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The History of “Humanitarian Warfare”: NATO’s Reign of Terror in Kosovo, The Destruction of Yugoslavia
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By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, March 27, 2016
Global Research 11 August 1999
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Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/nato-s-reign-of-terror-in-kosovo/8168
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March 24th 2016 marks the 17th anniversary of NATO’s war against
Yugoslavia. The following text was written in August 11, 1999 in the
immediate wake of the 1999 NATO bombings of Yugoslavia and the invasion
of Kosovo by NATO troops.
It is now well established that the war on Yugoslavia was waged
on a fabricated humanitarian pretext and that extensive war crimes were
committed by NATO and the US.
In retrospect, the war on Yugoslavia was a “dress rehearsal” for
subsequent US-NATO sponsored humanitarian wars including Afghanistan
(2001), Iraq (2003), Libya (2011), Syria (2011), Ukraine (2014).
Who are the war criminals? In a bitter irony, the so-called
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The
Hague is controlled by those who have committed extensive war crimes.
US-NATO started the war on Yugoslavia. President Milosevic was indicted on charges of war crimes. He was poisoned in his prison cell under the auspices of the ICTY.
According to Nuremberg jurisprudence, the ultimate war crime consists in starting a war. According to William Rockler, former prosecutor of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal:
“The [1999] bombing war violates and shreds the basic
provisions of the United Nations Charter and other conventions and
treaties; the attack on Yugoslavia constitutes the most brazen
international aggression since the Nazis attacked Poland to prevent
“Polish atrocities” against Germans. The United States has discarded
pretensions to international legality and decency, and embarked on a
course of raw imperialism run amok.”
According to Nuremberg jurisprudence, NATO heads of State and
heads of government are responsible for the supreme crime: “the crime
against peace.”
Reagan’s NSDD 133 (1984) “Secret and Sensitive”
There is evidence that the US administration in liason with its
allies took the decision in the early 1980s to destabilise and dismantle
Yugoslavia.
The decision to destroy Yugoslavia as a country and carve it
up into a number of small proxy states was taken by the Reagan
adminstration in the early 1980s.
A “Secret Sensitive” National Security Decision Directive (NSDD 133)
entitled “US Policy towards Yugoslavia.” (Declassified) set the foreign
policy framework for the destabilization of Yugoslavia’s model of
market socialism and the establishment of a US sphere of influence in
Southeastern Europe.
Yugoslavia was in many regards “an economic success story”. In the
two decades before 1980, annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth
averaged 6.1 percent, medical care was free, the rate of literacy was 91
percent, and life expectancy was 72 years.
While NSDD 133 was in itself a somewhat innocous document, it
provided legitimacy to the free market reforms. A series of covert
intelligence operations were implemented, which consisted in creating
and supporting secessionist paramilitary armies, first in Bosnia then in
Kosovo.
These covert operations were combined with the destabilization of the
Yugoslav economy. The application of strong economic medicine under the
helm of the IMF and the World Bank ultimately led to the destruction of
Yugoslavia’s industrial base, the demise of the workers’ cooperative
and the dramatic impoverishment of its population.
Kosovo “Independence”
The record of US-NATO war crimes is important in assessing recent developments in Kosovo.
From the outset of their respective mandates in June 1999, both NATO
and the UN Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK) have actively supported the KLA,
which has committed numerous atrocities.
It is important to understand that these atrocities were ordered by
the current and former prime ministers of the Kosovo “government”.
Since 1999, State terrorism in Kosovo has become an integral part of NATO’s design.
The present government of President Hashim Thaci (a former KLA
Commander), is an outgrowth of this reign of terror. It is not a
government in the common sense of the word. It remains a terrorist
organization linked to organised crime. It is an instrument of foreign
occupation.
Michel Chossudovsky, March 27, 2016, August 5, 2015
* * *
NATO HAS INSTALLED A REIGN OF TERROR IN KOSOVO
by Michel Chossudovsky
10 August 1999
This text was presented to the Independent Commission of Inquiry
to Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes Against The People of Yugoslavia,
International Action Center, New York, July 31, 1999.
PART I: MASSACRES OF CIVILIANS IN KOSOVO
While the World focusses on troop movements and war crimes, the
massacres of civilians in the wake of the bombings have been casually
dismissed as “justifiable acts of revenge”. In occupied Kosovo, “double
standards” prevail in assessing alleged war crimes. The massacres
directed against Serbs, ethnic Albanians, Roma and other ethnic groups
have been conducted on the instructions of the military command of the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
NATO ostensibly denies KLA involvement. These so-called “unmotivated
acts of violence and retaliation” are not categorised as “war crimes”
and are therefore not included in the mandate of the numerous FBI and
Interpol police investigators dispatched to Kosovo under the auspices of
the Hague War Crime’s Tribunal (ICTY). Moreover, whereas NATO has
tacitly endorsed the self-proclaimed KLA provisional government, KFOR
the international security force in Kosovo has provided protection to
the KLA military commanders responsible for the atrocities. In so doing
both NATO and the UN Mission have acquiesced to the massacres of
civilians. In turn, public opinion has been blatantly misled. In
portraying the massacres, the Western media has casually overlooked the
role of the KLA, not to mention its pervasive links to organised crime.
