Re: Kosovo and DU

But do you agree that Clinton-Gore should be brought up on War Crimes
charges for what they have done to the Iraqi people?

===================================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Pugliese" <debsian@pacbell.net>
To: <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: Kosovo and DU


> For Alan and others...IWPR does great work. Check out the Chechnya and
> Balkans Update lists there too. Now that B. Plavsic is on trial, I
suspexct
> that the former Bosnian Serb leadership around madman Karazdic is next.
And
> if y'all are gonna beat this dead horse about how many Kosovatrs were
killed
> how come no one on the hard left brings up the 200,000 killed (mostly
> Bosnian Muslims and Croats by the Serb neo-fascists with a Red-Brown
tinge
> ala Milosevic et. al.) during the Bosnian cinflict from the early 90's.
That
> is the foreground of the later slaughter by Milosevic et. al.
>                                         Michael Pugliese, just another
> petty-boorrrjjjwwaaah liberal intelectual (with a just above minimum wage
> job so I'm not sure about my P.B. class location, heh...)
>
>
> TRIBUNAL UPDATE 202
>
> Last Week in The Hague (December 4-9, 2000)
>
> GENERAL KRSTIC TRIAL  - Defence witness claims Mladic's intervention
spared
> Srebrenica an even worse fate
>
> KORDIC & CERKEZ TRIAL - Final witnesses called to the stand as trial draws
> to a close
>
> TUTA AND STELA CASE - Defendant pleads not guilty to amended charges
>
> CROATIAN PAPERS RISK CONTEMPT CHARGES -  Croatian newspapers warned
against
> publishing protected witness statements
>
> Tribunal Update is written by IWPR senior editor Mirko Klarin, a leading
> Hague court correspondent, and Vjera Bogati.
>
> ****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net **********
>
> GENERAL KRSTIC TRIAL  -  Defence witness claims Mladic's intervention
spared
> Srebrenica an even worse fate
>
> The bloodshed in Srebrenica would have been "much worse" but for the
> intervention of General Ratko Mladic, a defence witness in the Krstic
trial
> claimed last week.
>
> Yugoslav army general Radovan Radinovic, appearing as a military expert
for
> the defence, said the former Bosnian Serb army, VRS, commander altered an
> order from the entity's president Radovan Karadzic demanding the
> 'elimination' of the United Nations protected area.
>
> General Radislav Krstic, former commander of the VRS Drina Corps, is
charged
> with genocide for his alleged role in the Srebrenica massacres, which
> claimed the lives of  at least 7,500 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. Krstic's
> defence team claim Mladic had taken over control of the Srebrenica
operation
> from the defendant before the killings started.
>
> Radinovic faced a difficult task disputing the analysis of prosecution
> military experts, United States military intelligence analyst Richard
Butler
> and British Major General Richard Dannett (see Tribunal Updates Nos. 182,
> 185 and 186).
>
> The witness served as a senior officer in the former Yugoslav People's
Army
> and its successor, the Yugoslav army. He taught at military colleges and,
> during the Bosnian war, served as an advisor to ex federal president
Dobrica
> Cosic, a vocal advocate of Serbian nationalism.
>
> Radinovic began by challenging Butler and Dannett's claim that the
> Srebrenica operation - code named Krivaja 95 - was well-planned, complex
and
> precisely executed. He also disputed the presence of an effective chain of
> command, with Krstic at its head.
>
> The witness said Krivaja 95 was "not a big military operation". He
described
> the battle as "small in scope and of low intensity". Progress was slow,
> "with small losses on both sides and a very small degree of destruction."
>
> The aims, according to Radinovic, were to "prevent subversive terrorist
> incursions by members of the 28th Division [of the Bosnia-Herzegovina
Army],
> which violated the protected zone", to sever links between the Muslim
> enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa, and to reduce the size of the enclave.
