Jugoinfo
* LA CORTE EUROPEA PER I DIRITTI UMANI RIGETTA LA DENUNCIA RELATIVA AL
BOMBARDAMENTO DELLA RADIOTELEVISIONE SERBA.
Secondo la Corte di Strasburgo, infatti, i diritti umani si possono
violare purche' lo si faccia in paesi, come la RF di Jugoslavia, che non
hanno sottoscritto la Convenzione Europea dei Diritti Umani.
* APPELLO ALLA SOTTOSCRIZIONE PER FINANZIARE L'ITER PROCESSUALE DELLA
DENUNCIA PRESENTATA IN CANADA
=*=
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1719000/1719039.stm
Wednesday, 19 December, 2001, 10:12 GMT
Court throws out case against Nato
One plaintiff (left) lost a son in the bombing
The European Court of Human Rights has thrown out a case brought against
Nato over the bombing of Belgrade's main TV station during the Kosovo
conflict.
Six Yugoslav nationals had brought the case on behalf of the station's
employees, saying the attack, which killed 16 people, was in breach of
Europe's human rights charter.
Nato said Serbian state TV was a "ministry of lies"
They argued that the air strikes were illegal under the charter, which
governs the right to life and freedom of expression, and asked for
compensation.
But the court declared the case inadmissible.
The lawyers for the 17 defendants - the European members of Nato - had
argued that the human rights court did not have the right to judge
because the bombing took place in a country which is not a signatory to
the European Convention of Human Rights.
Christopher Greenwood, a British government lawyer arguing for the
defendants, also stressed that the two Nato members that played a
central role in the Kosovo campaign - the United States and Canada -
were not named in the suit.
Propaganda war
On the night of 23 April 1999, Nato aircraft attacked the government-run
studios of Radio Television Serbia (RTS) in Belgrade, in which those
killed, most of them production workers, had been ordered to report for
work.
The attack was part of Nato's air campaign to force the Yugoslav
Government of former President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw its forces
from Kosovo.
At the time, Nato defended the air strike by saying the TV station was a
legitimate target because of its role in what Nato called Belgrade's
campaign of propaganda.
The BBC's Alix Kroeger
reports from Belgrade
============================================================
Von: petar <petar@...>
Datum: 2001/12/02 So AM 01:02:05 GMT+01:00
An: (Recipient list suppressed)
Betreff: Pls Fwd// DONATIONS NEEDED // Lawsuit against NATO // Canada
Dear Friends:
YOUR DONATIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATTED!
To continue with a lawsuit against the Canadian government regarding its
involvement in NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, we need your
financial support.
A group of 50 Canadian citizens and 15 Yugoslav citizens have initiated
(on September 15, 1999) a lawsuit against the Canadian government
regarding the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. The group is suing the
Government of Canada for damages stemming from the 1999 military action
taken by NATO against Yugoslavia.
As you may have already known, in January this year, we have won a first
battle. Namely, shortly after the filing of the Statement of Claim on
September 15, 1999, that is, on November 1, 1999, the Attorney General
of Canada made a Motion (a motion is a request to a Court) to dismiss
the case.
On January 10, 2001, Judge Justice Sedgwick of the Superior Court of
Ontario dismissed the Motion of the Attorney General, i.e., the Court
decided that we have a right to sue, the matter could go to trial
because Government's argument about ability of the court to decide the
case, to determine international law, and the alleged legality of their
actions are not supportable.
Our case is now before the Ontario Court of Appeal. If this court
dismisses the Motion of the Attorney General as well, our case will
reach the Supreme Court of Canada! Chances for this to happen are real.
However, we have to take it step at a time: we have to improve our
ability to financially sustain the effort.
We must raise at least CAD$15,000 to position ourselves to handle the
immediate step, the Ontario Court of Appeal.
We would be very grateful should you help us in out endeavor. In the
case that we win the case, we guarantie that your money would be
returned.
Please kindly send your cheques to:
Att: Penny Adams
"Binavince Smith", Barristers and Solicitors
200 Elgin St., Suite 502,
Ottawa, ON.
K2P 1L5, Canada
Please indicate on the cheque: "NATO case". Also please fill in your
full return address, either on the back of the cheque or on a separate
sheet. It would be good to send me an email as well.
For further information please feel free to contact Radovan Prodanovic,
group's contact person, 613-792-4749 or by e-mail:
rprodanovic@...
Best regards, R. Prodanovic
====
BACKGROUND:
In the course of 78 days (starting March, 1999), Canadian planes
andCanadian pilots were ordered to bomb an innocent and helpless
civilianpopulation of Serbia and Yugoslavia, to destroy their homes and
property, topoison their environment. The result is compounded human
misery, a dangerously polluted habitat, expansion of terrorist activity,
and a destabilisation of the entire region. This act of war was
undertaken against a country that was at peace with its neighbours and
that was not threatening either Canada or any of its allies. It was done
without a mandate from the United Nations, the Parliament of Canada, or
the Canadian people.
Inflicting harm upon the person, life, security, and property of
innocent civilians to convince President Milosevic to desist from his
policies was not only irrational and inhuman; it was a sacrifice of the
well being and rights of innocent people (including Canadians) for the
benefit of another group of innocent people. This cannot be justified
morally or legally. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
guarantees the right to life, liberty, and security to every individual
(Section 7) without discrimination based on race, or national or ethnic
origin (Section 15). The action of Canada and NATO has harmed Canadians
and is, therefore, in clear violation of Canadian law.
Justifying the terrible consequences of this action as "collateral
damage" - a hackneyed and blatantly cynical military euphemism - rings
false and offends the civilized mind: HUMANITY IS NEVER MERE COLLATERAL.
The cruel and devastating effects of war on innocent civilians have led
enlightened countries to renounce war as an instrument of national
policy and as a means of settling international disputes. The Hague
General Treaty for the Renunciation of War is binding on all states,
including Canada and the members of NATO - it enshrines the principle
that "Might does NOT make Right".
