-> SNETNEWS Mailing List FROM BELGRADE, SERBIA The Special "Kosovo Crisis" Truth in Media Global Watch Bulletins, such as the one enclosed below, can also be accessed at our Web site: www.truthinmedia.org which is being updated throughout the day. DAY 26, Update 1 ----------------------- Apr. 18, 1999; 3:00PM GMT HEADLINES Somewhere in Serbia 1. Angry Skies Over Serbia… Pancevo 2. Huge Toxic Cloud Unleashed by NATO Bombs Washington 3. Senator Inhofe Says Clinton's Illegal Troop Deployment Is Already Under Way India 4. Bharatiya Janata Party Condemns NATO Air Strikes Czech Rep. 5. A TiM Reader: Czech Polls Also Suspect; Sounds of NATO Aircraft Are Not Bulgaria 6. WSO President: "I Cannot Be Indifferent" ---------------------- 1. Angry Skies Over Serbia… A TOWN IN SERBIA, Apr. 18 - "What is the whether like where you are?", a young doctor asked a friend located in a town some 100 miles away. "Unfortunately, it's clear and sunny today." "Oh, shucks!" In most places around the globe, people cheer the "nice, sunny" days. In Serbia, they dread them. Because the deadly payloads which the NATO has been dropping on the country for 26 days now are likely to intensify in clear weather. Last night was clear night. And it was one of the most devastating in the northern part of Serbia. The town in which this writer spent the night was in the thick of things. The NATO "concert" started at about 8:40PM on April 17. At least that's when the air raid sirens went off. As the night progressed, the sounds of war symphony coupled with human agony grew louder until the final crescendo in the early morning hours. All the while, your editor stayed on-line, writing the Day 25 Bulletin, and occasionally answering the reports which we have been receiving daily from TiM's eyes and ears all over Serbia, and from around the world. Here's an excerpt from one such exchange with a journalist friend in New York, which took place "live" last night at 9:30PM GMT: JOURNALIST: "I do understand why you are so upbeat to be in Belgrade very much! I'm quite jealous myself. I so admire the Serbs and their defiance - God Bless them each and every one." TiM Ed.: "Thanks for your support… Right now, we are under another air attack. The anti-aircraft artillery is drowning out the sound of the airplanes' jet engines. Loud explosions all around. It's hard to see what is being hit. The only thing visible are the AAA tracer rounds. Yet here I am writing and hopefully sending this e-mail to you. Life goes on, as it will well after NATO's dogs of war are locked up in a kennel." Before that, however, they continue to bite everything in sight. Ten minutes after the above message was sent, a huge explosion shook the neighborhood. For a few seconds, the sky lit up as if it were the Fourth of July fireworks. Instead, another million dollar NATO/Pentagon missiles was blown to smithereens before reaching its designated target. Which appeared to be a nearby bridge (also see a photo of AAA fire over Belgrade - at our Web site). At about the same time, TiM's correspondents from Novi Sad reported that the second largest city in Serbia was once again under heavy attack. And again, the Novi Sad refinery, which has not been active for eight years (!), was among the NATO targets. The refinery ceased its production when the oil pipeline which runs through Croatia was cut off in 1991, when the civil war in the former Yugoslavia broke out. A few minutes later, a deep thud shook the ground in our neighborhood. In the morning, we found out that some empty barracks, a couple of miles away, which had been hit before, were hit again last night. Both that and the Novi Sad example, illustrate the pointlessness and ineffectiveness of NATO's bombings. They scare the local civilians out of their wits, night after night (and sometimes in broad daylight, too), without achieving any military objectives whatsoever. (continued in the next story…) 2. Huge Toxic Cloud Unleashed by NATO Bombs PANCEVO, Apr. 18 - Last night's attack against a Pancevo chemical factory was a case in point (see above). The NATO bombs caused huge fires which released toxic fumes into the atmosphere. This afternoon, as your editor returned to Belgrade, a plume of black smoke was visible from 50 miles away. And even now, at about 3PM GMT, the black toxic cloud is clearly visible over the northeastern Belgrade suburbs from this writer's hotel. For your information, Pancevo is about as close to downtown Belgrade as Central Park is to the World Trade Towers in New York. Here's an excerpt from an e-mail which we've just received from two professors of the Belgrade University: "We are faced with serious ecological catastrophe. Heavy bombing of the factories of the Petrochemical Complex in Pancevo has been repeated* last night (18th April, about 01:00 local time). Ammonia plant ("Azotara") and Vinyle Chloride Monomere (VCM) plant ("Petrohemija") have been destroyed completely. Huge dark cloud appeared over the city of Pancevo (northern suburb of Belgrade). The cloud is expanding in northwest direction. