#8 Postby Lindaloo » Fri Jan 02, 2004 7:41 pm
The Kosovo Questions
On June 12, 1999, a convoy of armored personnel carriers carrying 200 Russian soldiers crossed over from Bosnia, where the troops had been part of the peacekeeping force there, into Kosovo. The convoy quickly moved in to the capital Pristina and moved to secure the airport.
Just three days earlier, Russia had played a critical role in ending the conflict by forcing their Serb allies to sign a military technical agreement that effectively called for the withdrawal of Serb military and police forces from Kosovo.
The war was finally over. But the Serb civilians who remained in Kosovo were understandably nervous, worried that they had been abandoned and left to the mercy of the militant Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). When the Serb residents saw the Russian soldiers, fellow Orthodox Christians and longtime political allies, they were relieved and welcomed them with open arms.
Although it came as a surprise to NATO military commanders, the Russian troop movement—in the bigger picture—would serve to reassure the Serb residents of Kosovo and help implement the peace agreement.
But the war wasn’t over for Wesley Clark. Furious at the Russian move, he ordered British paratroopers to storm the airport. British General Sir Mike Jackson refused the order. "I'm not going to start the third world war for you," Jackson is reported to have told Clark.
Even after the Russians took full control of the airport, Clark planned to order British tanks to block the airport’s runways to prevent Russian aircraft from landing. Once again, the Brits refused.
A senior Russian officer later revealed that thousands of Russian troops were poised to be flown in to Pristina within two hours of any trouble.
Although this incident may have been the most disturbing, questions had persisted throughout the air campaign against Yugoslavia regarding Clark’s handling of the war. Clark’s decision to target the television station in Belgrade, killing 20 journalists and other civilians, was condemned by the International Federation of Journalists as a violation of the Geneva Conventions. But Clark remained unapologetic, “We've struck at [Milosevic’s] TV stations and transmitters because they're as much a part of his military machine prolonging and promoting this conflict as his army and security forces.”
In another incident during the war, NATO jets mistakenly attacked a refugee convoy, killing 70 Albanian civilians. Soon after news of the incident, Clark denied NATO responsibility and pointed the finger toward the Serbs, even claiming that he had “strong evidence” of Serb responsibility for the attack. “By the next day,” reported Time’s Douglas Waller, “Embarrassed NATO officials admitted that their first claim was wrong and that an American F-16 had indeed attacked civilians.” Just what was that “evidence” that led Clark to his false conclusion?
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Sorry, but he does not get my vote.
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