ATLANTA — Profound changes have been taking place in American foreign policy, reversing consistent bipartisan commitments that for more than two centuries have earned our nation greatness. These commitments have been predicated on basic religious principles, respect for international law, and alliances that resulted in wise decisions and mutual restraint. Our apparent determination to launch a war against Iraq, without international support, is a violation of these premises.

As a Christian and as a president who was severely provoked by international crises, I became thoroughly familiar with the principles of a just war, and it is clear that a substantially unilateral attack on Iraq does not meet these standards. This is an almost universal conviction of religious leaders, with the most notable exception of a few spokesmen of the Southern Baptist Convention who are greatly influenced by their commitment to Israel based on eschatological, or final days, theology.

The war can be waged only as a last resort, with all nonviolent options exhausted. In the case of Iraq, it is obvious that clear alternatives to war exist. These options — previously proposed by our own leaders and approved by the United Nations — were outlined again by the Security Council on Friday. But now, with our own national security not directly threatened and despite the overwhelming opposition of most people and governments in the world, the United States seems determined to carry out military and diplomatic action that is almost unprecedented in the history of civilized nations. The first stage of our widely publicized war plan is to launch 3,000 bombs and missiles on a relatively defenseless Iraqi population within the first few hours of an invasion, with the purpose of so damaging and demoralizing the people that they will change their obnoxious leader, who will most likely be hidden and safe during the bombardment.

The war's weapons must discriminate between combatants and noncombatants. Extensive aerial bombardment, even with precise accuracy, inevitably results in "collateral damage." Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of American forces in the Persian Gulf, has expressed concern about many of the military targets being near hospitals, schools, mosques and private homes.

Its violence must be proportional to the injury we have suffered. Despite Saddam Hussein's other serious crimes, American efforts to tie Iraq to the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been unconvincing.

The attackers must have legitimate authority sanctioned by the society they profess to represent. The unanimous vote of approval in the Security Council to eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction can still be honored, but our announced goals are now to achieve regime change and to establish a Pax Americana in the region, perhaps occupying the ethnically divided country for as long as a decade. For these objectives, we do not have international authority. Other members of the Security Council have so far resisted the enormous economic and political influence that is being exerted from Washington, and we are faced with the possibility of either a failure to get the necessary votes or else a veto from Russia, France and China. Although Turkey may still be enticed into helping us by enormous financial rewards and partial future control of the Kurds and oil in northern Iraq, its democratic Parliament has at least added its voice to the worldwide expressions of concern.

The peace it establishes must be a clear improvement over what exists. Although there are visions of peace and democracy in Iraq, it is quite possible that the aftermath of a military invasion will destabilize the region and prompt terrorists to further jeopardize our security at home. Also, by defying overwhelming world opposition, the United States will undermine the United Nations as a viable institution for world peace.

What about America's world standing if we don't go to war after such a great deployment of military forces in the region? The heartfelt sympathy and friendship offered to America after the 9/11 attacks, even from formerly antagonistic regimes, has been largely dissipated; increasingly unilateral and domineering policies have brought international trust in our country to its lowest level in memory. American stature will surely decline further if we launch a war in clear defiance of the United Nations. But to use the presence and threat of our military power to force Iraq's compliance with all United Nations resolutions — with war as a final option — will enhance our status as a champion of peace and justice.

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, is chairman of the Carter Center in Atlanta and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

GAUGING THE HUMANITARIAN COST OF WAR

U.S. Hopes to Limit Civilian Casualties, But Others Aren't So Optimistic

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 8, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Concerns over civilian casualties in an Iraq war are fueling opposition to any such conflict. Estimates of deaths or the number of refugees caused by a war vary widely, but all agree that large numbers of innocent people would suffer.

A leaked U.N. report calculated up to a half-million people could require medical attention in case of a military conflict, the British daily Guardian reported Jan. 29. The World Health Organization estimated that about 100,000 civilians could be wounded, and another 400,000 would be hit by disease due to the bombing of water and sanitation services and the lack of food.