In the words of National Security Advisor Samuel Berger,
“these people [ethnic Albanians] come back … with broken hearts and with some of those hearts filled with anger.”1
While the massacres are seldom presented as the result of “deliberate
decisions” by the KLA military command, the evidence (and history of
the KLA) amply confirm that these atrocities are part of a policy of
“ethnic cleansing” directed mainly against the Serb population but also
against the Roma, Montenegrins, Goranis and Turks.
Serbian houses and business have been confiscated, looted, or burned,
and Serbs have been beaten, raped, and killed. In one of the more
dramatic of incidents, KLA troops ransacked a monastery, terrorized the
priest and a group of nuns with gunfire, and raped at least one of the
nuns. NATO’s inability to control the situation and provide equal
protection for all ethnic groups, and its apparent inability or
unwillingness to fully disarm the KLA, has created a serious situation
for NATO troops…2
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), confirms in this regard that:
“more than 164,000 Serbs have left Kosovo during the
seven weeks since… the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) entered the
province… A wave of arson and looting of Serb and Roma homes throughout
Kosovo has ensued. Serbs and Roma remaining in Kosovo have been subject
to repeated incidents of harassment and intimidation, including severe
beatings. Most seriously, there has been a spate of murders and
abductions of Serbs since mid-June, including the late July massacre of
Serb farmers.”3
POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS
The self-proclaimed Provisional Government of Kosovo (PGK) has also
ordered assassinations directed against political opponents including
“loyalist” ethnic Albanians and supporters of the Kosovo Democratic
League (KDL). These acts are being carried out in a totally permissive
environment. The leaders of the KLA rather than being arrested for war
crimes, have been granted KFOR protection.
Madeleine Albright and Hashim Thaci
According to a report of the Foreign Policy Institute (published during the bombings):
“…the KLA have [no] qualms about murdering Rugova’s
collaborators, whom it accused of the `crime’ of moderation… [T]he KLA
declared Rugova a `traitor’ yet another step toward eliminating any
competitors for political power within Kosovo.”4
Already in May [1999], Fehmi Agani, one of Rugova’s closest
collaborators in the Kosovo Democratic League (KDL) was killed. The
Serbs were blamed by NATO spokesperson Jamie Shea for having
assassinated Agani. According to Skopje’s paper Makedonija Danas, Agani
had been executed on the orders of the KLA’s self-appointed Prime
Minister Hashim Thaci.5 “If Thaci actually considered Rugova a threat,
he would not hesitate to have Rugova removed from the Kosovo political
landscape.”6
In turn, the KLA has abducted and killed numerous professionals and intellectuals:
“Private and State properties are threatened, home and
apartment owners are evicted en masse by force and threats, houses and
entire villages are burned, cultural and religious monuments are
destroyed… A particularly heavy blow… has been the violence against the
hospital centre in Pristina, the maltreatment and expulsion of its
professional management, doctors and medical staff.”7
Both NATO and the UN prefer to turn a blind eye. UN Interim
Administrator Bernard Kouchner (a former French Minister of Health) and
KFOR Commander Sir Mike Jackson have established a routine working
relationship with Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and KLA Chief of Staff
Brigadier General Agim Ceku.
ATROCITIES COMMITTED AGAINST THE ROMA
Ethnic cleansing has also been directed against the Roma (which
represented prior to the conflict a population group of 150,000 people).
(According to figures provided by the Roma Community in New York). A
large part of the Roma population has already escaped to Montenegro and
Serbia. In turn, there are reports that Roma refugees who had fled by
boat to Southern Italy have been expelled by the Italian authorities.8
The KLA has also ordered the systematic looting and torching of Romani
homes and settlements:
“All houses and settlements of Romani, like 2,500 homes
in the residential area called `Mahala’ in the town of Kosovska
Mitrovica, have been looted and burnt down”.9
With regard to KLA atrocities committed against the Roma, the same
media distortions prevail. According to the BBC: “Gypsies are accused by
[Kosovar] Albanians of collaborating in Serb brutalities, which is why
they’ve also become victims of revenge attacks. And the truth is, some
probably did.”10
INSTALLING A PARAMILITARY GOVERNMENT
As Western leaders trumpet their support for democracy, State
terrorism in Kosovo has become an integral part of NATO’s postwar
design. The KLA’s political role for the post-conflict period had been
mapped out well in advance. Prior to Rambouillet Conference, the KLA had
been promised a central role in the formation of a post-conflict
government. The “hidden agenda” consisted in converting the KLA
paramilitary into a legitimate and accomplished civilian administration.