This principle is also fundamental to the Charter of the United Nations,
which specifies that "all Members shall refrain in their international
relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any State" (Article 2 paragraph
4). The NATO military action clearly violates these treaties,
particularly since there were no credible attempts to pursue amicable
methods of settling the dispute.
Furthermore, the very agreement under which NATO is constituted was
breached. NATO is a defensive arrangement where military action is
authorized only if a member country is the victim of aggression.
Clearly, there was no aggressive use of force by Yugoslavia against a
NATO country in this case. Rather, the military action was a coercive
measure. It defies reason to think that the killing of innocent people
and the destruction of their property can be a legitimate tool in
international affairs. What NATO has done is to commit an international
crime against a group of innocent people.
More tragically, Canada and other NATO countries have legitimized the
universally condemned principle that "Might is Right".
BOMBARDAMENTO DELLA RADIOTELEVISIONE SERBA.
Secondo la Corte di Strasburgo, infatti, i diritti umani si possono
violare purche' lo si faccia in paesi, come la RF di Jugoslavia, che non
hanno sottoscritto la Convenzione Europea dei Diritti Umani.
* APPELLO ALLA SOTTOSCRIZIONE PER FINANZIARE L'ITER PROCESSUALE DELLA
DENUNCIA PRESENTATA IN CANADA
=*=
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1719000/1719039.stm
Wednesday, 19 December, 2001, 10:12 GMT
Court throws out case against Nato
One plaintiff (left) lost a son in the bombing
The European Court of Human Rights has thrown out a case brought against
Nato over the bombing of Belgrade's main TV station during the Kosovo
conflict.
Six Yugoslav nationals had brought the case on behalf of the station's
employees, saying the attack, which killed 16 people, was in breach of
Europe's human rights charter.
Nato said Serbian state TV was a "ministry of lies"
They argued that the air strikes were illegal under the charter, which
governs the right to life and freedom of expression, and asked for
compensation.
But the court declared the case inadmissible.
The lawyers for the 17 defendants - the European members of Nato - had
argued that the human rights court did not have the right to judge
because the bombing took place in a country which is not a signatory to
the European Convention of Human Rights.
Christopher Greenwood, a British government lawyer arguing for the
defendants, also stressed that the two Nato members that played a
central role in the Kosovo campaign - the United States and Canada -
were not named in the suit.
Propaganda war
On the night of 23 April 1999, Nato aircraft attacked the government-run
studios of Radio Television Serbia (RTS) in Belgrade, in which those
killed, most of them production workers, had been ordered to report for
work.
The attack was part of Nato's air campaign to force the Yugoslav
Government of former President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw its forces
from Kosovo.
At the time, Nato defended the air strike by saying the TV station was a
legitimate target because of its role in what Nato called Belgrade's
campaign of propaganda.
The BBC's Alix Kroeger
reports from Belgrade
============================================================
Von: petar <petar@...>
Datum: 2001/12/02 So AM 01:02:05 GMT+01:00
An: (Recipient list suppressed)
Betreff: Pls Fwd// DONATIONS NEEDED // Lawsuit against NATO // Canada
Dear Friends:
YOUR DONATIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATTED!
To continue with a lawsuit against the Canadian government regarding its
involvement in NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, we need your
financial support.
A group of 50 Canadian citizens and 15 Yugoslav citizens have initiated
(on September 15, 1999) a lawsuit against the Canadian government
regarding the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. The group is suing the
Government of Canada for damages stemming from the 1999 military action
taken by NATO against Yugoslavia.
As you may have already known, in January this year, we have won a first
battle. Namely, shortly after the filing of the Statement of Claim on
September 15, 1999, that is, on November 1, 1999, the Attorney General
of Canada made a Motion (a motion is a request to a Court) to dismiss
the case.
On January 10, 2001, Judge Justice Sedgwick of the Superior Court of
Ontario dismissed the Motion of the Attorney General, i.e., the Court
decided that we have a right to sue, the matter could go to trial
because Government's argument about ability of the court to decide the
case, to determine international law, and the alleged legality of their
actions are not supportable.
Our case is now before the Ontario Court of Appeal. If this court
dismisses the Motion of the Attorney General as well, our case will
reach the Supreme Court of Canada! Chances for this to happen are real.
However, we have to take it step at a time: we have to improve our
ability to financially sustain the effort.
We must raise at least CAD$15,000 to position ourselves to handle the
immediate step, the Ontario Court of Appeal.
We would be very grateful should you help us in out endeavor. In the
case that we win the case, we guarantie that your money would be
returned.
Please kindly send your cheques to:
Att: Penny Adams
"Binavince Smith", Barristers and Solicitors
200 Elgin St., Suite 502,
Ottawa, ON.
K2P 1L5, Canada
Please indicate on the cheque: "NATO case". Also please fill in your
full return address, either on the back of the cheque or on a separate
sheet. It would be good to send me an email as well.
For further information please feel free to contact Radovan Prodanovic,
group's contact person, 613-792-4749 or by e-mail:
rprodanovic@...
Best regards, R. Prodanovic
====
BACKGROUND:
In the course of 78 days (starting March, 1999), Canadian planes
andCanadian pilots were ordered to bomb an innocent and helpless
civilianpopulation of Serbia and Yugoslavia, to destroy their homes and
property, topoison their environment. The result is compounded human
misery, a dangerously polluted habitat, expansion of terrorist activity,
and a destabilisation of the entire region. This act of war was
undertaken against a country that was at peace with its neighbours and
that was not threatening either Canada or any of its allies. It was done
without a mandate from the United Nations, the Parliament of Canada, or
the Canadian people.
Inflicting harm upon the person, life, security, and property of
innocent civilians to convince President Milosevic to desist from his
policies was not only irrational and inhuman; it was a sacrifice of the
well being and rights of innocent people (including Canadians) for the
benefit of another group of innocent people. This cannot be justified
morally or legally. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
guarantees the right to life, liberty, and security to every individual
(Section 7) without discrimination based on race, or national or ethnic
origin (Section 15). The action of Canada and NATO has harmed Canadians
and is, therefore, in clear violation of Canadian law.