>
> These goals were achieved on July 9, 1995, Radinovic said, when units from
> the Drina Corps took up their planned positions on high ground around
> Srebrenica.
>
> Then "a crazy plan to capture Srebrenica crossed someone's mind," the
> witness said.
>
> Radinovic said the decision to press on into Srebrenica was made by
> Karadzic, who as president of Bosnian Serbs was also supreme commander of
> the armed forces. Radinovic's conclusion was based on an order sent to the
> Drina Corps forward command post on July 9, 1995, which read "the
President
> of the Republic approves the continuation of the attack and the entry of
the
> VRS into Srebrenica."
>
> Radinovic veers off at this point from the defence's basic argument that
> Mladic had ordered the capture of Srebrenica and had taken over command of
> the operation from Krstic.
>
> But the witness did attribute responsibility for the crimes to the
> politicians and the police, who were under the control of the Bosnian Serb
> government.
>
> Due to the "balance of forces" between the VRS and the BiH Army's 28th
> Division, no soldier had considered capturing Srebrenica, Radinovic said.
He
> claimed BiH troops outnumbered the Bosnian Serb forces by almost 3 to 1.
>
> "Military doctrine," Radinovic said, dictated "attackers must
significantly
> outnumber defenders" in order to capture a town.
>
> That Srebrenica did fall, on July 11, 1995, was due more to the failings
of
> the 28th Division and the BiH Army's supreme command. The international
> community was also partly responsible, he said.
>
> The 28th Division failed to defend the town effectively even though it had
> sufficient manpower and arms to hold out "long enough for the
international
> community to get involved," Radinovic said.
>
> A decisive defence of the town would have forced the UN mechanism to act,
> Radinovic argued. He said the international community's decision not to
take
> any action was "irresponsible".
>
> Radinovic said blame rested not only with the Dutch UN Protection Force
> Battalion in Srebrenica, but also with the then High Representative Carl
> Bildt, UN Representative Yasushi Akashi and the commander of UN forces in
> Bosnia, British General Rupert Smith.
>
> Had these officials come to Srebrenica on July 11 and 12, 1995, the
> 'consequences' of the town's capture could have been avoided, Radinovic
> said.
>
> Radinovic did not deny the mass execution of prisoners of war, but said
most
> of the casualties were the result of heavy fighting between Drina corps
> units and troops of the 28th BiH Army division, which were trying to break
> through to Tuzla.
>
> "The intensity of the fighting was so great," Radinovic said, "it is
> realistic to express the losses in the thousands, rather than hundreds."
>
> He criticised VRS headquarters for failing to "register properly" where
BiH
> Army soldiers were buried. Radinovic said those BiH officers responsible
for
> the decision to try and break through VRS lines must have realised what
the
> likely consequences would be and that they had in effect "sacrificed the
> 28th Division."
>
> That the bulk of the Drina Corps was involved in an operation near Zepa
was
> "lucky", Radinovic said, otherwise the losses experienced by those trying
to
> get to Tuzla "would have been even graver."
>
> Radinovic faced three and half days of cross-examination by prosecutors
last
> week. British Major Andrew Caley led the prosecution's questioning.
>
> Caley immediately homed in on the directive from Karadzic, issued in June
> 1995. Radinovic described the directive as a "list of desirable aims" and
> not as a binding order governing military operations.
>
> In the directive, Karadzic called for "daily planned and thought out
combat
> operations" to create "conditions and total insecurity, intolerability and
> make impossible the further survival of life of the inhabitants in
> Srebrenica and Zepa."
>
> Under pressure from the judges, Radinovic was forced to agree with the
> prosecutor this was a directive "to eliminate the Srebrenica enclave."
>
> But Radinovic insisted Mladic, in his order (directive 7.1), had changed
the
> Karadzic directive, deliberately replacing the phrase "elimination of
> Srebrenica" with "active military actions around the enclave" because he
> understood all too well what Karadzic's order could lead to.
