Posted on 02/21/2008 11:04:42 AM PST by 11th_VA
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people.
Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices and parts of the facade also caught fire.
Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities.
The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack strongly urged the Serbian government to protect the U.S. Embassy. He said the U.S. ambassador was at his home and was in contact with U.S. officials.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.
Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.
But Serbia — and Kosovo's Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo's population — refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs' state and religion.
Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.
The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia's religious and national heartland. (AP Photo)
I agree with both parts of that comment. And it amazes me that they're like that.
You mean Milosevic sent all those Albanians too Kosovo to terrorize Serbs, Croats, Turks, Roma, etc?
/sarcasm>
Per CNN, citing a State Department source, all US Embassy personnel had been accounted for so there was speculation that this might be a local security guard or a demonstrator. But, initial reports are always suspect.
Thanks. Scrolled through the posts and didn’t find any posts responding to the corpse... Could you tell me which page? The comments here increase quickly and I must have missed this part.
I agree and understand that but having our Admin be a part of this is what I don’t understand. I’ve supported this admin in everything but Amnesty and NCLB (although I understood the intentions of the latter). And of course I cringed when our President referred to Islam as a religion of peace.
Kosovo isn’t Europe’s to give away (and I do agree that they allowed the muslims to invade every aspect of their lives and land). We were wrong to get involved but then we did and chose the wrong side twice. This is far from over and it’s gonna bite us, imo.
“America retains the right to make its own sovereign diplomatic decisions, and arson is not a diplomatic response: it is a criminal one.”
What type of response is bombing another country’s embassy? Diplomatic or criminal? It’s what you did to the Chinese embassy during the bombing of Serbia.
Oh sorry, no, that was an “inconvenient misstake” due to “old maps” being provided by the CIA!! /s
I’m sorry that it has come to these infringements. Serbia itself is the least one which has an advantage of it that embassy buildings or others are burnt down. It concerns around some hundreds hooligans they also looted surrounding shops. These are street gangs they used the demonstrations for themselves. The one death in (or by) the U.S. embassy was one of this gangs. Greetings from Vienna, and on Sunday we have our demonstration.. Bye.
Post # 545
Let me attempt to deconstruct what you just said. Basically Clinton and our military became involved in a a conflict in a region where, to use your words: “We have zero economic interests in this region. There is little strategic value in this place for us. Our involvement in the Balkans was because of our commitment to allies..”
Hmm, sounds like we got used.
Just like when they were appeasing hitler. The game begins anew. Will they never learn.................
If we step back it’s only going to bite us if we step back in. Let the EU deal with it.
Kosovo was a throwaway for Clinton to distract everyone from Monica. But once these mistakes start, they acquire a life of their own. The media got onboard to save “their” president and off it went. None of the stories told then can be reversed easily, so the Serbs continue to be the bad guys. Being Christians, they will never earn “victim” status in the world’s eyes.
The Europeans are for most part Socialist so giving away what’s not yours is pretty standard.
This is probably closest of all to the example of appeasing Hitler in his territorial moves. The more I think about it, the more stunned I am that Bush should have done this, almost, it seems, without even realizing the implications. I’m sure he’s probably genuinely surprised by what’s happening now.
Lol. That was very funny. Especially the part about the blankie.
People have already commented it was a protester.
Thanks for sending me that Link. I knew that Naser Oric had been brutal but I hadn’t realized he had killed quite so many civilians.
I think Bush’s 2nd term has been nothing but astoundingly stupid.
To back the radical KLA muslims against the serbs is just sheer stupidity.
Bush has really lost the plot , open borders, his wanting to the appointment of harriet and open borders
Clinton and wesley clark should be done for war crimes, Bush should just pack it in right now
the thing is where is the left on this, why are they silent when clinton goes to war and helps to ethnically cleanse a country while killing many , displacing many and letting historic churches be burned to the ground.
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