According to US State Department spokesman James Foley (February 1999):
“We want to develop a good relationship with them [the
KLA] as they transform themselves into a politically-oriented
organization, …[W]e believe that we have a lot of advice and a lot of
help that we can provide to them if they become precisely the kind of
political actor we would like to see them become.’”11
In other words, the US State Department had already slated the KLA
“provisional government” (PGK) to run civilian State institutions. Under
NATO’s “Indirect Rule”, the KLA has taken over municipal governments
and public services including schools and hospitals. Rame Buja, the KLA
“Minister for Local Administration” has appointed local prefects in 23
out of 25 municipalities.12
Under NATO’s regency, the KLA has replaced the duly elected (by
ethnic Albanians) provisional Kosovar government of President Ibrahim
Rugova. The self-proclaimed KLA administration has branded Rugova as a
traitor declaring the (parallel) Kosovar parliamentary elections held in
March 1998 to be invalid. This position has largely been upheld by the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) entrusted by
UNMIK with the postwar task of “democracy building” and “good
governance”. In turn, OSCE officials have already established a working
rapport with KLA appointees.13
The KLA provisional government (PGK) is made up of the KLA’s
political wing together with the Democratic Union Movement (LBD), a
coalition of five opposition parties opposed to Rugova’s Democratic
League (LDK). In addition to the position of prime minister, the KLA
controls the ministries of finance, public order and defence. The KLA
also has a controlling voice on the UN sponsored Kosovo Transitional
Council set up by Mr. Bernard Kouchner. The PGK has also established
links with a number of Western governments.
Whereas the KLA has been spearheaded into running civilian
institutions (under the guidance of the OSCE), members of the duly
elected Kosovar (provisional) government of the Democratic League (DKL)
have been blatantly excluded from acquiring a meaningful political
voice.
ESTABLISHING A KLA POLICE FORCE TO `PROTECT CIVILIANS’
Under NATO occupation, the rule of law has visibly been turned up
side down. Criminals and terrorists are to become law enforcement
officers. KLA troops which have already taken over police stations will
eventually form a 4,000 strong “civilian” police force (to be trained by
foreign police officers under the authority of the United Nations) with
a mandate to “protect civilians”. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien
has already pledged Canadian support to the formation of a civilian
police force.14 The latter which has been entrusted to the OSCE will
eventually operate under the jurisdiction of the KLA controlled
“Ministry of Public Order”.
US MILITARY AID
Despite NATO’s commitment to disarming the KLA, the Kosovar
paramilitary organisation is slated to be transformed into a modern
military force. So-called “security assistance” has already been granted
to the KLA by the US Congress under the “Kosovar Independence and
Justice Act of 1999″. Start-up funds of 20 million dollars will largely
be “used for training and support for their [KLA] established
self-defence forces.”15 In the words of KLA Chief of Staff Agrim Ceku:
“The KLA wants to be transformed into something like the
US National Guard, … we accept the assistance of KFOR and the
international community to rebuild an army according to NATO standards. …
These professionally trained soldiers of the next generation of the KLA
would seek only to defend Kosova. At this decisive moment, we [the KLA]
do not hide our ambitions; we want the participation of international
military structures to assist in the pacific and humanitarian efforts we
are attempting here.” 16
While the KLA maintains its links to the Balkans narcotics trade
which served to finance many of its terrorist activities, the
paramilitary organisation has now been granted an official seal of
approval as well as “legitimate” sources of funding. The pattern is
similar to that followed in Croatia and in the Bosnian Muslim-Croatian
Federation where so-called “equip and train” programmes were put
together by the Pentagon. In turn, Washington’s military aid package to
the KLA has been entrusted to Military Professional Resources Inc.
(MPRI) of Alexandria, Virginia, a private mercenary outfit run by high
ranking former US military officers.
MPRI’s training concepts which had already been tested in Croatia and
Bosnia are based on imparting “offensive tactics… as the best form of
defence”.17 In the Kosovar context, this so- called “defensive doctrine”
transforms the KLA paramilitary into a modern army without however
eliminating its terrorist makeup.18 The objective is to ultimately
transform an insurgent army into a modern military and police force
which serves the Alliance’s future strategic objectives in the Balkans.
MPRI has currently “ninety-one highly experienced, former military
professionals working in Bosnia & Herzegovina”.19 The number of
military officers working on contract with the KLA has not been
disclosed.
