Posted on 04/12/2009 1:26:19 PM PDT by Doctor13
On April, 4, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) marked its 60th jubilee. In Serbia, my home country, many people are doomed not to celebrate their 60th birthdays- they will die of cancer. In 1999 NATO bombed Serbia with depleted uranium bombs, which caused a cancer outbreak in the region. Serbia's soil, water and air will remain polluted for a few more decades, taking lives of hundreds of Serbs.
There isn't a single word about it in NATO's official reports. One may read there about NATO's contribution to peace in Kosovo. 1
While NATO exists, there will exist such parallel stories: the one about the alliance's humanitarian mission, the other (which is less frequent) about death and destruction NATO is guilty of.
***
When NATO was established in 1949, its member countries said they were “determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law”.2 I wonder what did they think about Portugal in 1949 as the country was too far from democracy then due to its fascist like dictatorship. Three years later the alliance accepted Greece and Turkey-the states where situation with democracy was not much different from that in Portugal. In 1951 Francoist Spain joined NATO.
Aimed to fight against the Soviet Union, NATO agreed to rely even on communists. In 1954 Yugoslavia, then ruled by Tito, and Greece and Turkey signed the Balkan Pact. The treaty was to act as a dam against Soviet expansion in the Balkan area. It provided for the eventual creation of a joint military staff for the three countries.
Already then, in the 1950s, NATO was evidently ruled by the U.S. and some countries of the Western Europe. Why in 1974 NATO tolerated Turkish aggression against Cyprus, though it brought much harm to Greece, another member country of the alliance? This was because for the U.S. Turkey was more important as a geostratgic partner. Although Cyprus has the EU`s membership, it still remains a divided island.
In 1990s NATO accepted the post-Soviet Baltic states(Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), in spite of the fact that these states had violated and continue to violate the rights of the Russian-speaking population (to say nothing about heroization of Nazi accomplices). Just a few days ago NATO welcomed Albania and Croatia into its family. In 1991-1995 Croatia committed the Europe's most large-scale ethnic cleansing after the WW II (probably, NATO leaders decided this fact to be a good reason to accept Croatia).
The territories of Albania are being controlled by criminals, not the government. Albania also provides logistic support to separatists in Macedonia, Montenegro and Greece.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was no longer any need in NATO. However, the alliance did not dissolve itself but solemnly marched into the last decade of the 20th century. Marched through the war in Yugoslavia, otherwise there would be no sense in further existence of the alliance.
***
There is a tendency: drug business blossoms in the NATO-controlled territories. Since 1980s the Kosovo Albanians have been known as leaders of drug trafficking from the Middle East and Turkey to Western Europe. Now that Kosovo has been proclaimed a United Nations-governed entity with its sovereign territory, nothing can prevent NATO from developing drug business there.
Each henchman in the so-called “state of Kosovo” has his own gang, which among other things deals with drug trade. They receive enormous profit as 65% of all the drugs supplied to Europe go through Kosovo; they also provide 90% of heroine for drug addicts in Europe.3 Criminals are secured by NATO forces.
In Afghanistan we see an absolutely unbelievable (at first sight) situation. The local drug traders also receive strong support from the alliance. According to the UN reports, Afghanistan produces 93% of the world's opium poppy.4 And what is most important is that since the U.S. and NATO invasion in Afghanistan the drug output has increased by 44 times! 5
According to the head of Russia’s anti-narcotics service, Victor Ivanov, 2,5 million of Russian drug addicts depend on the Afghan heroine. This is really horrifying statistics for a country with population of 142 million. Serbia's population is 7,5 million (without Kosovo and Metohija). The Serbian Institute for Public Health says currently there are 70-100 thousand drug addicts in Serbia. 7 The local market of drugs develops thanks to the Afghan support. Thus, millions of Russians, dozens of thousands of Serbs and Europeans are on the needle.
It is remarkable that Afghanistan was the first country to recognize the independence of Kosovo. This is how one NATO protectorate recognized the other. A producer welcomed a consumer. Undoubtedly, these two 'states' have already established close and friendly relations.