>
> "It was good that he did," said Radinovic, "because the consequences would
> have been much worse."
>
>
> KORDIC & CERKEZ TRIAL - Final witnesses called to the stand as trial draws
> to a close
>
> The trial of Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez, accused of crimes against
> Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) civilians in central Bosnia, is finally drawing
to
> a close.
>
> Final witnesses in the 19-month long case were called last week and
closing
> arguments from the prosecution and defence counsels are scheduled for
> December 14 and 15.
>
> The final prosecution witness was Halid Genjac, a member of the
> Bosnia-Herzegovina tripartite presidency. During the Bosnian war, Genjac
was
> president of the Bosniak Muslim Party of Democratic Action, SDA, in
Travnik.
>
> "From the beginning, the HDZ [Croatian Democratic Union] obstructed
> municipal political life," Genjac said. "That ended in complete blockade."
>
> In 1992, he said, "a kind of ultimatum" was issued demanding Bosniaks join
> the Croatian Defence Force, or HVO. "We stressed recognition of the HVO
> government would be unconstitutional. The government in Travnik could not
be
> named after only one people."
>
> According to Genjac, the only legal institutions in the town were the
> municipal presidency and the executive board.
>
> Kordic, as former vice-president of the so-called Croatian Community of
> Herceg-Bosna and of the HDZ in Bosnia-Herzegovina, is charged with making
> the most important political decisions in central Bosnia.
>
> The defence claim Kordic exercised no political power. Genjac, however,
said
> the local Croatian leadership in Travnik "asked or quoted Kordic."
>
> Last week, the judges also accepted as evidence several documents gleaned
> from Croatian archives.
>
> Of the large volume of material submitted by the prosecution, only 16
> documents were accepted by the judges as meeting their strict criteria for
> the admission of new evidence at such a late stage in proceedings.
>
> The documents - HVO reports, orders and the logbook of the HVO central
> Bosnia command - were deemed "sufficiently significant" for their adoption
> at such a late stage in the trial.
>
> At this stage, it is difficult to assess the new evidence presented
because
> not all the exhibits were read out in public and some of the prosecution's
> witnesses did not testify in open court.
>
> The new evidence includes allegations concerning Kordic's participation at
a
> meeting of central Bosnia political and military leaders in Vitez on April
> 15, 1993 - the eve of the Lasva valley HVO offensive.
>
> It is alleged those at the meeting laid down plans for the attacks against
> Bosniaks the following day.
>
> Kordic's defence team called three witnesses, HVO political and military
> officials, to testify that the accused was not present at the meeting and
> that they also knew nothing of it.
>
> Cerkez's lawyers focused on evidence implicating the accused in organising
> the attack on Ahmici on April 16, 1993, which left over 100 Bosniak
> civilians dead.
>
> The defence argued that reports sent by Cerkez, then commander of the HVO
> Vitez brigade, to his superiors about the "advances of the HVO forces on
> Ahmici" did not imply the defendant knew of or had responsibility for the
> massacre in the village.
>
>
> TUTA AND STELA CASE - Defendant pleads not guilty to amended charges
>
> Mladen "Tuta" Naletilic and Vinko "Stela" Martinovic pleaded not guilty
last
> week to amended charges concerning their alleged abuse of prisoners.
>
> The two men were accused of forcing prisoners to carry out dangerous
> military tasks such as transporting ammunition across front lines and
> drawing enemy fire.
>
> The charges constitute violations of the laws or customs of war and -
> following an amendment to the indictment relating to "dangerous and
> humiliating labour" - grave breaches of the Geneva Convention.
>
> Naletilic, former commander of the Convicts' Battalion, and Martinovic,
> former commander of the battalion's anti-terrorist unit, are accused of
> persecuting Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) in and around Mostar in 1993 and
> early 1994.
>
> The prosecution claims the defendants were responsible for attacks on
> civilians, illegal detention of civilians and of inhuman treatment of
> prisoners under their control. They are also charged with murder, the
forced
> expulsion of people and theft.