The U.N. Children's Fund calculated that around 3 million people, 80% of them children under age 5, would be in a dire situation regarding a lack of food. The U.N. report noted that some 16 million Iraqis depend on the monthly food basket of basic goods supplied by the government. In the event of war these supplies likely would be disrupted.

On Jan. 28 a group of U.K. aid organizations -- Oxfam, CAFOD, Christian Aid, ActionAid and Save the Children -- published a joint press release warning that military action could trigger a major humanitarian disaster. "Military action against Iraq could devastate the lives of millions of people," Oxfam director Barbara Stocking was quoted as saying. "The humanitarian situation in Iraq is now more fragile than it was on the eve of the 1991 Gulf War."

The declaration also commented that under the Geneva Conventions it is against international humanitarian law for "any objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population" to be targeted during military action. In the case of Iraq, these objects include infrastructure such as ports, railways and roads vital for the distribution of food aid across the country as well, as the water and sanitation system, powered by the main electricity supply.

Poor hospitals, widespread malnutrition

A report released by the New York-based Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) warned that the fragile Iraqi health care system, already badly damaged by 12 years of economic sanctions, is woefully inadequate to deal with the effects of a new war.

The report said that 92% of hospitals surveyed indicated they were lacking basic medical equipment. Shortages of medications, including antibiotics, already undermine routine care.

"Our report confirms that it is unlikely that international relief agencies can avert a major humanitarian disaster," said Michael Van Rooyen, director of the Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a CESR press release.

The report's findings are based on a research mission from Jan. 19-29 by a CESR team of 16 humanitarian experts, including Hans von Sponeck, former U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq. Team members interviewed U.N. and Iraqi government officials; visited hospitals, clinics, public markets, electricity, water and sanitation plants, and other civilian sites; and reviewed confidential U.N. documents.

Another warning voice comes from the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services. A briefing on its Web site comments that Iraq is facing a humanitarian crisis. Many children are living in poor conditions, and about 25% of young men and women show signs of chronic malnutrition. Already in 2001 the number of people with access to drinkable water dropped to only 11%, compared with 92% in 1989.

Catholic Relief Services contended that a military intervention has the potential to lead to tremendous human costs among an already suffering Iraqi people. Its officials "echo the bishops' call that at this time constructive alternatives to war must first be exhausted."

International aid agencies would not likely have the funds to fully cope with the effects of a war. U.N. agencies say donors have given only a quarter of the $120 million needed for emergency supplies, Reuters reported March 5.

"We urgently need additional funds," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Geneva Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "Very little money has been provided. There's a gap of about $90 million."

The U.N. World Food Program, for example, has so far received pledges of just $7.5 million for food after appealing for some $23 million in a contingency plan to feed 900,000 Iraqis in a 10-week period. And the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), which will head relief work for water and sanitation, has just $2 million of the $14 million it was to receive under the U.N. appeal for funds.

Hoping to limit the damage

The United States and its allies have tried to address concerns over the humanitarian consequences of a war. Arguments are made that liberating Iraq will lead to an improvement in human rights and liberties. This position was explained in comments made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, cited in a Zenit analysis of two weeks ago, entitled "War in Iraq: No Simple Answers."

Defenders of military intervention also try to compare Iraq to the situation in Afghanistan. On the negative side, a group called the Iraq Body Count Project notes that last year's military action in Afghanistan caused 3,000 to 3,400 civilian deaths.

But U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in a speech Feb. 14, observed: "Today the Afghan people are free." More than 1 million refugees have been able to return home, he said, and children are back in school.

"And the careful use of precision-guided weapons helped ensure that there were fewer civilian casualties in this war than perhaps in any war in modern history," stated Rumsfeld. The defense secretary also noted that the United States has already provided $850 million to help rebuild Afghanistan, with another $3.3 billion authorized over the next several years.