PART II. FROM KRAJINA TO KOSOVO. A FORMER CROATIAN GENERAL APPOINTED KLA CHIEF OF STAFF
The massacres of civilians in Kosovo are not disconnected acts of
revenge by civilians or by so-called “rogue elements” within the KLA as
claimed by NATO and the United Nations. They are part of a consistent
and coherent pattern. The intent (and result) of the KLA sponsored
atrocities have been to trigger the “ethnic cleansing” of Serbs, Roma
and other minorities in Kosovo.
KLA Commander Agim Ceku referring to the killings of 14 villagers at
Gracko on July 24, claimed that: “We [the KLA] do not know who did it,
but I sincerely believe these people have nothing to do with the KLA.”20
In turn, KFOR Lieutenant General Sir Mike Jackson has commended his KLA
counterpart, Commander Agim Ceku for “efforts undertaken” to disarm the
KLA. In fact, very few KLA weapons have been handed in. Moreover, the
deadline for turning in KLA weaponry has been extended. “I do not regard
this as noncompliance” said Commander Jackson in a press conference,
“but rather as an indication of the seriousness with which General Ceku
is taking this important issue.”21
Yet what Sir Mike Jackson failed to mention is that KLA Chief of
Staff Commander Agim Ceku (although never indicted as a war criminal)
was (according to Jane Defence Weekly June 10, 1999) “one of the key
planners of the successful `Operation Storm’” led by the Croatian Armed
Forces against Krajina Serbs in 1995.
General Jackson who had served in former Yugoslavia under the United
Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was fully cognizant of the
activities of the Croatian High Command during that period including the
responsibilities imparted to Brigadier General Agim Ceku. In February
1999, barely a month prior to the NATO bombings, Ceku left his position
as Brigadier General with the Croatian Armed Forces to join the KLA as
Commander in Chief.
FROM KRAJINA TO KOSOVO: THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
According to the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights,
Operation Storm resulted in the massacre of at least 410 civilians in
the course of a three day operation (4 to 7 August 1995).22 An internal
report of The Hague War Crimes Tribunal (leaked to the New York Times),
confirmed that the Croatian Army had been responsible for carrying out:
“summary executions, indiscriminate shelling of civilian
populations and “ethnic cleansing” in the Krajina region of Croatia….”23
In a section of the report entitled “The Indictment. Operation Storm, A Prima Facie Case.”, the ICTY report confirms that:
“During the course of the military offensive, the
Croatian armed forces and special police committed numerous violations
of international humanitarian law, including but not limited to,
shelling of Knin and other cities… During, and in the 100 days following
the military offensive, at least 150 Serb civilians were summarily
executed, and many hundreds disappeared. …In a widespread and systematic
manner, Croatian troops committed murder and other inhumane acts upon
and against Croatian Serbs.” 24
US `GENERALS FOR HIRE’
The internal 150 page report concluded that it has “sufficient
material to establish that the three [Croatian] generals who commanded
the military operation” could be held accountable under international
law.25 The individuals named had been directly involved in the military
operation “in theatre”. Those involved in “the planning of Operation
Storm” were not mentioned:
“The identity of the “American general” referred to by
Fenrick [a Tribunal staff member] is not known. The tribunal would not
allow Williamson or Fenrick to be interviewed. But Ms. Arbour, the
tribunal’s chief prosecutor, suggested in a telephone interview last
week that Fenrick’s comment had been `a joking observation’. Ms. Arbour
had not been present during the meeting, and that is not how it was
viewed by some who were there. Several people who were at the meeting
assumed that Fenrick was referring to one of the retired U.S. generals
who worked for Military Professional Resources Inc. … Questions remain
about the full extent of U.S. involvement. In the course of the three
yearinvestigation into the assault, the United States has failed to
provide critical evidence requested by the tribunal, according to
tribunal documents and officials, adding to suspicion among some there
that Washington is uneasy about the investigation… The Pentagon,
however, has argued through U.S. lawyers at the tribunal that the
shelling was a legitimate military activity, according to tribunal
documents and officials”.26
The Tribunal was attempting to hide what had already been revealed in
several press reports published in the wake of Operation Storm.
According to a US State Department spokesman, MPRI had been helping the
Croatians “avoid excesses or atrocities in military operations.”27
Fifteen senior US military advisers headed by retired two star General
Richard Griffitts had been dispatched to Croatia barely seven months
before Operation Storm. 28 According to one report, MPRI executive
director General Carl E. Vuono: “held a secret top-level meeting at
Brioni Island, off the coast of Croatia, with Gen. Varimar Cervenko, the
architect of the Krajina campaign. In the five days preceding the
attack, at least ten meetings were held between General Vuono and
officers involved in the campaign…”29
According to Ed Soyster, a senior MPRI executive and former head of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA):
“MPRI’s role in Croatia is limited to classroom
instruction on military-civil relations and doesn’t involve training in
tactics or weapons. Other U.S. military men say whatever MPRI did for
the Croats and many suspect more than classroom instruction was involved
it was worth every penny.” Carl Vuono and Butch [Crosbie] Saint are
hired guns and in it for the money,” says Charles Boyd, a recently
retired four star Air Force general who was the Pentagon’s No. 2 man in
Europe until July [1995]. “They did a very good job for the Croats, and I
have no doubt they’ll do a good job in Bosnia.”30
THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL’S COVER UP
The untimely leaking of the ICTY’s internal report on the Krajina
massacres barely a few days before the onslaught of NATO’s air raids on
Yugoslavia was the source of some embarrassment to the Tribunal’s Chief
Prosecutor Louise Arbour. The Tribunal (ICTY) attempted to cover up the
matter and trivialise the report’s findings (including the alleged role
of the US military officers on contract with the Croatian Armed Forces).