>
> Martinovic and Naletilic pleaded not guilty to all the original charges
> during their initial hearings shortly after their arrival at The Hague.
> Croatia extradited Martinovic in August 1999 and Naletilic in March 2000.
>
> Trial preparations are still underway. Pre-trial judge Patricia Wald has
> asked the prosecution to reduce the number of witnesses it plans to call
to
> between 50 and 60 and for the prosecution and defence to aim to present
> their respective cases within ten weeks.
>
> One unresolved pre-hearing issue is the prosecution's intention to include
> as material evidence affidavits from witnesses scheduled to be interviewed
> by representatives from the prosecutor's office.
>
> Martinovic is demanding to be present when the witnesses give their
> statements, because he argues this would contribute to their accuracy and
> reliability.
>
> The start date for the trial has yet to be set. "What we can say now is
that
> this chamber will tell both sides some time in March when this trial will
> begin," presiding judge Almiro Rodrigues said.
>
> The three trial judges have said on several occasions the cases could be
> heard by a different trial chamber due to their already pressing workload
> with the Srebrenica and Omarska hearings. Given the recent announcement of
> 27 additional temporary judges for the tribunal, a change of chamber looks
> even more likely.
>
>
> CROATIAN PAPERS RISK CONTEMPT CHARGES - Croatian newspapers warned against
> publishing protected witness statements
>
> Two Croatian newspapers, the weekly Globus and the daily paper Slobodna
> Dalmacija, could face contempt of court charges following their
publication
> of statements by Croatian President Stipe Mesic during a closed tribunal
> hearing in 1998.
>
> The statements were given by Mesic in April 1998 during the trial of
former
> Bosnian Croat commander Tihomir Blaskic. Mesic was given protected status
> and allowed to give evidence in a closed session.
>
> On December 1, the tribunal judges which originally heard the Blaskic
case,
> issued an order requesting the Croatian papers stop publishing statements
by
> protected witnesses. The order warned, "any publication of these
statements
> and testimonies shall expose its authors and those responsible to be found
> in contempt of the tribunal."
>
> The court also asked the Croatian authorities to take steps to halt
further
> publication of the statements.
>
> But on December 6, Slobodna Dalmacija published another transcript from a
> closed court session involving the Croatian president. In his introduction
> to the story, the newspaper's editor- in-chief, Josip Jovic, said he had
> disregarded the Tribunal's order because "there is an understandable
public
> interest in The Hague testimony of the current head of state."
>
> "The institution of keeping secrets does not apply to newspapers," Jovic
> added.
>
> The tribunal has yet to react to the Slobodna Dalmacija article.
>
> Tribunal spokesman Jim Landale said publication of protected material was
> "foolish and irresponsible". He reiterated the publication of such
material
> could constitute contempt of court. "It is up to the trial chamber to take
> what measures it thinks necessary," Landale said, adding this could
include
> summoning a person to The Hague to respond to contempt of court charges.
>
> On December 7, the Croatian government said it had no information on how
the
> newspapers got hold of Mesic's testimony. It said the government did not
> have cited minutes of Mesic's court appearance and did not know who the
> sources of such disclosures could be.
>
> Immediately after Mesic appeared at The Hague, material relating to his
> testimony leaked to the Croatian press. The reappearance of stories two
> years on, and well into Mesic's presidency, suggests the revelations have
> more to do with Croatian domestic politics than anything else.
>
> Criticism in Croatia that the Tribunal court order amounted to
"censorship"
> and "interference with the freedom of the media" met short shrift from
> prosecutor's office spokeswoman Florence Hartmann.
>
> "Publishing information given to the Tribunal through testimonies is not a
> problem - their content will be known to the public through the court
> sentences in any case," Hartmann said. "But the problem is when a witness
> who gave them is identified because that will affect the readiness of
other
> witnesses to make a statement before the Tribunal."
