Posted on 10/04/2003 5:53:42 PM PDT by Andy from Beaverton
Kosovo: Blueprint Of A U.N. Failure
By Barbara Stock on 10/04/03
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".... why are you killing our children?" read the sign held up by a grieving man. The Russian Foreign Ministry said "the attack...is another act of terrorism." Was this last week in Iraq? No, this was just last month, in Kosovo. Remember Kosovo? Don't feel badly, no one does.
When they do remember it, it is referred to as great victory for the U.S. and NATO. The blueprint, the liberals like to say, on how things should be done. Not the haphazard way it is being done in Iraq without "international U.N. backing". It is held up as the perfect world created by the United Nations when they are allowed to do "what they do best." They don't want you to look too closely, however, because if you do, you will be dismayed and startled at the unrest that continues on a daily basis, after nearly 5 years. You will realize that people die almost daily and no one, especially the American media, seems to care. The reputation of the mighty U.N. must be protected. As the chaos continues in their own backyard, Europe ignores it, just as they did before.
As I researched my last article, "The Tale of Two Wars", I did research to compare the two Generals involved in our two most recent conflicts. I didn't expect to find what I found. I was ashamed that I, as well as everyone else apparently, had just forgotten about those people over there in Kosovo. Those people who were being wiped out by genocide and ethnic cleansing. I thought everything was under control. After all, isn't no news, good news? The U.N. is in charge now. How can things go astray? What made me angry was how pompous the U.N. and France, in particular, are about how Iraq needs to be their hands. Chaos and death still rule in Kosovo and they have the nerve to tell the U.S. that only they know how to nation build?
"We will not allow terrorists to drive us out of Iraq." stated Annon. The U.N. has all but abandoned Iraq. Not safe, they say. There is a man who stands by his words.
Perhaps he went back to Kosovo, where it's safer? After all, the U.N. has been there for sometime now. Unlikely, it's probably worse, overall, than in Iraq.
During 78 straight days of blind bombing, ordered by Bill Clinton and carried out by General Wesley Clark, the infrastructure of that country was devastated. Terror attacks happen with great regularity and even the U.N. itself is under constant attack. A bomb was thrown at the UNMIK police headquarters in the Kosovo town of Prizren just last month and an Indian U.N. peacekeeper was just killed there.
All is not well in Kosovo. Here are some staggering numbers that you never hear on the nightly news. More than 200,000 Serbs have fled the province since the "end of major hostilities" because of constant attacks like this one. "An elderly Serb couple and their son were axed to death and their house was set on fire Wednesday in one of the worst incidents of violence in Kosovo in recent months", said a United Nations official. The flow of refugees continues as they are run out their homes or forced to sell them for next to nothing or suffer the consequences.
Since the deployment of KFOR and UNMIK in Kosovo and Metohija on June 10, 1999 to August 9 of this year 6,535 attacks have been reported. In those attacks 1,201 people have died, 1,328 have been injured and 1,146 people have just "disappeared". Most of the victims have been Serbs and Montenegrins and these attacks have gone on right under the noses of U.N. 'Peacekeepers'. They continue on a daily basis.
The Serb leaders accuse the U.N. of favoritism and not protecting them against the constant attacks. The continued violence against civilians discourages the tens of thousands of refugees from returning. Anti-U.N. sentiment is on the rise as courthouses come under RPG attack and U.N. vehicles are routinely vandalized. There is no peace and security in Kosovo. There is still a war going on in Kosovo, we just don't realize it.
As I watched President Bush give his obligatory speech at the U.N. I could see, almost feel, the resentment and distain from many of the European leaders. Why do they hate this man so, I wondered. They loved Bill Clinton. Then, as I pondered this, it came to me. Clinton carried out a war as they would have. Sloppy with little regard for the civilians under their bombs. When they would get together with Bill, one can imagine they spent more time talking about how many mistresses they had instead of how to make the world a better place. Post-war problems were not their concern because they surrendered all responsibility to the U.N., just as Clinton did. He was a kindred spirit.
This man Bush is NOT one of them. America suffered it's worst attack since Pearl Harbor and we recovered in record time.
We have carried out two wars and still we move forward. Bush adamantly refuses to turn over control of Iraq to the U.N. and didn't feel he needed their permission for either war. Our economy continues to improve while their economies decline. We have survived corporate scandals and a stock market crisis. We are upset over a 6% unemployment rate while most of theirs is over 10% and growing. Even under attack...after two wars...STILL Bush is in control and the U.S. is stronger than it was before 9/11.