Several Tribunal officials including American Lawyer Clint Williamson
sought to discredit the Canadian Peacekeeping officers’ testimony who
witnessed the Krajina massacres in 1995.31
Williamson, who described the shelling of Knin as a “minor incident,”
said that the Pentagon had told him that Knin was a legitimate military
target… The [Tribunal's] review concluded by voting not to include the
shelling of Knin in any indictment, a conclusion that stunned and
angered many at the tribunal”…32
The findings of the Tribunal contained in the leaked ICTY documents
were downplayed, their relevance was casually dismissed as “expressions
of opinion, arguments and hypotheses from various staff members of the
OTP during the investigative process”.33 According to the Tribunal’s
spokesperson “the documents do not represent in any way the concluded
decisions of the Prosecutor.” 34
The internal 150 page report has not been released. The staff member
who had leaked the documents is (according to a Croatian TV report) no
longer working for the Tribunal. During the press Conference, the
Tribunal’s spokesman was asked: “about the consequences for the person
who leaked the information”, Blewitt [the ICTY spokesman] replied that
he did not want to go into that. He said that the OTP would strengthen
the existing procedures to prevent this from happening again, however he
added that you could not stop people from talking”.35
THE USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN CROATIA
The massacres conducted under Operation Storm “set the stage” for the
“ethnic cleansing” of at least 180,000 Krajina Serbs (according to
estimates of the Croatian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty International).
According to other sources, the number of victims of ethnic cleansing
in Krajina was much larger.
Moreover, there is evidence that chemical weapons had been used in
the Yugoslav civil war (1991-95).36 Although there is no firm evidence
of the use of chemical weapons against Croatian Serbs, an ongoing
enquiry by the Canadian Minister of Defence (launched in July 1999)
points to the possibility of toxic poisoning of Canadian Peacekeepers
while on service in Croatia between 1993 and 1995:
“There was a smell of blood in the air during the past
week as the media sensed they had a major scandal unfolding within the
Department of National Defense over the medical files of those Canadians
who served in Croatia in 1993. Allegations of destroyed documents, a
coverup, and a defensive minister and senior officers…”37
The official release of the Department of National Defence (DND)
refers to possibility of toxic “soil contamination” in Medak Pocket in
1993 (see below). Was it “soil contamination” or something far more
serious? The criminal investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) refers to the shredding of medical files of former Canadian
peacekeepers by the DND. In other words did the DND have something to
hide? The issue remains as to what types of shells and ammunitions were
used by the Croatian Armed Forces ie. were chemical weapons used against
Serb civilians?
OPERATION STORM: THE ACCOUNT OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN REGIMENT
Prior to the onslaught, Croatian radio had previously broadcasted a
message by president Franjo Tudjman, calling upon “Croatian citizens of
Serbian ethnicity… to remain in their homes and not to fear the Croatian
authorities, which will respect their minority rights.”38 Canadian
peacekeepers of the Second Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment
witnessed the atrocities committed by Croatian troops in the Krajina
offensive in September 1995:
“Any Serb who had failed to evacuate their property were
systematically “cleansed” by roving death squads. Every abandoned animal
was slaughtered and any Serb household was ransacked and torched”.39
Also confirmed by Canadian peacekeepers was the participation of German mercenaries in Operation Storm:
“Immediately behind the frontline Croatian combat troops
and German mercenaries, a large number of hardline extremists had pushed
into the Krajina. …Many of these atrocities were carried out within the
Canadian Sector, but as the peacekeepers were soon informed by the
Croat authorities, the UN no longer had any formal authority in the
region.”40
How the Germans mercenaries were recruited was never officially
revealed. An investigation by the United Nations Human Rights Commission
(UNHRC) confirmed the that foreign mercenaries in Croatia had in some
cases “been paid [and presumably recruited] outside Croatia and by third
parties.”41
THE 1993 MEDAK POCKET MASSACRE
According to Jane Defence Weekly (10 June 1999), Brigadier General
Agim Ceku (now in charge of the KLA) also “masterminded the successful
HV [Croatian Army] offensive at Medak” in September 1993. In Medak, the
combat operation was entitled “Scorched Earth” resulting in the total
destruction of the Serbian villages of Divoselo, Pocitelj and Citluk,
and the massacre of over 100 civilians.42
These massacres were also witnessed by Canadian peacekeepers under UN mandate:
“As the sun rose over the horizon, it revealed a Medak
