>=========================== >The Committee for National Solidarity >Tolstojeva 34, 11000 Belgrade, YU > >The URL for this article is >http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/willful.htm >NATO Willfully Triggered An Environmental Catastrophe In Yugoslavia > > >by Michel Chossudovsky (6-18-00) > >Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa, author of "The Globalization >of Poverty, Third World Network, Penang, Zed Books, London, 1997. > >By using thermal images, NATO was able to identify which of the tanks were >still filled with toxic chemicals. If NATO's objective were to solely >disable the plant without the risk of "collateral" environmental damage, >they could have done it by smart bombing the equipment and machinery. Why >did they also need to hit with utmost accuracy the tanks containing noxious >liquids? The "smart bombs" were not dumb; they knew where to go. NATO had >singled out the containers, tanks and reservoirs, which still contained >toxic materials. According to the Pancevo plant director, NATO did not hit a >single empty container. "This was not accidental; they chose to hit those >that were full and these chemicals spilled into the canal leading to the >Danube." >The air raids on the Pancevo industrial complex located in the outskirts of >Belgrade started on April 4th 1999 and continued relentlessly until the 7th >of June. The Pancevo complex included an oil refinery facility (built with >technical support from Texaco) and a Nitrogen Processing Plant producing >fertilizer for Yugoslav agriculture. The petrochemical plant was bombed >extensively (41 bombs and 7 missile attacks). The bombed areas of the >complex were less than two hundred meters from residential buildings. > >At the outset of the "humanitarian air raids -- in a well-led public >relations stunt -- NATO had reassured World opinion " that "precise >targeting" using sophisticated weaponry was intended to avoid "collateral >damage" including environmental hazards: > >"We do everything we possibly can to avoid unnecessary collateral damage. We >take it very seriously, work very hard at doing that, spend a lot of time >planning for the missions."1 >At Pancevo, however, exactly the opposite occurred. "State of the art" >aerial surveillance and thermal detection systems were not only used to >disable and destroy Yugoslavia's petrochemical industry; they were willfully >applied to trigger an environmental disaster. > >At the beginning of the war, workers at the plant had been actively involved >in removing toxic materials from the site, emptying several large tanks and >containers of toxic chemicals precisely to avert the risks of "collateral >damage." They did not realize NATO was watching them through air-to-ground >surveillance systems as well as satellite images. Using thermal detection, >NATO military planners knew which of the containers had been emptied and >which remained full. How does that work? All objects including the >containers of toxic chemicals in the Pancevo plant emit infrared radiation. >A thermal imager from a spy satellite or an aircraft can detect infrared >radiation and convert its readings into a high-resolution video or snap >picture. > >The thermal imager can detect temperature differentials as small as 0.1 >degrees centigrade which enables it to distinguish without difficulty >between full and empty containers. The thermal images can be generated from >a device installed on the fuselage of an aircraft. NATO warplanes were >equipped with various advanced imaging systems including just such >infrared/electro-optical sensors. > >Moreover, multispectral thermal imaging satellite systems routinely used >during the Gulf war were also used by NATO in Yugoslavia. Thermal satellite >images were relayed to the Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) in Vicenza, >Italy where the bombing raids weere carefully planned. U2 spy planes were >also used: In the words of a Pentagon spokesman, the U2 "snaps a picture >from very high altitude, beams it back in what we call a reach-back, to the >States where it is very quickly analyzed." And from there, "the right >targeting data" is relayed to the CAOC base in Vincenza which then "passes >[it] on to people in the cockpit". 2 > >NATO planners also had detailed information on the layout of the plant, >which had been built on contract with a US multinational engineering company >Foster Wheeler (a firm specializing in the construction of petrochemical and >polymer plants). NATO knew exactly where things were. In a cruel irony, US >investment in Yugoslavia (financed with loans from the World Bank) was being >demolished by Uncle Sam. Did the pilots sitting in the cockpit know that >they were bombing a plant which was "Made in America?" > >A large number of the containers had been emptied. By using thermal images, >NATO was able to identify which of the tanks were still filled with toxic >chemicals. Among these noxious liquids were containers of >ethylene-dichloride (EDC), ethylene, chlorine, chlorine-hydrogen, propylene >and vinyl chloride monomers (VCM). Well documented by environmentalists, the >VCM monomer used to produce plastics (eg. PVC resin) is