Iraq, in many ways, is already ahead of Kosovo in its recovery. The only major problems come from the Sunni Triangle and al Qaeda that has infiltrated the people from neighboring countries who are frantic to see us fail in Iraq. The Iraqi people are beginning to turn these terrorists and their weapons in to American forces. They are sick of war and killing. They want peace. They do NOT want the U.N. The Governing Council and town elders have made this clear to anyone who will listen. They want the Americans. This must gall those European leaders who's only remaining power stems from the U.N.
What also makes them so angry, is watching this man, this President, this country, do in months what they cannot do in years. Despite attacks from socialist forces from within and without, he goes forward. Despite the constant threat of terrorist attacks, we persist. That is why they hate him. He has shown that the U.S. does not need them. While we would welcome assistance, we do not need it to succeed in Iraq.
As Kosovo once again is threatened with war even as the U.N. stands guard, there is not "peace and security". There never was, it was all a ruse, but in one year, we Americans will have no only removed a war criminal and butcher, but put an oppressed country on the path to freedom and helped it rebuild. We will do it with or without them. I predict now there will be peace in Iraq long before there is peace in Kosovo.
I suppose at some point we will have to revisit Kosovo and hopefully this time, with Americans in charge, peace will have a chance of success.
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Barbara is an RN of over 23 years and fairly new to political writing. She has had articles posted on BushCountry, GOPUSA, AmericanDaily, RepublicanDailyNews and the Judson Cox Newsletter. She has her own website called Republican and Proud and welcomes comments at dickens502003@yahoo.com
One of the few people that understand what is going on a reports it. If there is a God he will punish us for killing our fellow Christians while we supported the truly evil KLA and terrorist Muslims.
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I forgot to add that, if the U. N. did not sanction the Kosovo attack, then Clinton was guilty of "unilateralism". Right?
Right, NATO ran the war and it was done without UN authorization; or, as Peter Jennings and the NYT would say if a Republican had been president, unilaterally.
The UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is now actually running Kosovo, to include the reconstruction and law enforcement, etc. The military organization in Kosovo is known as Kosovo Force (KFOR). The U.S. troops assigned to Kosovo are part of KFOR. The KFOR commander is appointed by NATO and reports to NATO's AFSOUTH HQ in Naples; not to UNMIK--although obviously there is a lot of coordination. KFOR has been getting smaller and like SFOR in Bosnia, there is a growing school of thought that what is really needed is a very strong police presence, not much military.
The first talks between UNMIK & Belgrade on Kosovo's status begin in a couple weeks. Final status of Kosovo will not be discussed initially, but they will eventually have to cover that. Until that is settled, I expect KFOR or some derivative will have to be present or on a string near-by in order to deter either side from using military force to get their way.
Bingo!
Serb returnee shot by Kosovo Albanian living in her house: UN
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Oct 4 (AFP) - An ethnic Albanian was arrested Saturday for shooting and wounding a 73 year-old Serb woman who had returned to her home in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, UN officials said.
"She was shot three times in a stomach by a 53-year old Kosovo Albanian who was living in her house," UN mission spokesman Andrea Angeli said.
The woman was shot and injured earlier Saturday as she was checking the conditions of her property in the eastern Kosovo town Gnjilane, from which she fled in 1999 in fear of revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians following years of repression by the regime of Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
A 15-member Kosovo Albanian family was living in her house in Gnjilane, 40 kilometres (24 miles) east from the provincial capital Pristina.
The woman was transferred to the Pristina hospital, and seemed to be stable, Angeli said...
Basically, he had to; every other ethnic group in the province were being brutalized by the Albanians. Read it:
Typical highlights:
Ethnic Albanians in the Government have manipulated public funds and regulations to take over land belonging to Serbs. And politicians have exchanged vicious insults.Slavic Orthodox churches have been attacked, and flags have been torn down. Wells have been poisoned and crops burned.
Slavic boys have been knifed, and some young ethnic Albanians have been told by their elders to rape Serbian girls.
I mean, that's from a NY Times article in 1987 before there was any axe to grind over Kosovo, at least in America.
I mean, calling the AKs barbarians is almost an unjustifiable insult to the memory of guys like Attilla the Hun, Genseric the Vandal, Ragnar Lothbrook...
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