🚀 go-pugleaf

Kommentar in "the other voices of Yugoslawia"

Thursday, April 29, 1999.

 Nato kills civilians accidentally and Serbs
 do it intentionally

     It certainly seems like this from the western point of view.
On the other hand, according to serbian
 official media it seems totally different: NATO is kiling
civilians intentionally and serbian military by
 accident. Is the truth only on one of these sides, or is it
somewhere in between?

     For example, serbian officials from the beginnig of the
conflict have been claiming that all they have
 been taking precausionary measures in order to avoid any civilian
casualties. In real life,in conflicts
 with the KLA (which is operating usually from albanian villiges),
serbian security forces blow up from a
 safe distance with granades the houses from which the KLA are
defending and most oftenly killing
 much more civilians, women, children and elderly people than the
armed KLA soldiers. This is justified
 by the fact that the security forces do not want to risk the
lives of it's members by sending them to
 fight from house to house. On the other hand, NATO is claiming
that they are bombing only
 military,communication and infrastructure targets and that they
are undertaking all possible means of
 precausion in order to avoid any civilian casualties. In real
life, NATO pilots are bombing from high
 altitude and before the attack they do not fly low so they could,
for example, checked whether the
 target on the road is a civilian or military. Or before hitting
the rail brigde to fly over the railway in
 order to check to whether a train is not near crossing the
bridge. This is justified by the fact that NATO
 does not want to risk the lives of it's pilots, beacuse if they
were to fly low the bigger is risk that the VJ
 would shoot them down. In both cases a great number of civilians
are wounded. Sometimes, NATO hits
 only civilian villages by accident, sometimes not. Sometimes the
serbian forces by accident hit the
 houses in which only civilians are, sometimes not.

     Serbian authorites claim that they are fighting in Kosovo
against the albanian terrorists and not
 against the albanian citizens, with a humanitarian cause to
secure a peaceful life and to protect the
 human rihts of all the people who live there. In real life,
mostly civililans are wounded and suffer and
 the KLA strengthens.

     On the other hand, NATO claims to be fighting against the
regime of Milosevic and not against the
 serbian people, with a humanitarian cause which was at first
supposed to stop the humanitarian
 castastrophe and when the catastrophe happened, to secure the
return of the refugees, a peaceful life
 and to protect the human rigths of all the poeple who live there.
In real life, mostly civilians are the
 ones being wounded and suffer and the regime of Milosevic is
strengthening.

     NATO sometimes admits, as it was the case with the serbain
TV, that they are hitting civilian targets
 on purpose and causing civilian casulties (technicians, auxiliary
staff). That is justified by claim that the
 television is propaganda machine and legitimate military target.
When the question of civilian casulaties
 is raised it is said to be 'a target of great value', so it is
easier to accept civilian casulaties.

     By targeting strategic, infrastructure and communication
targets NATO hits civilian population in 99%
 of the attacks. Bridges, railways, tunnels,factories, electric
and water installations are used mainly by
 the civilians and seldomly by the army. But, if NATO estimates
that something has even a slight
 military signigacance it becomes a legitimate military target. In
real life, it is not important that the
 civilans are being wounded and suffer. In real life ATO is
expecting that the sufferings and woundings
 of the civilans come to a dissatisfaction which would result with
a presure on authorities in Belgrade.
 That may help the NATO to achive its military and political aims.
That, is obviously not working.

     The authorites are claming that the kosovar refugees are not
running away from the serbian military
 but only from NATO bombing. But, anyone with a reasonable mind
can not fall for that story. But,
 following NATO's logic of magnifying its military's sugnificance,
the ethnic cleansing can be viewed from
 a totally different angle and may gain a positive and even a
humanitarian mean. Every successful
 military commander who has the aim to oppose any ground troups
shall, in case the local population is
 hostile toward his forces cleans the territory. That was
unofficially confirmed by many westerm experts
 and commentators but hardly anybody dares to say such a 'heretic'
thought on the leading western
 media since NATO's strongest propaganda trump-card is the
disaster of the albanian refugees by which
 they are justifing their attacks on Yugoslavia. In that case, it
seems that the ethnic cleansing, from the
 military point of view, is legitimate. So someone may say (for
example Jamie Shea, in case he was the
 spokesman of the Yugoslav Army) that the ethnic cleansing besides
the military even has a
 humanitarian justification since in that way the population is
protected from mass killings in case of the
 invasion of NATO ground troups in Kosovo. The fact that the
serbian forces, according to unofficial
 sources, kill or rape someone so the other would be in the
refugee convoys, someone could justify by
 the fact that it is better to sacrifice some in order to save the
majority. In real life, the fact that the
 civilians are suffering and being wounded is not so important.
The most important thing is that there is
 a military or political justification. In real life, the serbian
authorities are expecting that the tragedy of
 the kosovar refugees shall bring to a dissatisfaction in western
media which would result with a presure
 on the NATO to stop the bombing of Yugoslavia in order to help
the refugees which are still inside of
 Kosovo and which are suffering the most. But obviusly this is not
succeeding. Nor do the serbian
 authorities nor does NATO care alot for the civilians. In real
life, when things are viewed from an
 objective point of view, there is not much difference between
NATO forces and the serbian authorities.


Slobodan,
                                          age 30, university
teaching assistan