Justifying the terrible consequences of this action as "collateral
damage" - a hackneyed and blatantly cynical military euphemism - rings
false and offends the civilized mind: HUMANITY IS NEVER MERE COLLATERAL.
The cruel and devastating effects of war on innocent civilians have led
enlightened countries to renounce war as an instrument of national
policy and as a means of settling international disputes. The Hague
General Treaty for the Renunciation of War is binding on all states,
including Canada and the members of NATO - it enshrines the principle
that "Might does NOT make Right".
This principle is also fundamental to the Charter of the United Nations,
which specifies that "all Members shall refrain in their international
relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial
integrity or political independence of any State" (Article 2 paragraph
4). The NATO military action clearly violates these treaties,
particularly since there were no credible attempts to pursue amicable
methods of settling the dispute.
Furthermore, the very agreement under which NATO is constituted was
breached. NATO is a defensive arrangement where military action is
authorized only if a member country is the victim of aggression.
Clearly, there was no aggressive use of force by Yugoslavia against a
NATO country in this case. Rather, the military action was a coercive
measure. It defies reason to think that the killing of innocent people
and the destruction of their property can be a legitimate tool in
international affairs. What NATO has done is to commit an international
crime against a group of innocent people.
More tragically, Canada and other NATO countries have legitimized the
universally condemned principle that "Might is Right".
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/croazia/20011207022732070110.html
CROAZIA: GOVERNO TUDJMAN ORCHESTRO' PULIZIA ETNICA, GIORNALE
(ANSA-AFP) - NEW YORK, 7 DIC - Il governo croato guidato dall'allora
presidente Franjo Tudjman ha orchestrato nel 1993 operazioni di pulizia
etnica contro i serbi di Croazia. Lo scrive il mensile
americano 'Harper's Magazine' citando documenti croati. Il giornale
pubblica estratti di un documento di 50 pagine che definisce le minute
di una riunione, del settembre 1993, del Consiglio croato di difesa e
sicurezza. Questo documento ''costituisce la prima prova proveniente da
fonte ufficiale che il governo nazionalista dell'ex presidente Tudjman
e' stato implicato nel progetto di cacciare i serbi'', scrive 'Harper's
Magazine'. ''Questa campagna di pulizia etnica - prosegue il giornale -
ha comportato la morte di civili disarmati, l'esecuzione di prigionieri
di guerra, l'esodo forzato di serbi e la distruzione di villaggi
serbi''. Cio' e' provato, scrive ancora il giornale, dai dialoghi
riportati nelle minute tra Tudjman, il suo primo minsitro Nikica
Valentic e il capo di stato maggiore Jank Bobetko. (ANSA-AFP) TF
07/12/2001 02:27
=*=
> http://www.harpers.com
HARPER'S MAGAZINE, December 2001, pp. 20-22 READINGS
Planning Croatia's Final Solution
From minutes of the September 12 and September 19,
1993, meetings of the Council for Defense and National
Security of the Republic of Croatia.
That year, Croat forces murdered up to 400 Serb civilians
in the town of Gospic; in 1995 almost 600,000 Serbs were
driven from the Krajina region. This transcript is the
first proof that President Franjo Tudjman planned and
directed ethnic cleansing and other war crimes. The
minutes were obtained by Chris Hedges of the New York Times.
Tudjman died in December 1999.
SEPTEMBER 12, 1993
PRESIDENT FRANJO TUDJMAN: Gentlemen, it seems that
during the last few days we have had a great military
success with the Gospic operation. At the moment when the
whole world is recommending - those from the friendly
countries as well as the others - that we pursue
extreme caution and political flexibility, we nevertheless
let ourselves be drawn, both by the Serbs' provocations as
well as by our own decision, into a situation that,
momentarily, no matter how we interpret it, we have
commenced an attack, which they have survived, and, given
our own preparations, that cannot be hidden. Croatia can
be held to a charge that it is preparing a war with the
Serbs in Croatia.
I must admit, that this is my responsibility, as I have
permitted the Gospic operation. When General Bobetko came
to me with the proposal I took into account the Serb
provocations - small provocations; for example, their
entrance into the Velebit Range, where they killed
some three special policemen, cutting off an ear of one,
then the placing of mines at Pakrac, thereby creating a
certain political climate both in the public and the
parliament - so I accepted the proposal that we are
going into this operation, although I was not informed,
as I later found out, about all the elements. For example,
I knew that Divoselo is Serb, but I did not know that
all of these villages, which we conquered, were Serb.
In that way, too, considering that we were carrying on
the negotiations about a cease-fire, we brought ourselves
into a situation that we can justify only with difficulty,
that at a moment when we were discussing a cease-fire we
turned to a war operation. The members of the international
community followed what is happening and why it is
happening. And then we gave them a little bit of different
material. Do not think that what General Bobetko is
proposing, that we prepare two attacks, that they do not
observe this and they do not have the exact information.
And then, in addition, in our statements we brought
ourselves into a very unfortunate situation.
General Bobetko, I told you that after this operation
it should be explained that they attacked first - that
is, in the Velebit - and that they did what they did,
etc. I said that one has to go before the TV cameras and
show the captured tanks.
GEN. JANKO BOBETKO: That will be this evening.
PRESIDENT: Therefore, we have to attempt to put our
actions in harmony with international policy in order
to regain sovereignty over the whole territory
with international support and in a peaceful way. Of
course, I am not an illusionist to think that we
shall succeed in this, but then we should not
make our tasks more difficult. We have to get ready.
PRIME MINISTER NIKICA VALENTIC: Mr. President, I have
to say a word. President, with the Serbs in Croatia we
shall not solve the problem. The only question is when
is the time to solve it in another way.
PRESIDENT: Yes, I know that.
VALENTIC: Therefore, and this is something of which I
want to convince you, as a man who spent his whole life
down there [in the Gospic area], the Serbs do not accept
any political solution. I think that all we need to do is
to prepare better and hit them from several sides. Thank
you.