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica vinyl chloride, also called chloroethylene, a colourless, flammable, toxic gas belonging to the family of organic halogen compounds, is used principally in making polyvinyl chloride, an important synthetic resin. Prolonged exposure of humans and laboratory animals to vinyl chloride vapor has been linked to several forms of cancer. Huge dark cloud is now spreading over the territory of Southeastern Europe. VCM is over our heads. Who has the right to do that?" M. Sci. Dmitar Lakusic, President, Ass. Prof. Dr. Radoje Lausevic, Secretary, Serbian Ecological Society, Univ. Belgrade, Faculty of Biology. --- * TiM Ed.: - The Pancevo chemical factory was first hit on Apr. 15, the day your editor arrived in Belgrade. "Unfortunately but unavoidably a large number of people were injured and intoxicated," said Dr. Slobodan Tresac, Director General of HIP PETROHEMIJA, in a press release. "At this moment we do not know the exact number of intoxicated and injured civilians who were evacuated." Due to the power failure and utilities and auxiliary fluids interruption a large quantity of combustible, explosive and toxic matters remained trapped in the equipment, installations and tanks. "It will take a lot of time to drain and evacuate all those matters from the plants before the plants could be considered safe for a wide surrounding area," Dr. Tresac said. "According to all the terms and rules of warfare accepted and followed so far, the plants of chemical process industries of this type have never been military targets or objects of air strikes. The range of products of "HIP Petrohemija" d.p. Pancevo is of extremely civilian nature, and bombardment of these plants represents the worst war crime, and it reveals genocidal intentions of the aggressor," said Dr. Tresac. "Therefore, we call upon the petrochemical producers, licensors and engineering houses all over the world to raise their voice and warn those who give orders for bombing of the danger and catastrophic consequences which might be caused by bombing of these kinds of plants." --- TiM Ed.: And the people who committed this crime, not only against humanity, but against nature - Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schroeder, Madeleine Albright, Sam Berger, William Cohen, Wesley Clark, and other NATO leaders, have the nerve to talk about "genocide?" As if echoing our condemnation, a powerful thunderstorm is rolling right now over Belgrade. Fortunately, the wind is from the southwest, thus driving the toxic cloud away from the city. What NATO has attempted to do, God is undoing. Thank you, Lord. ------------ 5. Senator Inhofe Says Clinton's Illegal Troop Deployment Is Already Under Way WASHINGTON, Apr. 16 - Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, said today that the deployment of ground troops into the Yugoslavian “combat zone” has already begun, despite denials from the White House that the administration is even contemplating such a move. “For all practical purposes, the debate about ground troops is over,” Inhofe said. “As I predicted months ago, and as I warned at the outset of the air campaign, President Clinton has always wanted U.S. ground troops in Kosovo, they always knew that air power alone would not work, and now the initial deployments are going on as we speak. “The announcements this week, that 4,800 soldiers are being dispatched to staging areas in Albania to support our Apache helicopters and that up to 33,000 guard and reserve troops are being activated, tell the story. “Why are all these 4800 troops going in?," Sen. Inhofe asks. "Not simply to fly the Apaches that are being deployed. A typical Apache battalion numbers fewer than 400 troops. So why are the other 4,000 and more troops there? Because this is a dangerous environment, with no support infrastructure, that poses great risk to our forces on the ground. Indeed, the President this week declared Albania and other areas surrounding Kosovo as an official ‘combat zone’ for military pay purposes. And I am convinced this is only the beginning." “In my judgment, this deployment is not only a mistake, it a clear violation of the law. The Roberts Amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill specifically prohibits such troop deployments to Albania and other named countries in the Balkans before a series of conditions are met and notices are given to the Congress. This provision has not been fully complied with regarding the troop transfers with the Apaches.” Inhofe emphasized that this troop deployment and the combat zone designation were ordered this week directly by the President in his role as Commander-in-Chief. These actions were taken during the very week the President maintained in public statements that he has “no intention” to deploy ground troops. Inhofe said this kind of deception and dishonesty continues to undermine the President’s credibility with the public and with other countries throughout the world. Inhofe expressed concern for the safety and welfare of U.S. troops and emphasized that his statements today were motivated solely by a concern that the deployments to the Yugoslavian theater would serve to weaken the military’s ability to defend America and America’s truly vital security interests around the world. (http://www.senate.gov/%7Einhofe/pr041699.html) ---------------- 4. Bharatiya Janata Party Condemns NATO Air Strikes BELGRADE, Apr. 18 - We've just received a resolution passed by the National Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party of India which has joined a worldwide condemnation of NATO's attack on Serbia. Here is the text of the resolution: "The Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive deplores the NATO air strikes against Serbia. The bombing, in the guise of aiding the people of Kosovo, an integral part of Serbia, is an assault on a sovereign nation and an infringement of the well-established international norm that no nation shall interfere in the internal affairs