Valley engulfed in smoke and flames. As the frustrated soldiers of
2PPCLI waited for the order to move forward into the pocket, shots and
screams still rang out as the ethnic cleansing continued. …About 20
members of the international press had tagged along, anxious to see the
Medak battleground. Calvin [a Canadian officer] called an informal press
conference at the head of the column and loudly accused the Croats of
trying to hide war crimes against the Serb inhabitants. The Croats
started withdrawing back to their old lines, taking with them whatever
loot they hadn’t destroyed. All livestock had been killed and houses
torched. French reconnaissance troops and the Canadian command element
pushed up the valley and soon began to find bodies of Serb civilians,
some already decomposing, others freshly slaughtered. …Finally, on the
drizzly morning of Sept. 17, teams of UN civilian police arrived to
probe the smouldering ruins for murder victims. Rotting corpses lying
out in the open were catalogued, then turned over to the peacekeepers
for burial.”43
The massacres were reported to the Canadian Minister of Defence and to the United Nations:
“Senior defence bureaucrats back in Ottawa had no way of
predicting the outcome of the engagement in terms of political fallout.
To them, there was no point in calling media attention to a situation
that might easily backfire. …So Medak was relegated to the memory hole
no publicity, no recriminations, no official record. Except for those
soldiers involved, Canada’s most lively military action since the Korean
War simply never happened.”44
PART III. NATO’S `POST CONFLICT’ AGENDA IN KOSOVO.
Both the Medak Pocket massacre and Operation Storm bear a direct
relationship to the ongoing security situation in Kosovo and the
massacres and ethnic cleansing committed by KLA troops. While the
circumstances are markedly different, several of today’s actors in
Kosovo were involved (under the auspices of the Croatian Armed Forces)
in the planning of both these operations. Moreover, the US mercenary
outfit MPRI which collaborated with the Croatian Armed Forces in 1995 is
currently on contract with the KLA. NATO’s casual response to the
appointment of Brigadier General Agim Ceku as KLA Chief of Staff was
communicated by Mr. Jamie Shea in a Press Briefing in May:
“I have always made it clear, and you have heard me say this, that
NATO has no direct contacts with the KLA. Who they appoint as their
leaders, that is entirely their own affair. I don’t have any comment on
that whatever.”45
While NATO says it “has no direct contacts with the KLA”, the
evidence confirms the opposite. Amply documented, KLA terrorism has been
installed with NATO’s tacit approval. The KLA had (according to several
reports) been receiving “covert support” and training from the CIA and
Germany’s Bundes Nachrichten Dienst (BND) since the mid-nineties.
Moreover, MPRI collaboration with the KLA predates the onslaught of the
bombing campaign.46 Moreover, the building up of KLA forces was part of
NATO planning. Already by mid-1998, “covert support” had been replaced
by official (“overt”) support by the military Alliance in violation of
UN Security Council Resolution UNSCR 1160 of 31 March 1998 which
condemned: “…all acts of terrorism by the Kosovo Liberation Army or any
other group or individual and all external support for terrorist
activity in Kosovo, including finance, arms and training.”
NATO officials, Western heads of State and heads of government, the
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan not to mention ICTY chief
Prosecutor Louise Arbour, were fully cognizant of General Brigadier Agim
Ceku’s involvement in the planning of Operation Storm and Operation
Scorched Earth. Surely, some questions should have been asked…
Yet visibly what is shaping up in the wake of the bombings in Kosovo
is the continuity of NATO’s operation in the Balkans. Military personnel
and UN bureaucrats previously stationed in Croatia and Bosnia have been
routinely reassigned to Kosovo. KFOR Commander Mike Jackson had
previously been responsible as IFOR Commander for organising the return
of Serbs “to lands taken by Croatian HVO forces in the Krajina
offensive”.47 And in this capacity General Mike Jackson had “urged that
the resettlement [of Krajina Serbs] not [be] rushed to avoid tension
[with the Croatians]… while also warning returning Serbs “of the extent
of the [land] mine threat.”48 In retrospect, recalling the events of
early 1996, very few Krajina Serbs were allowed to return to their homes
under the protection of the United Nations.
And a similar process is unfolding in Kosovo, ie. the conduct of
senior military officers conforms to a consistent pattern, the same key
individuals are now involved in Kosovo. While token efforts are
displayed to protect Serb and Roma civilians, those who have fled Kosovo
are not encouraged to return under UN protection… In postwar Kosovo,
“ethnic cleansing” implemented by the KLA has been accepted by the
“international community” as a “fait accompli”…
While calling for democracy and “good governance” in the Balkans, the
US and its allies have installed in Kosovo a paramilitary government
with links to organised crime.