PRESIDENT: Prime Minister Valentic, with the Serbs in
Croatia, those who are now leading Knin and Baranja,
no. But that is just a small group, and they still
depend on Belgrade. And the problem is, will the
international community force Belgrade to stop supplying
them?
The moment when Serbia is forced to do this, then we
are going to solve the question of Serbs in Croatia.
Then that miserable group of some 10 to 20 percent will
leave Croatia and then we shall solve that.
And it is clear that we shall not be able to solve it.
But should we begin only with that premise, then that
means war, which the world will not permit. That is not
the only focal point, only the question of national
minorities in Croatia. Such problems exist throughout
the world, in the Soviet Union, Africa, the Middle East,
etc. The international community is oriented toward the
resolution of these questions in a peaceful way - for
example, as the relations between the Arabs and Israel
are being resolved - and that directs us to follow that
path, not by war; whereas in our country there is a
growing understanding that Croatia must resolve the
problem by war, contrary to international norms, meaning
by ethnically cleansing the Serbs from Croatia. That is
happening in practice because we cannot hide that they
have the information that in Slavonia, western Slavonia,
some thirty Serb villages disappeared from the face of
the earth, and that now these three, four Serb villages
were eradicated. This creates a certain picture of
Croatia on which we cannot build our political status
or economic relations with the world. Understand that.
VALENTIC: That is not the issue, President, but this
awaits us in a year again. It is only the question of
timing. This awaits us.
PRESIDENT: Yes, if it awaits us then it means that we
have to prepare also politically, that we have to
prepare ourselves better militarily, and then
we also have to prepare so that after our future
operation they will no longer be able to hit Zagreb.
VALENTIC: President, as you know, there are many
mixed marriages in Gospic; several civilians and old
ladies are in Senj, where there is a certain
concentration camp, and that is where we should take
those that we captured at Citluk and Pocitelj. We
should place them there in an acceptable way and
then show them off and say a few things. Because I
know this for sure - because they asked me to intervene,
a granddaughter of one of these is married to my cousin
- that in Senj there is a concentration area where you
have these refugees from Citluk, Divoselo, and
Pocitelj. Then we show them that we do it in this fashion.
PRESIDENT: That would be very good, very good.
VALENTIC: And then when we display them, we pretty
them up, wash them, etc.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1993
PRESIDENT: Gentlemen, I open this meeting of the
Council for Defense and National Security with the
agenda: the development of the situation concerning
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croat-Serb relations. In
addition, these UNPROFOR people [U.N. peacekeepers]
and others tell us that we did not have to leave the
cleanest clearance behind us after we retreated.
MATE GRANIC [Foreign Minister]: That is the last news,
the main news of the last twenty-four hours on the
SKY News and CNN.
BOBETKO: We turned over fifty-two, so it was said,
usable Serb bodies, and the rest were removed. There
are some fifty, sixty, in the forest, because it is
more difficult to collect them in the forest. But it
could happen that they [UNPROFOR] entered a little bit
too fast. However, that was cleansed, absolutely. They
cannot find anything over there, at least I think so.
PRESIDENT: Gentlemen, to conclude, I have another
obligation. Three things: no military actions from
our side now and no provocations; prepare to
swallow, because now things are being solved in the
United Nations and it is important to know whether
the Croats are for a peaceful solution or not.
Therefore, continue the conversations with Serbs on
all levels. That is one thing. Second, Mate [Granic],
in Bosnia and Herzegovina under all circumstances carry
through the agreements [with the Bosnians], particularly
everything that we did there - concentration camps,
etc., etc.
- - - - -
[John R. MacArthur, President and Publisher of
Harper's Magazine, is the author of "Censorship and
Propaganda" in the Gulf War, New York: Hill and
Wang, 1992.]
-------------------------------------
Note: During this period of Tudjman's meetings of Sept
12 and 19, 1993, Croatian forces attacked Canadian
peacekeepers in a UN-protected area, the Medak Pocket.
Medak is south of Gospic and near Pocitelj, mentioned in
the transcript of the meetings.
This battle is described in the following sources:
The Ottawa Citizen, Canada, Monday, October 7, 1996,
pp. 6-7 "Canada's Secret Battle"
By DAVID PUGLIESE, CITIZEN Defence Writer
-------------------
After the Ottawa Citizen broke the story, other
newspapers in Canada printed the full story or a
shorter version. The following excerpt is from the
Toronto Star summary of the battle:
The Toronto Star, Tuesday, October 15, 1996, p. A1,13
"Honor for our troops in Canada's secret battle"
OTTAWA (CP) - In 1993, Canadian soldiers fought their
biggest battle since the Korean War. The action pitted
Canadian personnel and French troops under Canadian
command against the war-hardened Croatian army in a
tiny corner of the former Yugoslavia. When the shooting
stopped, there were four Canadian and seven French
soldiers wounded. Croatian media put their army's
casualties at 27 dead or wounded. But until now few
Canadians outside of the military knew of the engagement
or the performance of their troops. It is Canada's
secret battle....
On Sept. 9, 1993, the Croatian army had attacked near
the town of Medak in the Krajina, an area controlled by
Serbs in eastern Croatia. More than 2,500 Croatian troops,
backed by tanks, had advanced into a 35-square-kilometre
area known as the Medak Pocket. After several days of
heavy fighting with the Serbs, the Croats had agreed
to a UN-brokered ceasefire that required them to pull
back to their original lines.
Calvin and French Gen. Jean Cot., head of the U.N.
mission, had agreed that the Patricias would establish
a buffer zone between Serb and Croatian armies. Cot told
Calvin the UN had a credibility problem and needed a
successful mission in Yugoslavia. No more would UN
troops pull back each time the Croats or Serbs attacked.
It was now time to enforce the peace.
Calvin and his men had already endured a 24-hour
Croatian artillery and mortar barrage, and some
Canadians were still shaken. In Medak, where
Canadians manned an observation post, 525 bombs had
landed, and four of Calvin's soldiers had been wounded.
About noon on Sept. 15, 250 Canadian troops and 500
French soldiers under Calvin's command started to move
in between the Serb and Croat front lines.