***
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995) the Bosnian Serbs established a self-proclaimed state of Republika Srpska. When it became clear that Serbs in Bosnia were not as easily defeated as their countrymen in Croatia, NATO took action. During two weeks (from August, 30- till September, 13, 1995) NATO threw more than 10,000 tons of deadly bombs onto the population of the Republic, which then amounted up to 1 million people plus 70,000-80,000 of the army. Four hundred NATO planes made 3200 flights to attack Republika Srpska.
Then in 1999 NATO bombed Yugoslavia. More than 1,000 NATO planes took part in the attacks. Some 1,000 missiles (in all- 415,000 projectiles, including 30-50,000 with depleted uranium) targeted Yugoslavia.
After they failed to destroy the whole army of Yugoslavia from the air, NATO forces targeted civil objects. They knocked down absolutely everything- houses, schools, hospitals, bridges, oil refiners...
What will happen to Afghanistan? After the 2001 bombings the Taliban government was toppled but peace has not come to the country even eight years later.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) says ''NATO is losing the war in Afghanistan because of the differences between the members of the alliance” 7 Other experts say “the Taliban control 72% of the Afghan territories”8
One way or another, NATO lacks control over Afghanistan's major part, and there is no sign of peace coming to the region. Numerous Taliban groups tied dozens of thousands of NATO soldiers to Afghan cities and major communication routes. Maybe it will be Afghanistan, the country which for ages has been 'graveyard of empires', where all illusions about invincible military alliance will be broken. During the jubilee celebrations NATO officials were all smiles and preferred to 'forget' about NATO crimes.
But we should always remember and never forget.
1 NATO Handbook, NATO Office of Information and Press, Brussels, 2001, p. 48.
2 Ibidem, p. 527.
3 Ibidem, стр. 234
4 http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Svet/Dva-i-po-miliona-Rusa-na-avganistanskom-heroinu.lt.html
5 Ibidem.
6 http://www.pecatmagazin.com/archives/591
7 http://www.danas.rs/vesti/svet/globus/nato_gubi_rat_u_avganistanu.12.html?news_id=151939
8 http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Svet/Talibani-zaposeli-veci-deo-Avganistana.lt.html
I’ve never heard of a depleted uranium bomb before. Bullets, yes; bombs, no.
Uranium bombs? you mean nukes? Because otherwise uranium isn’t used in any bombs. Depleted uranium is used in some 20mm ammunition but that not going to do what you claim.
Sounds like just another anti-American hit piece.
Germany, France and to an extent Britain were determined to dominate the EU. A large country like Yugoslavia, a maverick by nature was not acceptable in a future EU and stands to challenge the three self appointed dominant nations. The brutal nature of the Yugoslavian break up and ethnic warfare gave the three dominant EU nation moral and PR cover to break up Yugoslavia. By themselves they did not have the military power to do it, so they needed a dupe dumb and ignorant enough to play along. The dupe is Pres Clinton and the US. Even though the US/NATO won the war it set into motion strategic ramifications - the unification of Russia and China against the US. Clinton in one stupid move undid what the US succeeded doing in the Cold War, separating Russia from China.
As much as this annoys my Serbian friends here, the NATO campaign was fairly fought according to the laws of war as they really are. The Serbians put up a tough resistance and were clever in their dispositions, but they were defeated, especially when the Hungarians allowed NATO forces to deploy in their country, putting Belgrade within range of U.S. multiple rocket launcher range.
It might not have been a wise war, but it was a fair war.
*In Serbia, my home country, many people are doomed not to celebrate their 60th birthdays- they will die of cancer. *
Sounds like the curse of Franz Ferdinand. How do you sleep with the resultant deaths of hundreds of millions in both world wars that followed crushing down on you?
LOL. Let me know where to send more tinfoil for your hat collection.
What part of “they don’t exist” don’t you understand?
A bunch of postings full of the same lies don’t make it true.
