Posted on 02/19/2008 7:35:00 AM PST by Billg64
On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot the archduke and heir to the Austrian throne Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, setting in motion the train of events that led to the First World War.
Kosovo Albanians from France and Germany, waving their national flag, left, and wearing a t-shirt of a black double-headed eagle on a red background, celebrate in front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, eastern France, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008. Kosovo declared itself a nation on Sunday, mounting a brash and historic bid to become an "independent and democratic state" backed by the U.S. and key European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia. (AP Photo/Christian Lutz) Related Media: VIDEO: Kosovo Declares Independence
In the spring of 1999, the United States bombed Serbia for 78 days to force its army out of that nation's cradle province of Kosovo. The Serbs were fighting Albanian separatists of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). And we had no more right to bomb Belgrade than the Royal Navy would have had to bombard New York in our Civil War.
We bombed Serbia, we were told, to stop the genocide in Kosovo. But there was no genocide. This was propaganda. The United Nations' final casualty count of Serbs and Albanians in Slobodan Milosevic's war did not add up to 1 percent of the dead in Mr. Lincoln's war.
Albanians did flee in the tens of thousands during the war. But since that war's end, the Serbs of Kosovo have seen their churches and monasteries smashed and vandalized and have been ethnically cleansed in the scores of thousands from their ancestral province. In the exodus they have lost everything. The remaining Serb population of 120,000 is largely confined to enclaves guarded by NATO troops.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
As an aside, I have an acquaintance that has gone to Croatia as an evangelist. From what I gather they have lovely, empty churches that they are very proud of, in the same way we are proud of a historic monument. He says it was one of the least evangelized areas in the world.
Croatia is a victim of 70 years of collectivism and 50 years of Communism.
Despite two generations in which Christianity was officially discouraged and often punished, one out of every three Croats attends Sunday Mass.
The Croats are thus one of the best evangelized people in Europe.
Cathedrals in large cities may be museum pieces, because city dwellers tend to be the most secular group.
Many small towns' parish churches are filled to bursting every week - but these churches are smaller and less architecturally exciting than Zagreb cathedral.
The match has been lit on the bomb know as "Greater Albania". Where will the Albanian terrorist explosion strike next? Macedonia? Montenegro? The Preshevo valley of Serbia? Greece? Fort Dix?
Or will the next blast be a uncivil war between the Ghegs and the Tosks for Albania itself?
And Moscow will be first to recognize Greater Azatlan when what is now the American Southwest breaks away and joins with Mexico.
The U.S. war on Serbia was unconstitutional, unjust and unwise. Congress never authorized it. Serbia, an ally in two world wars, had never attacked us.
Besides what Pat says above, in a round about way, 'Bill and Maddie's Excellent Balkan Adventure' was an illegal war. Clinton violated the US War Powers Act. He violated the NATO Charter and never had any UN approval - which the Dems seem to hold so dear. Not one UN Resolution exists that 'authorized' that war. And for sure it violated any 'International Law' (another Dem 'Holy').
As such it should have been Klintoon, Maddie Not-so-bright and BJ's personal General, Weaselly Clark, sitting in the dock at The Hague, NOT Slobodan Milosevic. Klintoon, Albright and Clark were the 'War Criminals' because if the indiscriminate bombing of innocent Serb civilians from 20,000 feet with 'dumb' bombs isn't a 'crime against humanity', nothing is. Whether other NATO members went along with this is irrelevant - the USA is NATO. And if Republicans wanted a reason to impeach BJ, this was it. Slam dunk - case closed.
But worse, what Klintoon an dhis goons set in motion and now with Dubya justifying by recognizing this 'new' country is gonna come back and bite us in the butt - big time. When the 'Ethnic Mexicans' in (cough) 'our' SW demand autonomy and declare independence all they have to do is use the Balkans as precedent. From Bosnia to Kosovo all they have to say to the U.N. is 'look at them, we want the same'. Naturally the UN loves us so much they'll back the USA against these rebels. And so will Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, etc, etc, etc. (/s)
Oh well, it looks like Clark will get his war with Russia after all. At least he'll be happy. The only problem will be that the war will be fought on US soil.
Almost every charge against the Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials could be used against BJ, Maddie and Clark in their illegal and aggressive war against Serbia and the Serbian people.
If I’m not mistaken, they never found the “mass graves” that we were told were the reason for the war. I’ve heard Republicans justify their silence about this war by stating that our differences stop at the water’s edge when force is used. I guess the same principal is ignored on the other side of the “isle”.
Rest assured, you're mistaken, as not only did we find mass graves containing Milosevic's victims in Kosovo, but the Serbs found one themselves on the grounds of their Secret Police training grounds in Belgrade, which contained 800 or so victims which were transported there by Serbian forces in a failed effort to hide the evidence of their crimes.
Further, the reason for our and NATO's involvement can be traced to Bush the Elder's warning to Milosevic not to use military force against civilians in Kosovo, he ignored our warning, we responded as we said we would.
Had the Serbs made a good faith effort to address the crimes perpetrated by their forces in Kosovo, independence would have been a much harder sell, but as it is, Belgrade is content to appeal to law and order only when their politicians perceive it to be in their interest, a short sighted policy which has cost them, and continues to cost them dearly.
It seems that everything I’ve read states the Albanians were the invading force, and while the Serb’s methods were anything but humane, they were defending themselves. Further, since the cease of hostilities the Serbs have been on the receiving end of the genocidal stick while the world stands by and watches. Again I will defer to many on knowledge of the issue, but all sources I have read paint this picture.
Thanx Bill
I think you're obviously referring to the following:
(William) Cohen Fears 100,000 Kosovo Men Killed by Serbs
"Up to 100,000 ethnic Albanian men in Kosovo of fighting age have vanished and may have been killed by Serbian forces, Defense Secretary William Cohen said on Sunday."
By Tom Doggett Reuters Sunday, May 16, 1999; 2:56 p.m. EDT
that is what I am referring to! I have not seen pictures (ala holocost pics) and it seems the pres would have been allover it, showing that the ethnic cleansing was actually taking place.
Yes, I know - it was obvious to me. However, I thought I would point it out because some others around here may misperceive what it was you trying to imply.
>>Up to 100,000 ethnic Albanian men in Kosovo of fighting age have vanished
They shoulda looked in the NYC area for them.
I find it hard to believe you'd knowingly defending ethnic cleansing as an appropriate response to anything.
If the world had simply stood by and watched, there would be no Serbs in Kosovo today whatsoever. That is not our aim, that was not our course of action, and therefore that is not the case today.
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NO they never did because there weren't any!
But they have fulfilled their promises made with the Nazis and then the communists.
The Nazi lover Mustafa Kruja, the Prime Minister of Albania, was in Kosovo in June 1942, and at a meeting with the Albanian leaders of Kosovo, said:
"We should endeavor to ensure that the Serb population of Kosovo be – the area be cleansed of them and all Serbs who had been living there for centuries should be termed colonialists and sent to concentration camps in Albania. The Serb settlers should be killed."
Bogdanović, Dimitrije. "The Book on Kosovo". 1990. Belgrade: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1985. page 2428. Genfer, Der Kosovo-Konflikt, Munich: Wieser, 2000. page 158.
Nicely written for the ear (and not the eye). Remind me to hire you as a speech writer when I run for office. /s
When Clinton attacked Serbia for defending themselves against the Mohammedan terrorist invaders it was a war crime. We should be rebuilding Serbia and helping them defend their nation.
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