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----- Original Message -----
From: John Catalinotto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 11:37 PM
Subject: MORE FROM THE HAGUE (18 FEB) > > > > Dear Friends > Here is a report from the IAC delegation in The Hague on > the trial. > > > Article distributed by the International Action Center > > 'Your bosses broke up Yugoslavia' > MILOSEVIC PUTS U.S., NATO ON TRIAL > > By Cecil Williams > The Hague, Netherlands > > NATO, the Pentagon, the CIA and corporate globalization > are on trial here this week. The prosecutor is Slobodan > Milosevic. > > It was supposed to have been the other way around. > > The International Tribunal for War Crimes in the Former > Yugoslavia was set up by the very NATO powers that bombed > Yugoslavia for 78 days in 1999. Those governments and > private corporations finance it. Its sole purpose is to > prosecute and imprison former president Milosevic and > other Yugoslavs who opposed the breakup of their country. > > President Milosevic was the target of a 10-year hate > campaign by the Western media. The CIA and German > intelligence spent billions of dollars to foment civil war > in Yugoslavia and overturn the Milosevic government. Last > June, in violation of the Yugoslav Constitution, the > corrupt, U.S.-backed regime of Zoran Djindjic handed him > over to NATO. Djindjic had hoped for a few billions in aid > and loans, but wound up with only $21 million. > > Milosevic, imprisoned far from home in this Dutch city, > has been denied the right to consult privately with > lawyers or speak to the press. > > The long-awaited show trial opened Feb. 12 with a > half-hour tirade by chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte. Then > the British Queen's Counsel Geoffrey Nice gave a > melodramatic two-day presentation of NATO's "evidence." > Between pregnant pauses, studied sighs and anguished > facial contortions, Nice repeated the litany of lies that > bombarded the Western public in 1999 while NATO ships and > warplanes bombarded Yugoslavia. > > Nice charged that Milosevic, motivated by a "ruthless > quest for power," had carried out "genocide" and "ethnic > cleansing" against Bosnian Muslims, Croatian Catholics and > Albanian Kosovars. > > The prosecutor gave not a hint that British troops and > Protestant paramilitaries have been "ethnic cleansing" in > northern Ireland for decades, murdering hundreds of Irish > Catholics and driving thousands from their homes. Thirty > years after British troops gunned down Irish civil rights > marchers on Bloody Sunday in Derry, not a single British > soldier has been penalized. > > Nice betrayed no knowledge that U.S. planes and missiles > have murdered more than 5,000 Afghan civilians in the past > few months or that U.S. and British bombs and sanctions > have slain 500,000 Iraqi children over the past decade. > > Much of the "evidence" Nice presented has long been > exposed as sheer fabrication. He trotted out the old myth > that Milosevic's speech on June 28, 1989, at Kosovo Field > was a call for ethnic hatred. Even a casual reading of the > text shows it to be an appeal for ethnic harmony. > > The court was shown discredited ITN footage of Bosnian > Muslims allegedly held in a Serb "concentration camp." The > British television reporters who set up the shot were > actually standing inside a wire enclosure, and the people > they were filming were outside looking in. > > Nice also brought up an alleged massacre of Kosovar > civilians by Serbian police at Racak on Jan. 15, 1999. > There is considerable evidence the dead were fighters of > the U.S.-funded "Kosovo Liberation Army" who had died in a > battle. > > The prosecution at times seemed desperate. Nice spent some > time making the point that Milosevic, after being elected > president of Yugoslavia, had appointed members of his > party, the Socialist Party of Serbia, to key posts. Nice > also read a Yugoslav People's Army officer's report that > his troops had carried out no pillaging, looting or > property destruction. "One wonders why he found it > necessary to report that," Nice asked. > > After two days of this utterly weak presentation, > presiding judge Robert May should have thrown the case out > of his court. Instead he imperiously rejected Milosevic's > right to a hearing to decide if the court had legitimate > jurisdiction. > > Subhead: 'Western colonialism is genocide' > > On Feb. 14, Milosevic was given his first and only chance > to testify. In two and a half days the former Yugoslav > president not only destroyed NATO's case, he put the > Western leaders in the dock. He threw the charge of > "genocide" back in the prosecutor's face. > > "Genocide is a method your colonial powers use. North and > South, in Africa and Asia, all the colonial powers used > genocide. And today our part of Europe is also a target of > colonial powers who want to take back what they have > lost," he said. > > With eloquent words and video footage, Milosevic portrayed > NATO's destruction of Yugoslav towns and