What laws of war do you speak of???? That war was immoral, illegal, and launched without authorization by Congress....and you call that fair?
Yes. It was fought fairly by the men and women who fought it on both sides. That includes the target selection by NATO.
NATO air forces , from what, 19 countries? launched 38004 combat sorties, of which 10484 were strikes, hitting trains, hospitals, civilains.....yeah, that’s fair. The Serbian people never threatened or harmed one American to deserve that.....that 78 day campaign was the first time in my entire life that I was not proud of my country.
IF DU made for cancer, then most of Southern Nevada would be dead by now. The USAF tested DU rounds on a range complex less than 30 miles from the heart of Las Vegas.
Thousands of rounds were fired - and at T62/T65 tanks - all of which burned for days.
I was part of the crew that wandered the desert to (gasp) pick up the DU penetrators and stack them for pickup and back haul.
And here I am (and a few buds I keep in touch with) 35 years later - cancer free and breathing.
Whine about the damage - you have a legit point. On the munitions, you do not.
And an additional FWIW, the average American could not point to Serbia on a map of Europe, let alone the world - so your cries fall on deaf, uncaring ears. Find someone else's pocket to pick.
"This organized anti-Serb and pro-Muslim propaganda should cause anyone believing in democracy and free speech serious concerns. It recalls Hitler's propaganda against the allies in World War II. Facts are twisted and, when convenient, disregarded." - Yohanan Ramati, Director of the Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense.
"The HDZ (current ruling party of Croatia) adopted the old symbols of the fascist Ustasha (Nazi) regime from World War II. The new Croatian authorities have chosen as the state symbol the same checkered shield." - Mechen Shelah, Israel Historian, University of Haifa.
"What worries us, is that those in power in Croatia are largely the same as in the Nazi era. In some cases, they are exactly the same people, now in their seventies and back from exile under Communists. In other cases, they are children of the Ustash." (Croatian Nazi Party). - Jewish leader, scholar and historian, Dr. Klara Mandich, The London Independent.
"Thank God my wife is neither a Serb nor a Jew." -Former Croatian president Franjo Tudjman from his book, "Wastelands of Historical Reality." He was referring to the over one million Serbs, Jews and Gypsies who died so brutally in Croatia's death camps during WWII, it even appalled the German SS.
"Genocide is a natural phenomenon, in harmony with the societal and mythologically divine nature....Genocide is not only permitted, it is also recommended, even commanded by the world of the Almighty Yaweh, whenever it is useful for the survival or the restoration of the kingdom of the chosen nation [is he referring to Germany as well as Croatia???] or for the preservation and the spreading of its one and only current faith." [Catholicism]. - Former Croatian president Franjo Tudjman from his book, "Wastelands of Historical Reality."
"But you can understand Croatia best by saying flatly that if there is one place in the world where a statue of Adolph Hitler would be revered, it would be in Zagreb (the capital of Croatia). - Edward Pearce, the [London] Evening Standard, 7 August 1995, "Victory smiles that hide the roots of evil."
"Croats will 'kill people for the color of their skins." - U.S. Colonel Fontenot, Commander of NATO forces in northeastern Bosnia.
"Kill all Serbs and Jews including children so that not even the seeds of the beasts are left." - Andrija Artukovic, Minister of the Interior in the "Independent State of Croatia."
"Pictures of dead or wounded (or raped) Serbs often fill the screens of the world's television and print media, only to be re-labelled as dead or wounded or raped Croats or Muslims. Many Serbian victims -- and the bulk of the victims of the conflict, contrary to popular reports, have been Serbs either from Bosnia and Herzegovina or from Croatia -- not only suffer the indignity of defeat in death; they also are used in death as models in the macabre image, manipulation operation of the Croatians and the Muslim Bosnians. If the Vietnam War was lost to the United States by the negative television images of its own reporters, then the Balkan war against the Serbs are being won by Ustashi Croatia and the Muslim Bosnians by an active, planned manipulation of international television." - Gregory R. Copley, Editor-in-Chief, Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, (London) 31 December 1992.