A March 5 press release by the U.S. Defense Department affirmed that the American military would go to great lengths to limit civilian deaths and to minimize damage to nonmilitary facilities if war erupts.

A senior U.S. Central Command official briefed reporters in the Pentagon on the steps the military takes to avoid or minimize collateral damage. He admitted, however, that it's nearly impossible to eliminate all such damage.

But, the official said, potential targets are carefully considered to see if they are likely to result in noncombatant casualties, damage to nonmilitary structures or protected sites, or if the target is in close proximity to known human shields.

The press release explained that some experts have predicted a war with Iraq now would result in fewer civilian casualties than in the 1991 Gulf War. The official briefing reporters explained that in Operation Desert Storm, 20% of the bombs used were precision-guided. The rest were gravity-fall "dumb bombs." In a war in Iraq today, 70% would be precision-guided, the official said.

General Tommy Franks, who heads the U.S. forces, refused to speculate on the number of civilian casualties. Still, he added, U.S. planners would do what they could to avoid such casualties.

In spite of such reassurances, grave fears persist as to the damage a war will cause. The Pope's insistent requests for prayers show his concern on this matter. Last Sunday, John Paul II said, "It is also necessary to seek and go down every possible avenue to avoid war, which always brings mourning and grave consequences for all."

Have you ever seen upclose the carnage of terrorist work at a small-scale level? You know, where you see decapitated schoolchildren heads set on their school desk? I believe I know more about how to deal with terrorists than you ever will imagine. How the US/NATO/UNPROFOR stands by while those same peopel are standing next to YOUR leader.

The War Not Reported With the NATO bombing of Serbia presumably over, there is a staggering amount of material about the 79-day War on Serbia for media critics to analyze. The conflict will likely be our century's most controversial American war after Vietnam, and for many of the same reasons: Both wars caused more civilian deaths than military damage, both wars were fought to defend a vague moral cause. And both wars found the most powerful media outlets pumping out blatant propaganda from the White House and Pentagon.

Our first April 404 report on the Kosovo media war showed bias from the start, as wild rumors of Serb concentration camps and "rape hotels" were uncritically reported. Our follow-up the next month on White House PR found officials -- particularly Clinton -- escalating the rhetoric by comparing Milosevic to Hitler and suggesting that a Holocaust was at hand. And these were just examples of the most outrageous hyperbole; to find more analysis, we now provide an index of our Kosovo war coverage, which includes over sixty articles on topics ignored by the mainstream American press.

Repeating military and government propaganda was just half the equation, however. Besides demonizing the Serbs with Pentagon/ NATO exaggerations and lies, the American press also ignored stories reported in European media that disputed this simplistic good guy- bad guy version of events. Purposely excluding the other side of the story like that is a journalist's cardinal sin. Why did it happen? In that April 404 report, we pondered two reasons. In times of war (declared or not), the U.S. media always rushes to salute the military. A more cynical view was that the press pushed this story to recover an audience lost when the Clinton impeachment abruptly fizzled.

Since mainstream American media coverage was so homogeneous, the rare occasions when a network or paper broke ranks was notable in itself. On July 1, House intelligence committee chairman Porter Goss of Florida, a Republican critical of the war, announced that Serb crimes were greatly exaggerated. "Yes, there were atrocities. But no, they don't measure up to the advance billing," he said. There was no a scorched-earth destruction of crops and livestock; many Kosovo Albanians were certainly missing or in hiding, but only a fraction of the 600,000 that Clinton announced in May; and the claim of 100 thousand Kosovo Albanian men killed was at least ten times too high. Perhaps most interesting about those statements was that only USA Today and NBC Evening News mentioned this story, which was certainly humiliating to NATO. It was completely ignored by the rest of the major media including the Washington Post, and New York Times, even though there was no breaking news on July 1 to dominate their respective "Crisis in Kosovo" and "Crisis in the Balkans" special sections.

