Posted on 10/23/2002 1:33:35 PM PDT by LenS
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
WASHINGTON WARNS BELGRADE OVER ARMS SALES TO IRAQ...
The Untied States has "accused two state-owned companies in Yugoslavia and Bosnia of repairing the engines of Iraqi MiG fighters and demanded that the two countries' governments act to stop the trade," the "Washington Post" reported on 23 October (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 October 2002). Serbian experts are also believed to be helping Iraq improve its air defenses. Speaking in Washington on 22 October, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said there is "clear evidence" of dealings with Baghdad by the Belgrade-based Yugoimport firm and the Orao company, which is located in Bijeljina in the Republika Srpska. In Sarajevo, the U.S. Embassy repeated the accusations in a statement. NATO spokesman Lieutenant Commander Yves Vanier said SFOR peacekeepers "did find something very significant" in their recent search of Orao's premises, AP reported. He did not elaborate. Reuters reported from Sarajevo on 22 October on Orao's involvement with Iraq and its alleged attempt to cover up the evidence. Donald Hays, a deputy to High Representative Paddy Ashdown, confirmed that Orao exported goods to Iraq via a third party. PM
...AS YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT MEETS IN EMERGENCY SESSION...
The government held an emergency session on 22 October to discuss the growing scandal over illegal arms sales to Iraq, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. The cabinet did not formally admit that Yugoimport has been dealing with Baghdad but fired two generals involved in arms trading. They are Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Djokic and Jovan Cekovic, who heads Yugoimport. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic blamed the deals on "remnants of the past regime [of President Slobodan Milosevic], spurred on by pro-fascist and criminal elements," AP reported. Covic stressed, "We must not allow the entire country to be dragged into problems created by [Milosevic's] deals." Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic argued that, "The very suspicion of such an embargo-busting trade endangers our top state interests." The government has promised an investigation of the charges, as has Dusan Mihajlovic, who is both Yugoimport's chairman of the board and Serbian police chief. The "Washington Post" noted that, "Yugoslav leaders view the alleged trade as the biggest threat to relations with the United States" since the ouster of Milosevic at the end of 2000. PM
...AND QUESTIONS REMAIN
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zarko Korac expressed what appears to be Belgrade's official position in the Iraqi arms-deal affair, saying the illegal trade was carried out by "individuals who are beyond control," The "Washington Post" reported on 23 October. The Yugoslav Defense Ministry denied in a statement that it approved any deals with Iraq, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. But many questions remain. Given that the current authorities ousted Milosevic in 2000, why did it take so long for the affair to come to light? Put differently, what did the Belgrade authorities know about illegal arms sales and when did they know it? What is the role of Mihajlovic, who holds key positions in the Serbian government and Yugoimport? Will Washington be content with Belgrade's reaffirmation that it is cooperating in the war against terrorism, or will the United States want to take a closer look at the possibility that some Serbs have been involved in other unsavory dealings? PM
YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT ACCUSED OF HOLDING UP THE ARREST OF MLADIC
Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the war crimes tribunal based in The Hague, said in Sarajevo on 22 October that Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica is holding up the arrest of former General Ratko Mladic and his extradition to The Hague, Deutsche Welle's Bosnian Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline, 21 October 2002). Earlier that day, she said in Prishtina that she expects to have an indictment against an unnamed member of the ethnic Albanian Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) ready by the end of the year. This would be the first indictment from The Hague of an UCK member for crimes committed during 1998-99 conflict in Kosova. PM
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
Face it. Serbia is just as much our enemy as is Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
There's more fun Balkan news at the site. Like Northern Ireland, the Balkans tend to make me believe that all the smart denizens emigrated to the US a long time ago.
The Bush War Doctrine calls for no quarter to those who harbor or aid terrorists...when do we begin bombing Yugoslavia (again)? When is the invasion? Before or after we invade Iraq and North Korea?
There weren't any from Iraq on the planes that bombed the WTC - most were from Saudi Arabia - like Osama Bin Laden.
