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Dear Miroslav, You might have spared us this one, from the notorious Conrad Black's National Post. A far better feature from the same source was that of former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia, James Bisset, of a few days ago. Two wrongs don't make a right, and the fact that the criminal aggression against Yugoslavia four years ago had even less 'justification' than the current one against Iraq doesn't make the latter justified itself. Respectfully, Rick --- Miroslav Antic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK > --------------------------- > > > <http://www.nationalpost.ca/home/story.html?id={> > http://www.nationalpost.ca/home/story.html?id={0415D939-43E6-4260-9CBD-B > 47E06E43413} > > <http://www.nationalpost.ca/images/spacer.gif> > <http://www.nationalpost.ca/images/logo_np_news.gif> > > Friday > March 14 > 2003 > > > > > Why this Kosovo dove became an Iraq hawk > > George Jonas > National Post > > Wednesday, March 12, 2003 > > > Recently a reader took me to task for inconsistency. > "You were a dove > during the Kosovo war," she told me. "Why are you a > hawk on Iraq?" > > Madam, I'm glad you asked. > > I dislike war and oppose it as a matter of course > unless I'm convinced > that avoiding war is more dangerous. This definition > fits military > action to depose Saddam Hussein. It didn't fit the > North Atlantic Treaty > Organization's campaign against Slobodan Milosevic > and his government. > > For a start, whatever Milosevic did -- and he did > plenty -- he made no > attempt to develop weapons of mass destruction. > Yugoslavia never had > programs for nuclear, biological, or chemical > armaments. Unlike Saddam, > the Balkan dictator had no plans to use such weapons > himself or make > them available to international terrorists. > > Milosevic posed no threat to the West in general or > America in > particular. He had no hostile designs on any NATO > country. He didn't > want to export his thuggish rule, or even his > influence, outside the > borders of the former Yugoslavia. > > Saddam fancies himself a modern-day Saladin with > dreams of regaining > Jerusalem for the Arab nation. Milosevic had no > comparable ambitions. > > What Milosevic did want was distasteful enough. The > ex-Communist > dictator, reincarnated as a Serb nationalist, wanted > to hold together > the reluctant nations of the moribund Yugoslav > federation by brutal > force. In the course of doing so, he may well have > committed crimes > against humanity in Bosnia and Kosovo, for which > he's now being tried by > an international tribunal. > > The ethnic Albanian-Muslim majority of Kosovo was > unhappy in Yugoslavia. > Some wanted autonomy for their province; most wanted > to secede, either > to establish an independent state or to unite with > others in the region > to form a state of greater Albania. The Kosovo > Liberation Army employed > violence to achieve this goal, to which Milosevic > responded with > reprehensible measures that included attempts at > ethnic cleansing. > > Nasty as this was, it posed no threat to NATO. The > West had no stake in > greater Albania anymore than in greater Serbia. The > Dayton accords > specifically confirmed the territorial integrity of > what remained of > Yugoslavia. When NATO's intervention came, it was > based partly on > humanitarian considerations, and partly on ideals of > multiculturalism, > dear to Western liberals, but rather alien to both > sides of the warring > parties in Kosovo. > > This seemed to me inadequate as a reason for going > to war. The West was > interfering in a race in which it had no horse. NATO > didn't achieve > multiculturalism either: The Albanian Muslims > returned to Kosovo, then > ethnically cleansed most Serbs from it. > > When NATO attacked Milosevic, the Serb leader wasn't > in breach of 18 > previous UN Security Council resolutions. He hadn't > been warned to > disarm at the pain of "serious consequences" as UN > Resolution 1441 > warned Saddam. The attack on Milosevic, far from > being authorized, > hadn't even been canvassed at the United Nations. > NATO justified its > action by saying it was pointless to ask the UN for > authority because > the answer would be no. > > I'd be the last to suggest that a sovereign nation > (or a military > alliance) should never act without the blessing of > Kofi Annan's > apostolic seat in New York. I only think it's > incongruous when liberal > protesters, who cheered the flower children's war > against Milosevic > without any UN blessing at all, now find 18 such > blessings insufficient. > This week, if the Security Council votes down the > joint U.S.-UK-Spanish > proposal -- or if France and Russia exercise their > veto -- it will be > the United Nations refuting its own authority. If , > or rather when, the > U.S.-led coalition attacks Iraq it will be with the > specific mandate of > Resolution 1441, a mandate the leaders of NATO > didn't even seek against > Yugoslavia. > > I called the Kosovo conflict the flower children's > war because it was > Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder, Javier > Solana, and their > friends -- politicians who emerged from a '60s > generation of confused > peaceniks, eco-freaks, draft resisters, and flower > children -- who, > after a life-long opposition to NATO and everything > it stood for, > hijacked NATO to act out their mushy liberal > fantasies of fitting every > region into the Procrustean bed of a multicultural > dream. > > Some, like Mr. Blair, have since seen the light. > Others, like Mr. > Schroeder, are still in the dark. > > As a leader, Milosevic was a nasty piece of goods, > but compared to > Saddam the one-time communist apparatchik was Mother > Teresa. To go no > further, if Saddam had ever submitted to a type of > election he could > actually lose -- as Milosevic did -- the question of > Iraq would have > been settled 12 years go. > > In any genuine election involving the whole of Iraq > -- Kurds, Shiites > and all -- Saddam would have been defeated after the > Gulf War in 1991 as > surely as Milosevic was defeated after the war in > Kosovo. Of course, > it's hardly surprising that Saddam didn't expose > himself to Iraq's > voters. If he had, instead of sitting in Baghdad, he > might occupy a cell > next door to Milosevic in the Hague. The spectre of > international > prosecution doesn't encourage loathsome leaders to > relinquish their > office voluntarily or to submit themselves to the > gamble of elections -- > but that's another story. > > C Copyright 2003 National Post > > > <http://www.nationalpost.ca/components/printstory/printstory.asp?id=0415 > d939-43e6-4260-9cbd-b47e06e43413#> > <http://www.nationalpost.ca/images/L_dashed.gif> > <http://www.nationalpost.ca/images/spacer.gif> > Copyright C 2003 CanWest Interactive, > === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bdn7KI.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. 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