It's valuable to examine closely The New York Times coverage, which has been particularly shameful. Their one-sided emphasis on the plight of the Kosovar Albanians has been astonishing -- surely the newspaper has led the world's media in the number of pictures of weeping and distraught victims of the Serbs. It's puzzling; rarely does the "newspaper of record" pay so much persistent attention to human misery. Contrast the Times' wallowing in Balkan pathos with their duck-in, duck-out coverage of recent African famines and civil wars, or particularly their indifferent coverage of last year's revolution in Indonesia. As we documented in a special 404 report on Indonesia media coverage, the Times downplayed one of the most dramatic events of our decade, as a million or more citizens stormed the capitol and threw out a great tyrant.

Since the end of the war, misinformation still abounds in every Times article; of the estimated 200,000 Serbs living in Kosovo at the end of the war, the paper stated on July 25 that 80,000 have fled. UN refugee officials have said that the number is exactly twice that, and those that remain are mostly being sheltered by priests in Serbian Orthodox monasteries or guarded by KFOR troops.

But the most outrageous example of Times bias is its perverse coverage of the KLA. In a gushing Sunday, June 13 Times Magazine profile, the terrorist group is presented as a gutsy but rag-tag group of volunteers from around the world gathered to fight for their homeland -- the anti-fascist WWII Abraham Lincoln brigade reborn, perhaps. In this rose- colored view of the group, there's no hint of KLA involvement with shadowy financiers, arms traffickers and the global drug trade. To date, the NY Times has made only a single passing reference to the links between the KLA and international heroin smuggling, which was documented in our April feature, "Kosovo 'Freedom Fighters' Financed by Drug Money, CIA." Yet these shady connections are frequently mentioned in articles on the KLA that appear in the European press.

In light of staggering number of recent atrocities against Kosovar Serbs, it will be interesting to see how long The Times can continue painting their picture of the noble KLA freedom fighter. The Times appeared hard pressed to keep the KLA out of the story of the recent massacre of 14 Serb farmers, mentioning little beyond a statement that the group denies involvement. (A July 27 Times editorial made the slight concession that "Some of the violence may be coming from rogue elements of the Kosovo Liberation Army.") Meanwhile, other American media has recently well- documented the KLA's campaign of terror. "The Serbs have a choice: leave or be killed," a 21-year-old KLA fighter told USA Today. "We have every right to do what we want to them. No one is going to stop us. No one is going to tell us we can't." (July 31, 1999)

The Search for Serb Atrocities In the weeks leading to the NATO bombing of Serbia, a propaganda war was already underway. As introduced in an earlier Monitor 404 item, the American press spun tales of great horrors: there was a Serb concentration camps in a sports stadium and reports of horrible Serb atrocities. But a French reporter found the stadium empty, and the French press also noted that the source of atrocity claims came from the controversial KLA rebels fighting the Serbs.

The French reporters weren't the only ones telling both sides of the story; the British press also did a yeoman's job in war reporting, even though their government was as gung-ho for pounding the Serbs with bombs as the Clinton Administration. Consider the balanced reports from London Guardian journalist Audrey Gillan. After visiting Macedonian refugee camps in April, she wrote heartbreaking stories of brutality by roving gangs of Serb thugs, then also wrote about misdeeds on the other side, such as the KLA buying £ 4 million of guns on the black market, purchased in part with profits linked to heroin smuggling.

Gillian also showed how stories get distorted during times of war -- for both cynical and innocent reasons. Like other reporters, she arrived in Macedonia to verify reports of Serbian atrocities and "rape camps," the latter being a claim made by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. "Young women are being separated from the refugee columns," he had famously said, "and forced to undergo systematic rape in an army camp. We have evidence from many refugees who have managed to escape that others were taken to rape camps." Wrote Gillian:

...Among the rape victims arriving in Macedonia nobody spoke of anything like the camps the British Foreign Secretary referred to. Benedicte Giaever [a field coordinator for human rights group OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] told me there had been rape, but not systematic and not on a grand scale. The same was true of the killing. "We don't have big numbers," she said. "What we have are consistent small numbers -- two here, five there, ten here, seven there."
"...These people have just arrived and I would say they are still under a lot of stress and tension," Giaever says. "In that situation, 5 people can easily turn into 75. It's not that they want to lie but often they are confused. It's not to say it didn't happen. But a story could have moved around from village to village and everyone from that village tells it as if it happened to them."