villages. "They > bombed by night, when people were fast asleep. Most of the > targets were homes and housing blocks." He described the > targets: Aleksinacs, a village of miners who worked in the > pits, was hit by 14 missiles; 36 people died. People were > killed in Vranya, a small farming village, and in > Rukovica, a blue-collar neighborhood on the outskirts of > Belgrade. In Starigrad Przen, 50 Roma people died. Both > Serbs and Muslims died while tending their cows in Novi > Pasar, an undeveloped area. > > "They especially targeted areas like Novi Sad," said > Milosevic, "a part of Serbia where 27 nationalities lived > peacefully. That was precisely what they wanted to > destroy, that kind of life in Yugoslavia. NATO's object > was to break up and terrorize the whole of Yugoslavia." He > pointed out that in 78 days of bombing NATO destroyed only > seven Yugoslav army tanks but destroyed dozens of schools, > hospitals and medical clinics." > > Milosevic gave the lie to the NATO court's claim that the > Yugoslav Army had driven Albanian Kosovars from their > homes. He gave a list of Kosovar Albanian villages > destroyed by NATO bombs and showed photos of the corpses > of Albanian children, women and men who died when their > convoy was attacked by U.S. warplanes. "They were targeted > because they were returning to their homes," Milosevic > said. "It was a message to the Albanians: Don't go home, > flee in order to justify NATO bombing." > > At this point he looked at Geoffrey Nice and said, "I see > the prosecutor is yawning ... perhaps he is bored." He > also told how U.S. planes had bombed Istok prison in > Kosovo, killing 78 prisoners, then lied by claiming > Yugoslav police had massacred the prisoners. Milosevic > showed photos proving the prison had been destroyed by > bombs. > > Working backwards from the Kosovo war, Milosevic detailed > 12 years of U.S.- and German-orchestrated destabilization > of Yugoslavia; how the BND and CIA had set up and financed > right-wing separatist movements in Kosovo, Bosnia and > Croatia while at the same time backing right-wing > nationalist forces among the Serbs. > > He traced the heritage of the secessionist movements back > to the World War II Nazi and Fascist occupation of > Yugoslavia and described the horrible genocide of Serbs in > western Yugoslavia at the hands of the Hitler-created > Croatian Ustashi regime. > > Milosevic blasted Nice for referring to his political > party as the "Serbian Socialist Party," which would limit > it to just Serbian people. "We are the Socialist Party of > Serbia," he said. "We have in our ranks Muslims, > Albanians, Roma, Goran, all of the 27 nationalities who > make up Serbia. Would they join a racist organization?" > > He told why the U.S. and German regimes targeted his > government. "I stopped them from implementing the plans > they had imposed on the rest of East Europe, including > Albania. They wanted to do to Serbia what they did to the > rest of East Europe. That's why they tried for 10 years to > overthrow me." > > To the judges he said, "You do not wish to hold [NATO > leaders] accountable because you represent them. But it is > worth it to me to spend any amount of time in prison for > one chance to speak the truth to the public. I believe > most people are honest; if they were not, life would not > be worth living. And I believe the people will speak up. > They are the jury because this tribunal does not have > one." > > Subhead: 'Big powers destroyed ordinary people' > > In Yugoslavia and elsewhere in East Europe, people are > speaking up. Tens of thousands rallied to support > Milosevic in Belgrade on Feb. 9, before the trial opened. > The tribunal was presented with the signatures of 120,000 > Yugoslav citizens demanding Milosevic's freedom. The > Russian Duma voted by 316-to-6 to demand his release, as > has the Ukrainian Rada. > > Few honest observers at the trial were unmoved by the > president's speech. A young Iranian woman who works in > Kosovo told a reporter, "I came here hoping to see > Milosevic hanged, but now I see I've been deceived." > > A young Muslim woman from Britain said, "In Yugoslavia, > like now in Afghanistan, big powers came in and destroyed > the lives of ordinary people." > > A young British woman of Macedonian background said, "It's > a show trial, a cover-up for NATO's war crimes." > > The truth is unlikely to move either the judges or the > media, however. Their opinions are already bought and paid > for. It will take a people's movement to put an end to > this travesty and return Slobodan Milosevic to his > country. > > > > WHY THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT SHOULD DEFEND MILOSEVIC > > A NATO-backed court in The Hague plans to open a trial > against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on > Feb. 12. The rulers of the U.S. and the other NATO > countries look to the trial as a way to wipe out from > history their own heinous crimes against the Yugoslav > people and their own grave responsibility for the war that > destroyed so much of