They were supported by another 375 Canadian soldiers,
including engineers, medics and anti-tank teams. More
than half the Canadians were reservists.
The Serbs watched as the UN troops advanced but did
nothing. The Croats opened fire.
Sgt. Rod Dearing's men of 8 Platoon, Charlie Company,
were digging in around the village of Sitlik when the
Croats attacked.
"The whole place just lit up," said Dearing, a native
of Armstrong, B.C.
"They started firing at us with everything - 20-millimetre
cannon, mortars, machine guns, everything. It was crazy."
The Canadians scrambled into their trenches and returned
fire. During a second attack, the platoon spotted the
Croats. Flashes from their machineguns could be seen
from a hedgerow and trees 150 metres away. After a fierce
firefight, the shooting on the Croatian side died down.
Dearing and his troops weren't the only Canadians
fighting back. Twenty separate gun battles would be
fought that day and night with the Croats.
At 9 a.m. the following morning [Sept. 16], French
troops who were in the rear started moving forward.
Backed by armored vehicles, they moved up past
the Canadians and toward the Croatian positions. By
then the Croats were falling back. Later that morning,
the Canadians heard small-arms fire and explosions,
and saw smoke rising from Serb villages behind the
Croatian lines. The Croats were killing Serb civilians.
An armored platoon started toward the burning villages
but was stopped for 90 minutes by a heavily armed
Croatian unit which apparently wanted to delay
the Canadians, to enable their ethnic cleansing units
to finish their killing and looting. "That was the
hardest thing - to sit there and watch that and be
essentially helpless to do anything," recalled Calvin,
who had moved up to the barricade.
Calvin didn't have the firepower to match the Croats,
but he did have another weapon: A European television
crew and several Serb journalists were with the column.
Calvin gave an impromptu news conference in the middle
of the road, telling reporters the Croats were killing
civilians just on the other side of the barricade. The
Croatian commander, worried about his country's image,
opened the roadblock and let the Canadians pass.
When they finally reached the villages, the Canadians
found 16 bodies of civilian victims. Every single
building in the Medak Pocket, 312 houses and
barns, had been destroyed. More than 130 large farm
animals had been slaughtered. Scattered on the ground
were hundreds of pairs of surgical gloves. It appeared
that more people had been murdered and the Croats wore
the gloves when piling bodies into trucks for removal
from the area.
Days later, the Croats turned over 50 bodies.
------------------------
Another source is Tested Mettle, by Scott Taylor and
Brian Nolan (Ottawa:
Esprit de Corps Books, 1998), Chapter Eight, "Medak Pocket."
Cedric Thornberry, Deputy Head of UNPROFOR in the
former Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1994, also described the
Croatian war crimes in the Medak Pocket in
"Saving the War Crimes Tribunal," Foreign Policy, Fall
1996.
----------------
CROAZIA: GOVERNO TUDJMAN ORCHESTRO' PULIZIA ETNICA, GIORNALE
(ANSA-AFP) - NEW YORK, 7 DIC - Il governo croato guidato dall'allora
presidente Franjo Tudjman ha orchestrato nel 1993 operazioni di pulizia
etnica contro i serbi di Croazia. Lo scrive il mensile
americano 'Harper's Magazine' citando documenti croati. Il giornale
pubblica estratti di un documento di 50 pagine che definisce le minute
di una riunione, del settembre 1993, del Consiglio croato di difesa e
sicurezza. Questo documento ''costituisce la prima prova proveniente da
fonte ufficiale che il governo nazionalista dell'ex presidente Tudjman
e' stato implicato nel progetto di cacciare i serbi'', scrive 'Harper's
Magazine'. ''Questa campagna di pulizia etnica - prosegue il giornale -
ha comportato la morte di civili disarmati, l'esecuzione di prigionieri
di guerra, l'esodo forzato di serbi e la distruzione di villaggi
serbi''. Cio' e' provato, scrive ancora il giornale, dai dialoghi
riportati nelle minute tra Tudjman, il suo primo minsitro Nikica
Valentic e il capo di stato maggiore Jank Bobetko. (ANSA-AFP) TF
07/12/2001 02:27
=*=
> http://www.harpers.com
HARPER'S MAGAZINE, December 2001, pp. 20-22 READINGS
Planning Croatia's Final Solution
From minutes of the September 12 and September 19,
1993, meetings of the Council for Defense and National
Security of the Republic of Croatia.
That year, Croat forces murdered up to 400 Serb civilians
in the town of Gospic; in 1995 almost 600,000 Serbs were
driven from the Krajina region. This transcript is the
first proof that President Franjo Tudjman planned and
directed ethnic cleansing and other war crimes. The
minutes were obtained by Chris Hedges of the New York Times.
Tudjman died in December 1999.
SEPTEMBER 12, 1993
PRESIDENT FRANJO TUDJMAN: Gentlemen, it seems that
during the last few days we have had a great military
success with the Gospic operation. At the moment when the
whole world is recommending - those from the friendly
countries as well as the others - that we pursue
extreme caution and political flexibility, we nevertheless
let ourselves be drawn, both by the Serbs' provocations as
well as by our own decision, into a situation that,
momentarily, no matter how we interpret it, we have
commenced an attack, which they have survived, and, given
our own preparations, that cannot be hidden. Croatia can
be held to a charge that it is preparing a war with the
Serbs in Croatia.
I must admit, that this is my responsibility, as I have
permitted the Gospic operation. When General Bobetko came
to me with the proposal I took into account the Serb
provocations - small provocations; for example, their
entrance into the Velebit Range, where they killed
some three special policemen, cutting off an ear of one,
then the placing of mines at Pakrac, thereby creating a
certain political climate both in the public and the
parliament - so I accepted the proposal that we are
going into this operation, although I was not informed,
as I later found out, about all the elements. For example,
I knew that Divoselo is Serb, but I did not know that
all of these villages, which we conquered, were Serb.