No matter how hard she looked, Gillian and her colleagues just couldn't find evidence of the mass murders that NATO was touting.

[Ben Ward, a researcher for Human Rights Watch] doesn't think there is evidence of mass executions. "It is very rare for people not to know someone who knows about people being killed. But there doesn't appear to be anything to support allegations of mass killings," he said. "It is generally paramilitaries who are responsible. It doesn't seem organized. There appear to be individual acts of sadism rather than anything else..."
...Ward believes that those who stayed longer in Kosovo have been subjected to more violence, that many have been terrorized because they have stayed so long. Many have fled terror but some of those Ward spoke to said they were fleeing the NATO bombs. "The Serbs didn't touch us until NATO attacked," a Kosovar told him.

That article of Gillian's appeared in the London Review of Books, May 27. Like the rest of her excellent Kosovo reporting, it hasn't appeared anywhere in the American press -- more about this in the item below. (June 1, 1999)

"Oslobodilacka vojska Kosova"
"Kosovo Liberation Army"

"Terorizam je nezakonita primena sile ili nasilja prema ljudima ili imovini da bi se zastrasila ili suzbila vlada, civilno stanovnistvo, ili neki njegov deo, a u svrhu postizanja politickih ili drustvenih ciljeva." (FBI definicija terorizma)
"Terrorism is an unlawful use of force or violence on people or property to terrify or repress Governments, civilian population, or a part of it, with ultimate aim of achieving political or societal aims" (FBI's definition of terrorism)

Mapa "Velike Albanije"
"Great Albania" map

Prvo rukovodstvo OVK sacinjavali su militantni ucesnici studentskog protesta u Pristini 1981. godine, pristalice marksisticko-lenjinisticke ideologije Envera Hodze, tadasnjeg predsednika Albanije. Tom prilikom su uhapseni i proveli u zatvoru vise godina. Smatra se da su u tom periodu uspostavljene prve veze izmedju vrha danasnje OVK i albanske narko-mafije. Tokom godina ideoloska baza organizacije se gubi i OVK postaje konglomerat islamskog fundamentalizma, neo-nacizma, marksizma i ritualne krvne osvete sa finansijskim zaledjem u albanskim nacionalistima iz dijaspore i narko mafiji. Original leadership of KLA was comprised of militant participants of the 1991 Student demonstrations in Pristina, followers of the Marxist-Leninist ideology of Enver Hoxha (Albanian president of that time). At that time they were arrested and have spent several years in prison. It is believed it was during that incarceration that initial ties were formed between the current leadership of KLA and the Albanian drug-smuggling mafia. Over the years, ideological foundations of the organisation have disappeared and KLA has become a conglomerate of Islamic fundamentalism, neo-Nazism, Marxism and a ritual revenge with financial backing in Albanian nationalists and drug-smuggling mafia.

<Zlocini OVK nad civilnim stanovnistvom>

Zlocini OVK /
KLA crimes
(slike su neprijatne!)
(unpleasant photos!)