>
> "The publication of protected witnesses' names only makes it harder for
> prosecutors to collect information on crimes, and hence in establishing
the
> truth and administering justice."
>
> ****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net*********
>
> These weekly reports, produced since 1995, detail events and issues at the
> International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The
> Hague, providing an independent and comprehensive account of the war
crimes
> process.
>
> Copyright (c) 2000 The Institute for War & Peace Reporting.
>
> Tribunal Update is produced under IWPR's Tribunal Monitoring Project. The
> project seeks to contribute to regional and international understanding of
> the war-crimes prosecution process.
>
> IWPR gratefully acknowledges the Swedish International Development Agency
> and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office for support for this project,
as
> w ell as general support from the Ford Foundation.
>
> Articles are available, with permission, for free republication within the
> region.
>
> The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) is a London-based
independent
> non-profit organisation supporting regional media and democratic change.
>
> Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, United Kingdom
> Tel: (44 171) 713 7130 Fax: (44 171) 713 7140  E-mail info@iwpr.net
>
> For further information on this project and other reporting services and
> media programmes, as well as details for subscribing and unsubscribing,
> visit IWPR's Website: <www.iwpr.net>.
>
> Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden. Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan. Associate
> Editor: Gordana Igric. Assistant Editors: Alan Davis and Heather Milner.
> Editorial Assistant: Mirna Jancic. Kosovo Project Manager: Llazar Semini.
> Translation: Alban Mitrushi and others.
>
> The opinions expressed in "Tribunal Update" are those of the authors and
do
> not necessarily represent those of the publication or of IWPR.`
>
> IWPR'S TRIBUNAL UPDATE, NO. 202
>
>
>
> {#} ----------------------------------------------------+[
trienglish ]+---
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Spector <spectors@netnitco.net>
> To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
> Date: Monday, January 15, 2001 9:05 AM
> Subject: Re: Kosovo and DU
>
>
> >Immediately just before the NATO bombing on Yugoslavia began, the reports
> >were that 2,000 Kosovar Albanians had been murdered over the past two
years
> >and that as many as 50,000, perhaps even 100,000 were about to be
murdered.
> >After the bombing, there was a massive forced displacement of Kosovar
> >Albanians, including the murders of an unknown number.  Despite the best
> >efforts of U.S. technology, including FBI forensic experts, satellite
> >photos, etc, current estimates of bodies found range between 600 and
2,000,
> >and some of them might be Serbian victims.  Somewhere between 500 and
1500
> >Yugoslavians were killed as a direct result of the NATO bombing, and it
is
> >difficult to estimate how many more deaths will result from the
> consequences
> >of bombing roads and bridges, which doubtless has caused more deaths as
> >people in critical situations may be unable to get quick medical care.
> >
> >About the two years prior to the bombing and the initial US/NATO
rationale
> >of two thousand murders -- Kosovo has about 2 million people. Two
thousand
> >constitutes a murder rate of one/thousand, over two years.  Gary, Indiana
> >which adjoins my city of Hammond, has about 100,000 people and
> approximately
> >one hundred murders per year, or about one/thousand over one year. Gary
has
> >twice the murder rate that Kosovo had.
> >
> >But that was enough of an excuse for US/NATO which was carrying on the
> older
> >imperial British strategy of destabilizing regions to keep them weak and
> >vulnerable, without actually having to physically occupy them.