It should be noted that the map that exists today of the Balkans is almost identical to the map Hitler had envisioned.
Case in point: In 1995, NATO bombed the Bosnian Serbs over the Markale market place massacre.
Yossef Bodansky, the author of "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America," wrote in his book "Offensive in the Balkans," the following:
Phase Three started with the self-inflicted major terrorist provocation. On Friday 5, 1994, a major explosion rocked the Markale -- Sarajevo's main market place -- causing heavy casualties. What was immediately described as the ubiquitous "Serb mortar shell" was actually a special charge designed and built with help from HizbAllah experts and then most likely dropped from a nearby rooftop onto the crowd of shoppers Video cameras at the ready recorded this expertly-staged spectacle of gore, while dozens of corps of Bosnian Muslim troops killed in action (exchanged the day before in a 'body swap' with the Serbs) were paraded in front of cameras to raise the casualty counts.
"This callous self-killing was designed to shock the West especially sentimental and gullible Washington, in order to raise the level of Western sympathy to the Bosnian Muslims and further demonize the Serbs so that Western governments would be more supportive of Sarajevo's forthcoming aggressive moves, and perhaps even finallyintervene military."
There were other reports from European newspapers such as The Sunday Times," with headlines that read, "Serbs 'not guilty' of massacre, Experts warned US that mortar was Bosnian." (1 Oct. 1995), and "US Framed Serbs for Market Bombing," from the Stoneyhill Center, a British think tank. (Oct 1995).
Our wag-the-dog President needed a cover for his Monica scandal and his draft-dodging days - and the Serbs were conveniently there.
FAIR? There was nothing FAIR about Clinton's war against the Serbian people. The whole war was based on one big lie, just as our now Secretary of State talked about how she came under sniper fire from Bosnian Serbs. People like you wouldn't know the truth if it came up and bit you on your......posterior!
You have Serbian friends? May God help them! With friends like you, they don't need enemies!
NATO bombs hit oil supplies polluting the air so that civilians couldn't breath. NATO bombs hit civilians apartments, civilian factories so as to destroy the quality of life and terrorize those who were not killed. Let us not forget the pollution of the Danube caused by NATO bombs which affected all the surrounding nations international trade costing them milliongs of dollars.
Depleted uranium from the shells of the Gatling Gun poisoned the soil and the air of the Serbian people so that their children would be born deformed and rendered the soil unfit to produce food for the people to eat.
All this was chalked up to "collateral damage."
Oh, and let us not forget how NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy and called it a "mistake." Besides hitting the Chinese Embassy, NATO's not-so-smart bombs damaged the embassies of Italy, Switzerland, Pakistan, India, Libya, and Iraq. Not only could NATO's smart bombs not find the right target but they couldn't even find the right country as they hit FYROM (Macedonia) once and Bulgaria five times!!!
Deliberate targeting civilians in war is particularly egregious. However, there was no doubt that civilians were targeted when the following statement was made: "I think no power to your refrigerator, no gas to your stove, you can't get to work because the bridge is down - the bridge on which you held your rock concerts - and you all stood with targets on your heads. That needs to disappear at 3 o'clock in the morning." - Lt. Gen. Michael Short, USAF, 12 May 1999.
Nobody cares.
NATO Admits To Use of Radioactive Munitions in Yugoslavia
"NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson has finally provided limited details of the Alliance's use of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition during its war against Serbia last year. Robertson disclosed the information in a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last month-four months after it was first requested."
And: NATO bombing unleashes environmental catastrophe on Europe
"The environmental arrogance of the NATO generals exposes their original ‘humanitarian’ excuse for starting to bomb Yugoslavia as a fraud," he said. "They are making the whole region unfit for human habitation. And they will wind up poisoning their own soldiers as they did with Agent Orange in Vietnam and with DU in Iraq."
FAIR?????
Again your links don’t reference bombs, got one that does?
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