a dangerous >cancerogenic groundwater contaminant (see photo 2). Vinyl chloride also has >the potential to cause neurological and liver damage, as well as damage to >the fetus causing birth defects. > >If NATO's objective were to solely disable the plant without the risk of >"collateral" environmental damage, they could have done it by smart bombing >the equipment and machinery. Why did they also need to hit with utmost >accuracy the tanks containing noxious liquids? The "smart bombs" were not >dumb; they knew where to go. NATO had singled out the containers, tanks and >reservoirs, which still contained toxic materials. According to the Pancevo >plant director, NATO did not hit a single empty container. "This was not >accidental; they chose to hit those that were full and these chemicals >spilled into the canal leading to the Danube". > >The containers that contained deadly chemicals were deliberately blown up. > >When the smart bombs hit their targets at Pancevo with impressive accuracy >(see photos below), noxious fluids and fumes were released into the >atmosphere, water and soil. > >According to the petrochemical plant director, the ethylene-dichloride (EDC) >spillovers had contaminated 10 hectares of land on and in the vicinity of >the plant. 3 > >The soil is still soaked with toxic ethylene-dichloride. According to a >report of the Regional Environment Center for Central and Eastern Europe >(REC) "more than one thousand tons of ethylene dichloride spilled from the >Pancevo petrochemical complex into the Danube [through the canal which links >the plant to the river]. Over a thousand tonnes of natrium hydroxide were >spilled from the Pancevo petrochemical complex. Nearly 1,000 tons of >hydrogen chloride spilled from Pancevo into the Danube River"4 > >Eight tons of mercury escaped from the petrochemical complex spilling into >the soil. The wastewater treatment plant was also bombed thereby >exacerbating the ecological impact. > >NATO military strategists knew precisely what they were doing and what would >be the likely consequences. On April 4, at the neighboring oil refinery, two >NATO missiles had hit the refinery's control rooms killing three staff >members. The strikes set the plant on fire, reducing it to a toxic wreck. >The objective was not to avoid an environmental disaster but to create one >(see photos). NATO expected that by ruthlessly bombing Pancevo among other >civilian sites, they would intimidate Belgrade into accepting the >Rambouillet Agreement including the infamous Military Appendix under which >NATO would occupy all of Yugoslavia. > >The Greens from Germany and experts from the United Nations Environmental >Programme (UNEP) as well as other groups visited the plant after the War. >The UNEP report minimizes the environmental impacts while casually >underscoring in its main conclusions that Pancevo was an environmental >hazard before the bombings. 5 The UNEP report is a carefully worded >cover-up. It downplays the seriousness of the environmental catastrophe, >while placing the blame (without supporting evidence) on the Yugoslav >authorities. Tacitly upholding the legitimacy of the Western military >alliance, UNEP's findings are in overt contradiction with those of other >scientific studies including that of the Regional Environment Center for >Central And Eastern Europe (REC) prepared for the European Commission (see >footnote 4). The complicity of UNEP, a specialized agency of the UN with a >track record of integrity is yet another symptom of the ambivalent role of >the United Nations system in upholding the Western Military Alliance. > > > >Smart bomb hit container with meticulous accuracy (Pancevo petrochemical >complex, March 2000, ÊMichel Chossudovsky) > > > >VCM tank containing toxic cancerogenic chemicals hit by NATO >(Ê Michel Chossudovsky, March 2000) > >FOOTNOTES > >Statement of General Charles Wold of the Pentagon, Department of Defense >Press Briefing, Washington, 12 April 1999. >Department of Defense Press Briefing, Washington, May 14th, 1999. > >Interview conducted by the author in Pancevo, March 2000. >4. See the report of the REC entitled Assessment of the Environmental Impact >of Military Activities During the Yugoslavia Conflict at >http://www.rec.org/REC/Announcements/yugo/background.html) > >5. The UNEP report entitled The Kosovo Conflict: Consequences for the >Environment & Human Settlements prepared for the European Commission can be >consulted at http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf/final/index.html > >Ê by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, June 2000. All rights reserved. Permission >is granted to post this text on "community Internet sites" provided the >essay and the pictures remain intact and the copyright note is displayed. >For community postings, kindly send a short message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To publish this text on commercial Internet sites, in printed and/or in >other forms (including excerpts), contact the author by fax >at:1-514-4256224. > >Further reading: > >Michel Chossudvosky has many articles posted on emperors-clothes.com. 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