The foreseeable outcome is the outright “criminalisation” of civilian
State institutions and the establishment of what is best described as a
“Mafia State”. The complicity of NATO and the Alliance governments
(namely their relentless support to the KLA) points to the de facto
“criminalisation” of KFOR and of the UN peacekeeping apparatus in
Kosovo. The donor agencies and governments (eg. the funds approved by
the US Congress in violation of several UN Security Council resolutions)
providing financial support to the KLA are, in this regard, also
“accessories” to the de facto criminalisation of State institutions.
Through the intermediation of a paramilitary group (created and financed
by Washington and Bonn), NATO ultimately bears the burden of
responsibility for the massacres and ethnic cleansing of civilians in
Kosovo.
STATE TERROR AND THE `FREE MARKET’
State terror and the “free market” seem to go hand in hand. The
concurrent “criminalisation” of State institutions in Kosovo is not
incompatible with the West’s economic and strategic objectives in the
Balkans. Notwithstanding the massacres of civilians, the self-proclaimed
KLA administration has committed itself to establishing a “secure and
stable environment” for foreign investors and international financial
institutions. The Minister of Finance Adem Grobozci and other
representatives of the provisional government invited to the various
donor conferences are all KLA appointees. In contrast, members of the
KDL of Ibrahim Rugova (duly elected in parliamentary elections) were not
even invited to attend the Stabilisation Summit in Sarajevo in late
July.
“Free market reforms” are envisaged for Kosovo under the supervision
of the Bretton Woods institutions largely replicating the structures of
the Rambouillet agreement. Article I (Chapter 4a) of the Rambouillet
Agreement stipulated that: “The economy of Kosovo shall function in
accordance with free market principles”. The KLA government will largely
be responsible for implementing these reforms and ensuring that loan
conditionalities are met.
In close liaison with NATO, the Bretton Woods institutions had
already analysed the consequences of an eventual military intervention
leading to the military occupation of Kosovo: almost a year prior to the
beginning of the War, the World Bank conducted “simulations” which
“anticipated the possibility of an emergency scenario arising out of the
tensions in Kosovo.”49
The eventual “reconstruction” of Kosovo financed by international
debt largely purports to transfer Kosovo’s extensive wealth in mineral
resources and coal to multinational capital. In this regard, the KLA has
already occupied (pending their privatisation) the largest coal mine at
Belacevac in Dobro Selo northwest of Pristina. In turn, foreign capital
has its eyes rivetted on the massive Trepca mining complex which
constitutes “the most valuable piece of real estate in the Balkans, worth at least $5 billion.”50
The Trebca complex not only includes copper and large reserves of zinc
but also cadmium, gold, and silver. It has several smelting plants, 17
metal treatment sites, a power plant and Yugoslavia’s largest battery
plant. Northern Kosovo also has estimated reserves of 17 billion tons of
coal and lignite.
In the wake of the bombings, the management of many of the State
owned enterprises and public utilities were taken over by KLA
appointees. In turn, the leaders of the Provisional Government of Kosovo
(PGK) have become “the brokers” of multinational capital committed to
handing over the Kosovar economy at bargain prices to foreign investors.
The IMF’s lethal “economic therapy” will be imposed, the provincial
economy will be dismantled, agriculture will be deregulated, local
industrial enterprises which have not been totally destroyed will be
driven into bankruptcy. The most profitable State assets will eventually
be transferred into the hands of foreign capital under the World Bank
sponsored privatisation programme. “Strong economic medicine” imposed by
external creditors will contribute to further boosting a criminal
economy (already firmly implanted in Albania) which feeds on poverty and
economic dislocation.
“The Allies will work with the rest of the
international community to help rebuild Kosovo once the crisis is over:
The International Monetary Fund and Group of Seven industrialized
countries are among those who stand ready to offer financial help to the
countries of the region. We want to ensure proper coordination of aid
and help countries to respond to the effects of the crisis. This should
go hand in hand with the necessary structural reforms in the countries
affected helped by budget support from the international community.”51
Morever, the so-called “reconstruction” of the Balkans by foreign
capital will signify multibillion contracts to foreign firms to rebuild
Kosovo’s infrastructure. More generally, the proposed “Marshall Plan”
for the Balkans financed by the World Bank and the European Development
Bank (EBRD) as well as private creditors will largely benefit Western
mining, petroleum and construction companies while fuelling the region’s
external debt well into the third millennium.
