked to join a delegation of representatives of our government on a trip to Bosnia to retrieve Capt. O' Grady, who was in the hands of the Serbs, "eating steak and lamb" according to other sources. Perhaps that explains his excellent health when he was plucked to safety. However, the very next day, Dorich received another call telling him that the trip to collect Scott O'Grady was off, and that he was not to talk about it. In subsequent articles and letters, Dorich refers to Capt. Scott O' Grady as "The Cardboard Hero."

President Needed a Hero, and Scott O'Grady filled the bill.

"President Bill Clinton hails the airman, Capt. Scott O' Grady, as an American hero. The nation rejoices and celebrates another example of the U.S. military prowess. Clinton suggests a movie could be made based on this event." According to Editor Bob Djurdjevic's Truth in Media (TiM) of 10 June 1995, "An American Hero or Actor of the Year?" TiM reported that there were indications that a deal had been made with the Serbian leadership that their forces would not fire upon U.S. rescue crews if the U.S. would agree not to bomb the Serbs for a second time and that the administration would not allow the arms embargo to be lifted. And of course, we see how our word was kept. We lifted the arms embargo and bombed the Hell out of Yugoslavia in 1999 for alleged Serbian atrocities.

"If the American public ever learned how badly O' Grady & his wingman screwed up they would demand they pay for the lost F – 16," wrote one retired Army major. Another, a retired U.S. Air Force Brig. General, who still had connections with active duty members in the Air Force, was told that "Scott O' Grady was disliked by just about everyone associated with him and that he barely made it through pilot training because he was not a very good pilot."

The Toronto Star of 30 Nov 2001, movie critic Peter Howell writes, "Behind Enemy Lines isn't a great movie, but it is fabulous propaganda." Howell continues, "The recon camera snapped pictures of a mass grave, proof that the renegades [i.e., Serbs] have been committing genocide and violating the NATO treaty. America needs its boys and the world needs truth and justice."

Who can forget the picture of Madeleine Albright wildly waving a photograph over her head of a soccer field that was supposed to have contained the bodies of anywhere from as high as 10,000 to as low as 6,000 (dependeing on whose statistics make a better story)? It was Albright's "proof positive," of the massacre by Serbs but when 22 renown journalists went to investigate, there was nothing there - not even the earth had been distrubed. They just didn't bother to tell anyone else that they didn't find any evidence of a mass grave at the soccer field.

Bill Clinton needed an American hero save his own sorry hide because he refused to wear the uniform of his country when he was called to serve.

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