the Balkans. > > The International Action Center believes that the defense > of Milosevic is a vital part of the struggle against > future wars. It calls upon anti-war activists around the > world to defend Milosevic against these false charges for > alleged war crimes to prevent the NATO powers from > escaping the judgment of history. > > As it is impossible in a few sentences to counter the > plethora of lies and slanders told about this war, the IAC > has published two books, Hidden Agenda and Liar's Poker, > to explain every aspect of the question. Both books will > be ready for distribution in mid-February as the trial > opens. Both are essential to the understanding of NATO's > war on Yugoslavia and in preparation for struggle against > the coming wars. > > In addition, for those who have not read the IAC-published > NATO in the Balkans, this book will be available at > discounted prices before February 12. > > > > HIDDEN AGENDA > U.S./NATO TAKEOVER OF YUGOSLAVIA > > > Confused about why the U.S. bombed Yugoslavia? That's > because you never heard about the hidden agenda behind the > dismemberment of this multiethnic country. > > Washington and NATO strategists invoked humanitarian > principles to justify their war. But they practiced the > divide-and-conquer tactics used by empires since the days > of imperial Rome. > > Behind the façade of concern for self-determination, they > sliced away most of the republics of Yugoslavia, one by > one, through economic pressure political threats and, > finally, outright warfare. > > This book presents evidence gathered by dozens of > nongovernmental hearings in 1999 and 2000 that the NATO > countries engaged in a decade-long conspiracy to foment > war in Yugoslavia in order to split it up. > > Now NATO has military bases all over the Balkans, Eastern > Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. They are the > Roman legions for Western transnational corporations and > Big Oil. > > In the 40+ essays presented here, leading anti-war > activists and analysts from many countries take up The > Hague Tribunal, the occupation of Kosovo, media lies, war > crimes and the blatant illegality of NATO aggression. > Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark writes on > "Blaming the victim." Former Yugoslav President Slobodan > Milosevic, demonized in the Western press, stands up to > the NATO tribunal based in The Hague. > > > LIAR'S POKER: > THE GREAT POWERS, YUGOSLAVIA, AND THE WARS OF THE FUTURE > > > How was Michel Collon able to predict the wars which were > unleashed in Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Afganistan? > > By magic powers? Or rather by a powerful method of > analysis? > > Liar's Poker illuminates the fundamental interests of the > Great Powers and their strategic interests in controlling > oil routes and key areas of the world. It offers the > reader an efficient guide for understanding international > policy for the next twenty years. And the true long-term > goals of these powers: Russia and China. > > Collon demonstrates how and why NATO, since 1991, has > programmed various "necessary" wars. Liar's Poker points > out the countries that are under threat in the coming > years. And how the methods employed in the Balkans will be > put to use once again. > > Collon also uncovers the clandestine rivalry, first and > foremost in the Balkans, between Washington and Berlin. > Why did the special European envoy to Bosnia, Lord Owen, > accuse the United States in his memoirs of "having > uselessly prolonged this war for several years"? Will a > confrontation arising from a sharpening of the world > economic crisis finally take place between the U.S. and > the European Union? > > Using a unique graphic technique on its large-size pages, > Liar's Poker also offers a brilliant demonstration of > media lies. How is organized disinformation used to > manipulate public opinion and sell a war? The revelations > are shocking. Liar's Poker is like a manual, showing > step-by-step how to defend yourself from media > manipulation in the future. > > TO ORDER: > > Hidden Agenda, 400 pages, maps, photographs, index, $19.95 > > Liar's Poker, xxx pages (8.5x11 in.), maps, photographs, > index, $19.95 > > Order before February 12 and get a special pre-publication > discount of 20% or $15.95 instead of $19.95 plus postage > and handling (an additional USD2.00 per book if going to > multiple addresses). > > For both books, get an additional $2 off or $29.90. > > In all cases add postage and handling (an additional $xxx > per book) > > For booksellers or associations interested in ordering 10 > copies or more, please contact us for special discounts > and shipping arrangements. > > > For direct orders of Liar's Poker only from Europe, Asia, > Africa and Latin America, contact Michel Collon directly > at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for prices. > > Otherwise send orders to : > > International Action Center > 39 West 14th Street, Suite 206 > New York, NY 10011 > > Or buy online through www.leftbooks.com. > > > |