In that way, too, considering that we were carrying on
the negotiations about a cease-fire, we brought ourselves
into a situation that we can justify only with difficulty,
that at a moment when we were discussing a cease-fire we
turned to a war operation. The members of the international
community followed what is happening and why it is
happening. And then we gave them a little bit of different
material. Do not think that what General Bobetko is
proposing, that we prepare two attacks, that they do not
observe this and they do not have the exact information.
And then, in addition, in our statements we brought
ourselves into a very unfortunate situation.
General Bobetko, I told you that after this operation
it should be explained that they attacked first - that
is, in the Velebit - and that they did what they did,
etc. I said that one has to go before the TV cameras and
show the captured tanks.
GEN. JANKO BOBETKO: That will be this evening.
PRESIDENT: Therefore, we have to attempt to put our
actions in harmony with international policy in order
to regain sovereignty over the whole territory
with international support and in a peaceful way. Of
course, I am not an illusionist to think that we
shall succeed in this, but then we should not
make our tasks more difficult. We have to get ready.
PRIME MINISTER NIKICA VALENTIC: Mr. President, I have
to say a word. President, with the Serbs in Croatia we
shall not solve the problem. The only question is when
is the time to solve it in another way.
PRESIDENT: Yes, I know that.
VALENTIC: Therefore, and this is something of which I
want to convince you, as a man who spent his whole life
down there [in the Gospic area], the Serbs do not accept
any political solution. I think that all we need to do is
to prepare better and hit them from several sides. Thank
you.
PRESIDENT: Prime Minister Valentic, with the Serbs in
Croatia, those who are now leading Knin and Baranja,
no. But that is just a small group, and they still
depend on Belgrade. And the problem is, will the
international community force Belgrade to stop supplying
them?
The moment when Serbia is forced to do this, then we
are going to solve the question of Serbs in Croatia.
Then that miserable group of some 10 to 20 percent will
leave Croatia and then we shall solve that.
And it is clear that we shall not be able to solve it.
But should we begin only with that premise, then that
means war, which the world will not permit. That is not
the only focal point, only the question of national
minorities in Croatia. Such problems exist throughout
the world, in the Soviet Union, Africa, the Middle East,
etc. The international community is oriented toward the
resolution of these questions in a peaceful way - for
example, as the relations between the Arabs and Israel
are being resolved - and that directs us to follow that
path, not by war; whereas in our country there is a
growing understanding that Croatia must resolve the
problem by war, contrary to international norms, meaning
by ethnically cleansing the Serbs from Croatia. That is
happening in practice because we cannot hide that they
have the information that in Slavonia, western Slavonia,
some thirty Serb villages disappeared from the face of
the earth, and that now these three, four Serb villages
were eradicated. This creates a certain picture of
Croatia on which we cannot build our political status
or economic relations with the world. Understand that.
VALENTIC: That is not the issue, President, but this
awaits us in a year again. It is only the question of
timing. This awaits us.
PRESIDENT: Yes, if it awaits us then it means that we
have to prepare also politically, that we have to
prepare ourselves better militarily, and then
we also have to prepare so that after our future
operation they will no longer be able to hit Zagreb.
VALENTIC: President, as you know, there are many
mixed marriages in Gospic; several civilians and old
ladies are in Senj, where there is a certain
concentration camp, and that is where we should take
those that we captured at Citluk and Pocitelj. We
should place them there in an acceptable way and
then show them off and say a few things. Because I
know this for sure - because they asked me to intervene,
a granddaughter of one of these is married to my cousin
- that in Senj there is a concentration area where you
have these refugees from Citluk, Divoselo, and
Pocitelj. Then we show them that we do it in this fashion.
PRESIDENT: That would be very good, very good.
VALENTIC: And then when we display them, we pretty
them up, wash them, etc.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1993
PRESIDENT: Gentlemen, I open this meeting of the
Council for Defense and National Security with the
agenda: the development of the situation concerning
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croat-Serb relations. In
addition, these UNPROFOR people [U.N. peacekeepers]
and others tell us that we did not have to leave the
cleanest clearance behind us after we retreated.
MATE GRANIC [Foreign Minister]: That is the last news,
the main news of the last twenty-four hours on the
SKY News and CNN.
BOBETKO: We turned over fifty-two, so it was said,
usable Serb bodies, and the rest were removed. There
are some fifty, sixty, in the forest, because it is
more difficult to collect them in the forest. But it
could happen that they [UNPROFOR] entered a little bit
too fast. However, that was cleansed, absolutely. They
cannot find anything over there, at least I think so.
PRESIDENT: Gentlemen, to conclude, I have another
obligation. Three things: no military actions from
our side now and no provocations; prepare to
swallow, because now things are being solved in the
United Nations and it is important to know whether
the Croats are for a peaceful solution or not.
Therefore, continue the conversations with Serbs on
all levels. That is one thing. Second, Mate [Granic],
in Bosnia and Herzegovina under all circumstances carry
through the agreements [with the Bosnians], particularly
everything that we did there - concentration camps,
etc., etc.
- - - - -
[John R. MacArthur, President and Publisher of
Harper's Magazine, is the author of "Censorship and
Propaganda" in the Gulf War, New York: Hill and
Wang, 1992.]
-------------------------------------
Note: During this period of Tudjman's meetings of Sept
12 and 19, 1993, Croatian forces attacked Canadian
peacekeepers in a UN-protected area, the Medak Pocket.
Medak is south of Gospic and near Pocitelj, mentioned in
the transcript of the meetings.
This battle is described in the following sources:
The Ottawa Citizen, Canada, Monday, October 7, 1996,
pp. 6-7 "Canada's Secret Battle"
By DAVID PUGLIESE, CITIZEN Defence Writer
-------------------
After the Ottawa Citizen broke the story, other
newspapers in Canada printed the full story or a
shorter version. The following excerpt is from the
Toronto Star summary of the battle:
The Toronto Star, Tuesday, October 15, 1996, p. A1,13
"Honor for our troops in Canada's secret battle"
OTTAWA (CP) - In 1993, Canadian soldiers fought their
biggest battle since the Korean War. The action pitted
Canadian personnel and French troops under Canadian
command against the war-hardened Croatian army in a
tiny corner of the former Yugoslavia. When the shooting
stopped, there were four Canadian and seven French
soldiers wounded. Croatian media put their army's
casualties at 27 dead or wounded. But until now few
Canadians outside of the military knew of the engagement
or the performance of their troops. It is Canada's
secret battle....