And Kosovo is slated to reimburse this debt through the laundering of
dirty money. Yugoslav banks in Kosovo will be closed down, the banking
system will be deregulated under the supervision of Western financial
institutions. Narcodollars from the multibillion dollar Balkans drug
trade will be recycled towards servicing the external debt as well as
“financing” the costs of “reconstruction.” The lucrative flow of
narcodollars thus ensures that foreign investors involved in the
“reconstruction” programme will be able reap substantial returns. In
turn, the existence of a Kosovar “narco State” ensures the orderly
reimbursement of international donors and creditors. The latter are
prepared to turn blind eye. They have a tacit vested interest in
installing a government which facilitates the laundering of drug money.
The pattern in Kosovo is, in this regard, similar to that observed in
neighbouring Albania. Since the early 1990s (culminating with the
collapse of the financial pyramids in 1996-97), the IMF’s reforms have
impoverished the Albanian population while spearheading the national
economy into bankruptcy. The IMF’s deadly economic therapy transforms
countries into open territories. In Albania and to a lesser extent
Macedonia, it has also contributed to fostering the growth of illicit
trade and the criminalisation of State institutions.
NOTES
1. Jim Lehrer News Maker Interview, PBS, 26 July 1999.
2. Stratfor Commentary, “Growing Threat of Serbian Paramilitary Action in Kosovo”, 29 July 1999.
3. Human Rights Watch, 3 August 1999.
4. See Michael Radu, “Don’t Arm the KLA”, CNS Commentary from the Foreign Policy Research Institute, 7 April, 1999).
5. Tanjug Press Dispatch, 14 May 1999.
6. Stratfor Comment, “Rugova Faced with a Choice of Two Losses”, Stratfor, 29 July 1999.
7. Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Yugoslav Daily Survey, Belgrade, 29 June 1999.
8. Hina Press Dispatch, Zagreb, 26 July 1999.
9. Ibid.
10. BBC Report, London, 5 July 1999.
11. New York Times, 2 February 1999.
12. Financial Times, London, 4 August 1999.
13. See Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, Mission in Kosovo, Decision 305, Permanent
Council, 237th Plenary Meeting, PC Journal No. 237, Agenda item 2,
Vienna, 1 July 1999.
14. Statement at the Sarajevo Summit, 31 July 1999.
15. 106th Congress, April 15, HR 1425.
16. Interview with KLA Chief of Staff Commander Agim Ceku, Kosovapress, 31 July 1999.
17. See Tammy Arbucki, “Building a Bosnian Army”, Jane International Defence Review, August 1997.
18. Ibid.
19. Military Professional Resources, Inc, “Personnel Needs”, http://www.mpri.com/current/personnel.htm
20. Associated Press Report.
21. Ibid.
22. The actual number of civilians killed or missing was much larger.
23. Quoted in Raymond Bonner, War Crimes Panel Finds Croat Troops Cleansed the Serbs, New York Times, 21 March 1999).
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Raymond Bonner, op cit.
27. Ken Silverstein, “Privatizing War”, The Nation, New York, 27 July 1997.
28. See Mark Thompson et al, “Generals for Hire”, Time Magazine, 15 January 1996, p. 34.
29. Quoted in Silverstein, op cit.
30. Mark Thompson et al, op cit.
31. Raymond Bonner, op cit.
32. Ibid.
33. ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, 24 March 1999).
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. See inter alia Reuters dispatch, 21
October 1993 on the use of chemical grenades, a New York Times report on
31 October 1992 on the use of poisoned gas).
37. Lewis MacKenzie, “Giving our soldiers the benefit of the doubt”, National Post, 2 August 1999.
38. Slobodna Dalmacija, Split, Croatia, August 5 1996.
39. Scott Taylor and Brian Nolan, The Sunday Sun, Toronto, 2 November 1998.
40. Ibid.
41. United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-first session, Item 9 of the provisional agenda, Geneva, 21 December 1994).
42. (See Memorandum on the Violation of the Human and Civil Rights of the Serbian People in the Republic of Croatia,
http://serbianlinks.freehosting.net/memorandum.htm
43. Excerpts from the book of Scott Taylor and Brian Nolan published in the Toronto Sun, 1 November 1998.
44. Ibid.
45. NATO Press Briefing, 14 May 1999.
46. For further details see Michel Chossudovsky, Kosovo `Freedom Fighters’ Financed by Organized Crime, CAQ, Spring-Summer 1999.
47. Jane’s Defence Weekly, Vol 25, No. 7, 14 February 1996.
48. Ibid.
49. World Bank Development News, Washington, 27 April 1999.
50. New York Times, July 8, 1998, report by Chris Hedges.
51. Statement by Javier Solano, Secretary General of NATO, published in The National Post, Toronto May 1999.
Michel Chossudovsky is the author of the international best America’s “War on Terrorism”
Second Edition, Global Research, 2005. He is Professor of Economics at
the University of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on
Globalization.
To order Chossudovsky’s book America’s “War on Terrorism”, click here
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