Posted on 05/04/2004 7:58:59 AM PDT by joan
I personally toured the devastation in Kosovo and Metohija caused by the Albanian pogrom of March 17-19, 2004, between April 12-24, 2004. I was based at the Patriarchate of Pec, from which I visited the following places:
Wednesday, April 14
1. Gorazdevac
2. Belo Polje
3. Decani Monastery
Thursday, April 15
4. Budosavci Monastery
5. Osojane
6. Bica
7. Grabac
Friday, April 16
8. Crkolez
9. Suvo Grlo
10. Banja
11. Gorioc Monastery
Saturday, April 17
12. Prizren (the German KFOR base and the town)
13. Holy Archangels Monastery
14. Musnikovo
15. Velika Hoca
Sunday, April 18
16. Devic Monastery
17. Gracanica Monastery
Monday, April 19
18. Urosevac (Greek KFOR base, Serbian Orthodox graveyard)
19. Lipljan
20. Staro Gracko
21. Kosovo Polje
Tuesday April 20
22. Gojbulja
23. Babin most
24. Milosevo
25. Plemetina (next to Obilic)
Wednesday, April 21
26. Prekovce
27. Draganac Monastery
28. Silovo
29. Gnjilane
30. Vitina
Thursday, April 22
31. Gracanica (supply depot for humanitarian aid, refugee containers, school sports hall with refugees, school for special needs children)
Friday, April 23
32. Strpce
33. Brezovica (collective center, Red Cross center)
34. Holy Archangels Monastery
35. Novake
I was met at the Montenegrin-Kosovo and Metohija border by KFOR escort at 6 A.M., Monday, April 12, transported by armored carrier with 8 man escort to the Patriarchate of Pec. The Patriarchate of Pec most probably survived the March 17-19 attacks only because the nuns refused to leave and said they would burn with their church if it came to that. One of the first people I met was a woman whose son was killed in Pec 3 years ago, whose body was found empty of all its internal organs, which was an appropriately symbolic introduction to what I saw in this U.N./NATO protectorate.
The most striking impression is that the remaining Serb population has no security, as was demonstrated by the events of March 17-19, and, therefore, no freedom of movement, very limited communications (landlines get cut off periodically while the mobile phone service is spotty at best, and refills are hard to get). The only places with Internet seem to be the Decani Monastery and Gracanica.
Throughout Kosovo and Metohija, I saw the wholesale destruction of Serbian homes, graveyards, churches and monasteries, tombs emptied of their remains, sometimes finding bones and parts of coffins nearby. Everything Serbian is being obliterated, even signposts with town names. History is being rewritten through terrorism and destruction, and an entire people driven out of their ancient homeland. I have captured much of this on photographs and video, which speak louder than any words I can find.
The Serb enclaves are not properly secure, even with the presence of KFOR. Albanians have freedom of movement in most of the enclaves, while Serbs cannot go anywhere without escort, which is how I personally traveled between all the enclaves. The enclaves are heavily dependent on humanitarian aid, land cannot be farmed safely. In many areas, Serbs complain that KFOR rarely responds to kidnappings, stonings and physical attacks, or destruction of property. Reportedly, the American KFOR sat and watched as the graveyard in Urosevac was desecrated, while the German KFOR allowed the Holy Archangels Monastery near Prizren to be torched before their eyes.
The people driven out March 17-19 were not allowed to take anything with them, even personal documents, by the Kosovo Police Force. They complain that the documents are being falsified to show that they’ve sold their homes and land. (Related to this, I personally saw the markers put around the homes and land for the purposes of aerial photography. Any property not marked is to be taken by the state. The Serbs are not in a position for the most part to do this, having been driven out and their homes destroyed.)
Most Serbs were in desperate psychological state even before the March 17-19 events. There is no possibility of jobs. They’ve gone through the NATO bombing in 1999, and have spent the time since as virtual prisoners, behind razor wire.
People were still shaking and crying from the most recent events, showing physical evidence of beatings on them, many being old men and women. I spent time with people whose children were killed. Nuns are living under canvas tents or in containers, trying to tidy the remains of their churches.
The American KFOR was withdrawn from the Vitina area just a day or two before my arrival, and people were already moving out, too frightened to stay without any protection whatsoever.
The Strpce area has about 12,000 Serbs, with no emergency health care, the nearest hospitals being in Gracanica and Kosovska Mitrovica, which cannot be accessed without KFOR escort, which can take up to 3 days to organize – if at all. There are almost no ambulances, and it’s too dangerous to use private vehicles.