of another nation. The air strikes are the first of their kind, especially because never before have NATO forces been sent into direct conflict. The air strikes have also set a dangerous precedent that cannot but cause concern to all nations who cherish their political sovereignty. The bombing is a unilateral action that ignores multilateral arrangements because Governments that control NATO forces did not seek the United Nations' approval neither did the issue come up before the UN Security Council prior to the air strikes. We reiterate our commitment to peaceful resolution of disputes. All freedom and peace loving nations, particularly members of NAM, must come forward to exert pressure on NATO to halt this assault on Serbia's sovereignty". ------------ 5. A TiM Reader: Czech Polls Also Rigged? Sounds of NATO Aircraft Are Not CZECH REPUBLIC, Apr 15 - The last 26 days have revealed a tremendous amount of deception perpetrated by Washington's "lie and deny" PR factory and its servants in the establishment media. Based on a report we've just received from a TiM correspondent in the Czech Republic, the media in this new NATO country are quick studies of Washington's dirty tricks. On Apr. 15, Czech TV hosted a debate about NATO's attack on Yugoslavia. Most of the people who participated in the discussion were critical of NATO's bombing, our correspondent says. Yet when a public phone poll was taken, the station announced that 3,662 callers were for the aggression, while 3,585 were again. An "amazing" coincidence , isn't it, with the alleged poll results in the U.S. offered by the establishment media? But the most interesting aspect of the "voting" was that the total number of callers equalled or exceeded the capacity of the phone lines, our observant Czech observer notes. "In my own private experience," he adds, about 60% of the Czech citizens are against the bombing; 30% are for it; and 10% have no opinion. But while the Czech polls may also be rigged, the sounds of NATO aircraft are real. "Every day, between 11PM and 1AM (local time), I hear overhead the sounds of the flying murderer-bombers enroute to Yugoslavia," our correspondent reports. --- TiM Ed.: Guess one needs not wonder how this Czech citizen feels about that… ------------ 6. WSO President: "I Cannot Be Indifferent" BULGARIA, Apr. 18 - We received the following letter through an anti-NATO listserv from Dr. Vladimir Russev, president of World Security Organization, an international non-governmental organization: "I apply to all of you as President of the World Security Organization. I cannot be indifferent to the illegal aggression against sovereign FR Yugoslavia. The military NATO aggression violates Article 1 and Chapter VII of the Charter of the UN. Unfortunately this happens on the verge of 21st Century. Impudently and before the eyes of the world community factories, bridges and homes were destroyed. Thousands of civilian Serbs and Albanians are killed. NATO bombs and missiles drove thousands of refugees. A group of NATO leaders headed by Clinton are accomplishing the military crimes against Yugoslavia and not the common people of their countries. The Kosovo Albanians already understood that they were misled. The position I am holding obligated me to be diplomatic. But if I remain indifferent now, this would mean that I become a party to the crime that is being committed against the people of Yugoslavia. I consider that my honor and dignity are more valuable than the 30 silver-pieces. At the present moment, every honest person and professional must choose his position and protect it. I chose mine and it is the position of the international law. I cannot change it like the leading world politicians are changing their own positions. I admire the dignity and boldness with which the people of Yugoslavia are fighting for its freedom. I am deeply convinced that nobody in the world is able to defeat a people fighting for its freedom and independence. The only way is to erase the entire nation from the face of the Earth. For such an attitude towards Yugoslavia, some high standing military and state leaders must be brought to a trial. If this does not happen they will be tried by history. Some years ago a lieutenant obliterated the Vietnam village Mai Lai was court-martialed. Should we wait easy that this happens now. It is time to say STOP THE CRIMES, WAR AND BOMBS! I thank you all of you for the efforts you are making for the Peace. You showed me that there really are wonderful people in the world protecting the freedom and democracy, protecting the futures of our children. You really have more honor and dignity than many state leaders. Now the Yugoslav people protect not only its freedom, but the freedom and dignity of every one of us. Belgrade is the capital of the Free World, and its bridges are the Bridges leading to the Future. Let's keep them save." Dr. Vladimir Russev, president of World Security Organization, an international non-governmental organization (http://members.spree.com/wso2000 ). ------------ NOTE: To cancel the e-mail editions of our reports, just reply REMOVE or UNSUBSCRIBE, followed by your e-mail address. ---- Bob Djurdjevic TRUTH IN MEDIA Phoenix, Arizona e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit the Truth in Media Web site http://www.truthinmedia.org/ for more articles on geopolitical affairs. -> Send "subscribe snetnews " to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -> Posted by: Bob Djurdjevic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