You also don't mention China. And you know who sold China equipment and was involved in technology transfer to them? American defense contractors during the Clinton era, including Loral Space and Communications, Hughes Electronics Corporation, and McDonnell Douglas. (PRC Technology Transfer)
China Upgrading Iraqi Air Defense
While United States and Britain were bombing Saddam Hussein's improved anti-aircraft system, Communist China was building him an even better one, based on fiber optics.One of the ironies is that under the Clinton-Gore administration, U.S. companies were permitted to sell Beijing fiber-optic communications equipment that may have been resold to Iraq as part of the enhanced air-defense missile network.
China has not only sold the fiber optics to Iraq but has also had its own military officers and electronics experts on the scene helping install and tool up the new equipment.
The Untied States has "accused two state-owned companies in Yugoslavia and Bosnia of repairing the engines of Iraqi MiG fighters and demanded that the two countries' governments act to stop the trade...
When were these engines repaired? According to Venik's page, Iraq delivered planes to Yugoslavia for repair BEFORE sanctions were placed on Iraq - back around 1989. It wasn't illegal to repair Iraqi planes back in 1989. During NATO's 1999 airwar, these planes were STILL in Yugoslavia and HADN'T been delivered back to Iraq. Venik said Iraq gave Yugoslavia permission to use some of these planes, when NATO was attacking.
The fact that some generals in Yugoslavia helped Iraq hardly makes the entire country a threat to the US, and it most certainly doesn't put them in the same category as Iraq or N Korea. Especially since your article even says that those generals were fired as soon as what they did was discovered. Milosevic is out of the picture and Serbia and the US are friends again. Deal with it.
However, I don't believe this is what the US is upset about. The US is upset because Yugoslav engineers went to Iraq after the Gulf War to repair jets. Whether or not they went on their own accord or were sent by the Yug government is still not clear.
And I thought it was the US, that fought side by side with Islamofascists in Bosnia and Kosovo against the christian serbs.
I'm sorry, but was that some clever strategy where you fight Islam by killing Christians first? Perhaps the snipers could use that defense when they're on trial?
Nor where they ever our friend. They were Russia's friend. So they were Germany's enemy in the world wars. Which made them only a temporary ally, but never a friend.
You're the one who's not dealing with it.
You need some basic history classes regarding balkans. What you spout is utter crap.
The Yugoslav Army(JNA) in 1991 was stationed on souvereign Yugoslav soil in the Republic of Slovenia and it's duty was to protect the souvereignity and territorial integrity of the country at that time. As you are talking about invasion in this case, you obviously don't have a clue.
The serbs in the Krajina on the territory of the Republic of Croatia declared independence from Croatia in 1991 as a direct response to Croatia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. Tudman demanded the right to self-determination, which he was not willing to grant to the Krajina, hence the break out of the war. Bosnia is actually the same, but I don't know if you are able or willing to understand the complicated mechanisms that led to the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Just stay with CNN's Hollywood versions of balkan history!
And btw, your clueless accusations doesn't wash away the fact that the US went to war on the side of the Islamofascists in Bosnia and Kosovo.
How come? What did Serbia do, to offend you so much? Look, the US did attack Serbia, not the other way! Serbia did not choose to abolish the friendship with the US. The US did choose to become Serbia's enemy, by waging war against Serbia on behalf of the terrorist muslim KLA. I thought you should finally understand what it means to defend your own country against muslim terrorism after 911.
With that in mind, how is Serbia even remotely a threat to the US?
My problem with Serbia is that it starts wars that others have to finish. Worse, it's as deluded as the Arabs are when it comes to history. Serbia always manages to blame others for it's own stupidity and justifies it's atrocities as good deeds. Serbia is living in the past (another thing it has in common with the Arab world).
Personally, I'd trade Serbia for the oil fields of Iraq and Saudi Arabia in a second. It'd be a win-win deal for the West and the rest of the world.
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