There are KLA momuments everywhere. Albanians feel very supported by the U.S. There are American flags everywhere, businesses carrying American names, such as "Bondsteel", "Pentagon," the "American School of Kosova" (sic!), "Bill Clinton Avenue," etc. In the hall outside the, I believe, the CIMIK offices on the German base in Prizren, there is a small metal relief map of Kosovo covered by the Albanian eagle, which says a great deal about the neutrality of at least this particular international contingent.
A Greek officer told me that the entire Kosovo setup is "satanic" and I would have to agree, not only because of the deliberate targeting of places of worship and cemeteries but also because of the way Serbs and Kosovo minorities are being forced into a hopeless, souless existence in an open-air prison. I was told by the late Warren Zimmerman, former U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia back in 1992 that the “Serbs would lose the Serb Krajina, Kosovo, Sandzak, Vojvodina” and that, in the end, even what remains of Serbia may well not be recognized. It seems this scenario is still being played out. To what end, we shall see, but it is causing devastation of Serbian lives and property in Kosovo and Metohija, other minorities – especially the Roma - and destabilizing the entire region. But it is the human tragedy that strikes the most, and the U.N./NATO presence, which is directly in charge of the situation, carries the ultimate responsibility. The foundations now being put down cannot lead to anything good, unless an ethnically cleansed land ruled by a mix of fundamentalism, terrorism and mafia is what America and the E.U. are striving to install. The international forces, with honourable exceptions, are following the path of least resistance – the most important thing seems to be to keep their own safety rather than protect the population, which is their mandate. And the side using terror tactics – the Albanian extremists – are thus provided the perfect environment to act. The fact that, despite the horrible state of events, the Albanian leaders continue to be rewarded with increasing powers, cannot but provide further encouragement, while making their own people hostage to their extremist politics.
I believe that the Diocese of Raska and Prizren is the ONLY organization on the ground, taking photos and videos and writing news stories, in Kosovo/Metohia. Is that true? The news of the holocaust against Kosovo's Serbs needs to get out to the world, before the Shiptars do someting even WORSE in the coming weeks or months!!!!
ONLY a Serbian Kosovo can be peaceful!!!!
Actually, we've sided with the baddest of the bad guys, but we can correct this situation in a heartbeat if only we would try.
THE LAST STOP BEFORE HELL
When Georgie Sr. was in office I was told that Kosovo was lost to the Serbs and that was way before Billy C. even got a wiff of the linen in the White House or the first shots of the Kosovo civil war being fired. This is AMERICA'S legacy.
After the recent pograms, how many times did Georgie Jr. pound the podium and declare that it's obvious that this disease of terror has spread to Kosovo? I'll give you the answer: ZERO. The U.S. and German members of Kfor were the must pathetic excuses for protecting Christian holy places that I've ever heard of in my life and that scum bag politician, Billy C., had absolutely nothing to do with it. Face it folks, this newest American president doesn't give a flying rat's ass about Christian holy shrines in Kosovo or what any Albanians animals are doing to them or to any Serbian people.
The pograms never even came close to entering into the minds of the American people and the US press, the Democrats AND the Republicans are thankful.
If any of you folks still believe that the Republicans are going to come in on a white horse and fix this mess, you're only kidding yourselves. They want nothing less than for every Serb in Kosovo to just go away and for us to forget they were ever there. What a friggin' load of crap.
When Jr. got elected I said that nothing would change in Kosovo. I was wrong. It's gotten much worse.
It is easy for a Zimmerman, an American, to cede Serb land--and after all has been lost--to further question the right of Serbia to exist even as a truncated entity.
I find the attitudes toward the Balkan disaster very similar to a *liberal* US Jew's attitude toward Israel--"Go away and die. You embarrass me."
While it's true that we can't pack this completely on the Concupicent One, there is also a gang you are not blaming--the neocons. Without McVain, Bill Kristol, Kraut the Hammer--Biden and Albright could never have mustered enough support to push Clinton into war. Ever see BJ go willingly to any fight?
And I do think you judge the Bushes rather harshly--McVain has gotten a free pass for his efforts in getting us on the wrong side, and a US president cannot manage to cover the entire world. Isn't it cute, too, how the Albanians send a trickle of troops to "help" us in Iraq? Going after the Senior Bush needs hindsight. At least the Elder wasn't beating the drums to aid the Islamic Albanians.
Go to Kristol's writings in the nineties--"New American Century"--and search out Kosovo. It will curl your hair. He doesn't exactly use the word--"Liebensraum"--but I sure catch a strong whiff of it.
And this article also sums up how we ended up on the wrong side-- link
Thanks for link. I had that one on my old computer but failed to move it to this one.
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