Od gubljenja autonomnog statusa AP Kosova i pocetka raspada Jugoslavije, 1989. godine, akcije albanskih separatista se intenziviraju, a pocev od februara 1997. OVK sistematski sprovodi teroristicku aktivnost na Kosovu i Metohiji - eliminisanje nekooperativnih Albanaca, napadi na pripadnike i objekte srpske milicije i konstantno sirenje straha medju srpskim zivljem (ubistva snajperskim hicima, premlacivanje, pritisak da se napuste domovi). Samo u periodu od 01.01. do 31.10.1998. pocinjeno je oko 2350 teroristickih akcija, u kojima je 260 osoba ubijeno, a 509 teze i lakse ranjena. Teroristi nisu birali svoje zrtve - ubijana su i deca, zene i starci na surov nacin, cesto pred clanovima porodice. Since the loss of the autonomous status of Autonomous Region of Kosovo & Metohia, in 1989, and the break-up of Yugoslavia, actions of Albanian separatists have intensified, and from the beginning of February 1997, KLA had systematically been exacting terrorist activity in Kosovo & Metohia. Terrorist activities consisted of elimination of Albanians who would not cooperate with KLA, attacks on Serbian Police force and their objects and continuously spreading terror among non-Albanian population (murders by sniper fire, beatings, forcing people to leave their homes). Just in a ten month period in 1998, (between 1st January and 31st October) 2,350 terrorist actions were committed in which 260 people were murdered and 509 were wounded (some more and others less seriously). Terrorists were not selective about who their victims would be - they killed children, women and elderly in a cruel manner, frequently in front of their families.

Mudzahedin Aslan Klecka u
OVK kampu u selu Klecka
Mujahedin Aslan Klecka in
KLA campusin Klecka village

Izvori finansiranja OVK ostaju manje-vise nepoznati do 1998. u toku koje je, na osnovu poternica INTERPOL-a, uhapsen 81 kosovski Albanac pod optuzbom krijumcarenja i prodaje narkotika. Na leto iste godine italijanska policija razbija lanac albanske narko-mafije u Milanu. U ovoj akciji uhapseno je preko 100 osoba, medju kojima i grupa kosovskih Albanaca koja je oruzje nabavljeno preprodajom narkotika svercovala preko Italije i severne Albanije na Kosovo. Istovremeno biva osnovan fond 'Domovina zove' sa otvorenim bankovnim racunima sirom sveta, sa istim ciljem - pokrivanje troskova OVK donacijama Albanaca iz dijaspore. Financial backing of KLA had remained more or less secretive until 1998, when based on Interpol arrest warrants, 81 Kosovar Albanians were arrested on the basis of smuggling and selling narcotics. During the summer of that same year, Italian police had broken the Albanian drug-mafia chain in Milan. In that action alone, more than 100 persons were arrested, among which a group of Kosovo Albanians which was, with the drug money, buying weapons and smuggling them over Italy and North Albania to Kosovo. At the same time, they have created a fund called "Home Land Calling", with bank accounts all over the world, with the same ultimate aim - covering KLA expenses with the donations of expatriate Albanians.

Krajnji cilj OVK portparol organizacije Jakup Krasnici vidi na sledeci nacin: 'Zelimo vise od nezavisnosti Kosova - ujedinjenje svih Albanaca na Balkanu', odnosno, stvaranje velike Albanije pripajanjem ne samo Kosova, vec i delova Makedonije, Grcke i Crne Gore. The main purpose and aim of the so called "KLA" is summarised by it's spokesman Jakup Krasnici as: "We want far more than independent Kosovo - we want the union of all Albanians in the Balkans" meaning they wish the creation of a "Great Albania" by annexing not just Kosovo, but also parts of Macedonia, Greece and Montenegro.

INET originalni tekst - INET original text - Sanja Markovic, Bojan Gajic

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Zlocini OVK nad civilnim stanovnistvom KLA crimes over civilian population


Jezivi prizori iz sela Glodjani posle masakra koji je OVK pocinila 08.09.1998. godine Gruesome scenes from Glodjani village after the massacre commited by KLA on September, 8th 1998.

Postar Nenad Jaredic, ubijen u jednoj od OVK teroristickih akcija Postman Nenad Jaredic, killed in one KLA action	Masakrirano telo pronadjeno u kampu OVK u selu Klecka Massacred body found in KLA campus in Klecka village

"Oslobodilacka vojska Kosova""Kosovo Liberation Army"

"Oslobodilacka vojska Kosova"
"Kosovo Liberation Army"