On Sept. 9, 1993, the Croatian army had attacked near
the town of Medak in the Krajina, an area controlled by
Serbs in eastern Croatia. More than 2,500 Croatian troops,
backed by tanks, had advanced into a 35-square-kilometre
area known as the Medak Pocket. After several days of
heavy fighting with the Serbs, the Croats had agreed
to a UN-brokered ceasefire that required them to pull
back to their original lines.
Calvin and French Gen. Jean Cot., head of the U.N.
mission, had agreed that the Patricias would establish
a buffer zone between Serb and Croatian armies. Cot told
Calvin the UN had a credibility problem and needed a
successful mission in Yugoslavia. No more would UN
troops pull back each time the Croats or Serbs attacked.
It was now time to enforce the peace.
Calvin and his men had already endured a 24-hour
Croatian artillery and mortar barrage, and some
Canadians were still shaken. In Medak, where
Canadians manned an observation post, 525 bombs had
landed, and four of Calvin's soldiers had been wounded.
About noon on Sept. 15, 250 Canadian troops and 500
French soldiers under Calvin's command started to move
in between the Serb and Croat front lines.
They were supported by another 375 Canadian soldiers,
including engineers, medics and anti-tank teams. More
than half the Canadians were reservists.
The Serbs watched as the UN troops advanced but did
nothing. The Croats opened fire.
Sgt. Rod Dearing's men of 8 Platoon, Charlie Company,
were digging in around the village of Sitlik when the
Croats attacked.
"The whole place just lit up," said Dearing, a native
of Armstrong, B.C.
"They started firing at us with everything - 20-millimetre
cannon, mortars, machine guns, everything. It was crazy."
The Canadians scrambled into their trenches and returned
fire. During a second attack, the platoon spotted the
Croats. Flashes from their machineguns could be seen
from a hedgerow and trees 150 metres away. After a fierce
firefight, the shooting on the Croatian side died down.
Dearing and his troops weren't the only Canadians
fighting back. Twenty separate gun battles would be
fought that day and night with the Croats.
At 9 a.m. the following morning [Sept. 16], French
troops who were in the rear started moving forward.
Backed by armored vehicles, they moved up past
the Canadians and toward the Croatian positions. By
then the Croats were falling back. Later that morning,
the Canadians heard small-arms fire and explosions,
and saw smoke rising from Serb villages behind the
Croatian lines. The Croats were killing Serb civilians.
An armored platoon started toward the burning villages
but was stopped for 90 minutes by a heavily armed
Croatian unit which apparently wanted to delay
the Canadians, to enable their ethnic cleansing units
to finish their killing and looting. "That was the
hardest thing - to sit there and watch that and be
essentially helpless to do anything," recalled Calvin,
who had moved up to the barricade.
Calvin didn't have the firepower to match the Croats,
but he did have another weapon: A European television
crew and several Serb journalists were with the column.
Calvin gave an impromptu news conference in the middle
of the road, telling reporters the Croats were killing
civilians just on the other side of the barricade. The
Croatian commander, worried about his country's image,
opened the roadblock and let the Canadians pass.
When they finally reached the villages, the Canadians
found 16 bodies of civilian victims. Every single
building in the Medak Pocket, 312 houses and
barns, had been destroyed. More than 130 large farm
animals had been slaughtered. Scattered on the ground
were hundreds of pairs of surgical gloves. It appeared
that more people had been murdered and the Croats wore
the gloves when piling bodies into trucks for removal
from the area.
Days later, the Croats turned over 50 bodies.
------------------------
Another source is Tested Mettle, by Scott Taylor and
Brian Nolan (Ottawa:
Esprit de Corps Books, 1998), Chapter Eight, "Medak Pocket."
Cedric Thornberry, Deputy Head of UNPROFOR in the
former Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1994, also described the
Croatian war crimes in the Medak Pocket in
"Saving the War Crimes Tribunal," Foreign Policy, Fall
1996.
----------------
L'IMBARAZZO DI FELTRI
Il noto giornalista Vittorio Feltri, intervenendo ieri
19/12/2001 ad una trasmissione televisiva con Lerner e
Ferrara su "La Sette", ha detto testualmente che "e'
molto imbarazzante" la presenza di Slobodan Milosevic
dinanzi alla corte dell'Aia, poiche' dovendolo processare
per crimini "non commessi da lui direttamente, ma forse
da suoi collaboratori, si rischia di farne un capro
espiatorio per tutto quanto successo nei Balcani". Per
evitare questo "bisognava ucciderlo durante i
bombardamenti", ha detto Feltri riferendosi
all'intervento della NATO del 1999.
In effetti Feltri e gli altri suoi colleghi, in grave
imbarazzo per la situazione determinatasi, non hanno molte
vie d'uscita. Sicuramente, il perfetto silenzio stampa
sulle dichiarazioni di Milosevic dinanzi alla corte "ad hoc"
dell'Aia consente ai commentatori di evitare per adesso
di fare i conti con la loro coscienza lurida.
Tuttavia, nel seguito del processo, se i continui
incitamenti a Milosevic a suicidarsi - provenienti da
opinionisti di ogni tendenza politica - non dovessero
sortire alcun effetto, si dovrebbe probabilmente
intervenire con qualche tazzina di caffe' o con una
finestra aperta, per risolvere la contraddizione nella
maniera usuale per noi italiani.
Nel corso della stessa trasmissione, Feltri e gli altri
partecipanti hanno convenuto sulla necessita' di eliminare
anche Bin Laden, e di farlo adesso, per evitare certo di
farne un capro espiatorio, ma anche per evitare che costui,
dovendo parlare dinanzi a qualche corte, si metta a
ripercorrere alcune vicende del suo passato.