> >
> >It is true that some Serb military forces did commit war crimes. No doubt
> >there were individual soldiers, even perhaps some high ranking military
> >officers who approved the execution of civilians. But nothing like the
> >ridiculous lies we were fed about 25,000 or 50,000. And if "depleted
> >uranium" does cause cancer among civilians, if various other actions such
> as
> >bombing chemical plants caused civilian deaths, then the charge of "war
> >crimes" must be applied to the US/NATO effort. And all this pales in
> >comparison to the massive civilian deaths caused by the US led embargo
> >against the Iraqi people, and of course the Vietnam War. And how come
> people
> >are developing amnesia about the massive civilian deaths the U.S.
military
> >caused in Vietnam, as well as destabilizing the rest of Southeast Asia
and
> >laying the basis for many more outside Vietnam?  Why are people who
condemn
> >imperialism considered "fringe" or "hysterical"?  Because the mainstream
> >liberal intellectuals serve their masters by lying outright in propaganda
> >service to these mass murderers. And no, that's not exaggeration.
> >
> >Alan Spector
> >
> >
> >Alan Spector
> >
> >
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: <franka@fiu.edu>
> >To: <wwagar@binghamton.edu>
> >Cc: <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
> >Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2001 7:23 PM
> >Subject: Re: Kosovo and DU
> >
> >
> >> everything warren says is right - except the second sentence.
> >> there is no evidence of any such campaign, and the NATO/Brit "defense'
> >> minister-now NATO head's, claim of 10,000 then 100,000 Albian massacred
> at
> >> Serb hands has turned out by Nato and other forenscic teams to have
been
> >> less  than 2,000 - far too many but far fewer  than necessary to whip
up
> >> popular support for the NATO mission = to expand eastward, and of the
> >> 2,000 many were Albanian combatants and others probably were also
> >> Serbs. And as to the alleged Serb plan that Warren refers to,
> >> 1. the Germans invented an alleged such plan, which was then shown to
be
> a
> >> hoax, even in leaked German foreing ministry reports and [all another
> >> Tonkin Gulf and incubator babies in Kuwait]
> >> 2. many Albanians fled into Serbia - from NATO!
> >>
> >> to beOn Sun, 14 Jan 2001 wwagar@binghamton.edu wrote:
> >>
> >> > Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 19:37:08 -0500 (EST)
> >> > From: wwagar@binghamton.edu
> >> > To: wsn@csf.colorado.edu
> >> > Subject: Kosovo and DU
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > The well-deserved flap about DU should not obscure the fundamental
> >> > evil involved in the U.S./NATO rampage against Serbia.  I do not
doubt
> >> > that Serbia had in mind a campaign that would drive many ethnic
> >Albanians
> >> > over the border, with ethnic Albanian casualties in the process pour
> >> > encourager les autres.  The U.S. once engaged in "Indian wars" to
> effect
> >> > the same result.  Be that as it may.
> >> >
> >> > The real point is that the United States and its "allies"
> >> > intervened in the affairs of a Balkan republic in the hope of
teaching
> a
> >> > lesson, to wit:  do not adjust your television sets, we are in
control,
> >> > and we will bomb into submission anybody who resists us.  If it helps
> us
> >> > to demolish your tanks by resorting to nuclear weapons, so be it.  We
> >are
> >> > above the law, if law there be, and we will use our technology to
slice
> >> > you to ribbons.  Should any civilians on the ground die in the
process,
> >so
> >> > much the worse for them!  We're not trying to save them, anyway,
we're
> >> > trying to assert our hegemony.  Should any of our precious
peacekeepers
> >> > die in the process, well, we never promised them a rose garden.
> >Besides,
> >> > they're not us!  They're expendable, right?
> >> >
> >> > Of course the ultimate jest is the "D" in "DU."  The uranium is
> >> > depleted for any serious use in weapons or energy production, but if
it
> >> > remains radioactive for several millennia, hey, that's life!  Or
> >> > half-life.  Or death. ...
> >> >
> >> > Yours in disgust,
> >> >
> >> > Warren
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >>
> >>                  ANDRE  GUNDER  FRANK
> >>
> >>          1601 SW  83rd Avenue, Miami, FL.  33155 USA
> >>       Tel: 1-305-266  0311   Fax:  1-305  266 0799
> >>              E-Mail :  franka@fiu.edu
> >>    Web/Home Page:  http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
>