Italo Slavo
Il noto giornalista Vittorio Feltri, intervenendo ieri
19/12/2001 ad una trasmissione televisiva con Lerner e
Ferrara su "La Sette", ha detto testualmente che "e'
molto imbarazzante" la presenza di Slobodan Milosevic
dinanzi alla corte dell'Aia, poiche' dovendolo processare
per crimini "non commessi da lui direttamente, ma forse
da suoi collaboratori, si rischia di farne un capro
espiatorio per tutto quanto successo nei Balcani". Per
evitare questo "bisognava ucciderlo durante i
bombardamenti", ha detto Feltri riferendosi
all'intervento della NATO del 1999.
In effetti Feltri e gli altri suoi colleghi, in grave
imbarazzo per la situazione determinatasi, non hanno molte
vie d'uscita. Sicuramente, il perfetto silenzio stampa
sulle dichiarazioni di Milosevic dinanzi alla corte "ad hoc"
dell'Aia consente ai commentatori di evitare per adesso
di fare i conti con la loro coscienza lurida.
Tuttavia, nel seguito del processo, se i continui
incitamenti a Milosevic a suicidarsi - provenienti da
opinionisti di ogni tendenza politica - non dovessero
sortire alcun effetto, si dovrebbe probabilmente
intervenire con qualche tazzina di caffe' o con una
finestra aperta, per risolvere la contraddizione nella
maniera usuale per noi italiani.
Nel corso della stessa trasmissione, Feltri e gli altri
partecipanti hanno convenuto sulla necessita' di eliminare
anche Bin Laden, e di farlo adesso, per evitare certo di
farne un capro espiatorio, ma anche per evitare che costui,
dovendo parlare dinanzi a qualche corte, si metta a
ripercorrere alcune vicende del suo passato.
Italo Slavo
Oggi 19 dicembre 2001 si e' tenuta a Roma, alle ore 12:30 nella sede del
Partito Radicale in Via di Torre Argentina, una conferenza stampa con
Carla Del Ponte, "pubblico ministero" del "Tribunale ad hoc" dell'Aia
per i crimini commessi sul territorio della ex-Jugoslavia.
Alla conferenza stampa sono intervenuti a sorpresa alcuni militanti del
Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia e della sezione italiana del
"Tribunale Clark", che hanno effettuato domande a raffica alla Del
Ponte. Secondo i contestatori, il "tribunale ad hoc", essendo stato
istituito con una forzatura da parte di membri del Consiglio di
Sicurezza dell'ONU, e non dalla Assemblea dell'ONU, e' illegale; il suo
regolamento infrange norme elementari del diritto, come la presunzione
di innocenza, il sistema degli avvisi di garanzia, il pubblico dominio e
la non-secretezza delle fonti d'accusa e testimoniali; la sua attitudine
e' faziosa e squisitamente politica, come ha dimostrato la veloce
archiviazione delle cause intentate contro la NATO per i bombardamenti
compiuti nel 1999 contro la Repubblica Federale di Jugoslavia.
I contestatori sono stati apostrofati con frasi razziste ed
intimidazioni ("Se sei serbo, che cosa ci stai a fare qui? Vattene!", "E
tu che dici queste idiozie saresti un avvocato?") da parte dei militanti
del Partito Radicale, da sempre in prima linea in Italia nella campagna
a favore della frammentazione della Jugoslavia in "gabbie" etniche e
grandi fautori dello stesso "tribunale ad hoc". Al leader storico del
partito, Marco Pannella, anch'egli presente, e' stato ricordato il suo
ruolo nel 1991, quando in sostegno della causa del secessionismo su base
etnica indosso' la divisa dell'esercito croato presso Osijek.
Il Partito Radicale, formazione con una infima base militante che pero'
gode di enorme peso mediatico e grandi risorse finanziarie, si ispira
alle idee dell'ultraliberismo, chiede la liquidazione dello Stato
italiano secondo il modello degli USA e nelle sue manifestazioni espone
le bandiere degli USA, della Gran Bretagna e di Israele.
Partito Radicale in Via di Torre Argentina, una conferenza stampa con
Carla Del Ponte, "pubblico ministero" del "Tribunale ad hoc" dell'Aia
per i crimini commessi sul territorio della ex-Jugoslavia.
Alla conferenza stampa sono intervenuti a sorpresa alcuni militanti del
Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia e della sezione italiana del
"Tribunale Clark", che hanno effettuato domande a raffica alla Del
Ponte. Secondo i contestatori, il "tribunale ad hoc", essendo stato
istituito con una forzatura da parte di membri del Consiglio di
Sicurezza dell'ONU, e non dalla Assemblea dell'ONU, e' illegale; il suo
regolamento infrange norme elementari del diritto, come la presunzione
di innocenza, il sistema degli avvisi di garanzia, il pubblico dominio e
la non-secretezza delle fonti d'accusa e testimoniali; la sua attitudine
e' faziosa e squisitamente politica, come ha dimostrato la veloce
archiviazione delle cause intentate contro la NATO per i bombardamenti
compiuti nel 1999 contro la Repubblica Federale di Jugoslavia.
I contestatori sono stati apostrofati con frasi razziste ed
intimidazioni ("Se sei serbo, che cosa ci stai a fare qui? Vattene!", "E
tu che dici queste idiozie saresti un avvocato?") da parte dei militanti
del Partito Radicale, da sempre in prima linea in Italia nella campagna
a favore della frammentazione della Jugoslavia in "gabbie" etniche e
grandi fautori dello stesso "tribunale ad hoc". Al leader storico del
partito, Marco Pannella, anch'egli presente, e' stato ricordato il suo
ruolo nel 1991, quando in sostegno della causa del secessionismo su base
etnica indosso' la divisa dell'esercito croato presso Osijek.
Il Partito Radicale, formazione con una infima base militante che pero'
gode di enorme peso mediatico e grandi risorse finanziarie, si ispira
alle idee dell'ultraliberismo, chiede la liquidazione dello Stato
italiano secondo il modello degli USA e nelle sue manifestazioni espone
le bandiere degli USA, della Gran Bretagna e di Israele.
