[Prishtina-E] Please Distribute

[Isa Blumi]

I request that everyone reading this, take the time to
actually understand what I am writing and read the
entire message.  Following my brief tirade, I will
provide you with two articles, the first from AP
reporting on the NPR (National Public Radio) story
aired last week and the second, reporting the OSCE’s
response. (Organization on Security and Cooperation in
Europe one of the two pillars of the administrative
body governing Kosova today).  I wish to give you some
background so when you do decide to take action, which
any human being (Muslim, Catholic, Leftist, Serb,
Albanian or Palestinian) will feel compelled to take,
you can adequately address the pertinent issues at
play.  
When I was working for Kosovapress during the war, we
were trying to push the story of Serb attempts to
destroy evidence of massive human rights abuses by
shipping the bodies of its victims in Kosova to
Serbia-proper for disposal.  We had a witness report
to us, from his hideout in Italy, how he drove a
refrigerated truck on several occasions from a Serb
military base outside Prishtina to a smelter inside
Serbia.  Despite the top-secret atmosphere he was
compelled to investigate just what he was transporting
and arranged for his friends to help him open the back
of his truck and then flee Serbia (knowing full well
his life was in danger).  Inside he found the
refrigerated truck packed with bodies, he surmised
that he was taking these bodies to a smelter where the
to bodies would be burned.  That is before NATO
bombing!  Throughout the war I was pestering NATO, US
military officials and journalists to watch for such
activities, clearly the Serbs learned from Bosnia and
recognized they needed to destroy evidence that could
lead to their indictment.  Sure enough, throughout the
war, we were receiving reports of the burning of whole
families inside homes, the detailed effort to avoid
mass graves whenever possible, burying people (using
Roma gravediggers) in individual graves (the
international war crimes tribunal in the Hague does
not count individual graves, that is why apologists
for Serbia constantly site the Hague statistics which
only counts bodies identified in mass graves.)  There
were also frequent “leaks” to the media thanks to the
brave work of Kosovars and sympathetic elements inside
NATO of mass graves discovered by satellite.  That
these graves were eventually emptied suggests the
bodies were disposed of in some way.  That was during
the war.  Again, during the Kumonova meetings to end
hostilities I was screaming mad as I was receiving
reports from inside Kosova that while Serb negotiators
stalled at Kumanova (remember the talks would be
delayed for many days) Serb teams worked night and day
to empty as many mass graves as possible.  We
supposedly have video tape of one dump truck carrying
bodies away from a site, I know people watched from
neighboring hills and forests, witnesses are around
who could testify, clearly there are some Serbs who
want to talk. When we returned to Kosova, I
immediately pressed journalists coming in to go to
Trepca because we knew they were burning bodies there.
 The few journalists who attempted were turned back by
first Serb paramilitaries who guarded the roads well
after they were supposed to have left, and then by
French troops.  Eventually, with enough pressure, but
about two to three weeks after the French (and Serbs)
secured the area, a few journalists were allowed to
visit some parts of the site.  Of course they reported
nothing conclusive.  I asked the former head
prosecutor of the tribunal, when she came to Pristhina
after the war ended about what I had been trying to
get journalists to report, she could not reveal what
evidence the court was going to use against those
indicated but added (and this was a clear sign to all
of us that the court knew about these activities) that
“destroying evidence is an admission of guilt.”  
	This leads us to today and what I think is a very
brave gesture by a man with no real interest in
helping Kosovars.  A journalist for NPR, Montgomery is
his name, has risked his life to travel in Serbia and
interview those who actually participated in burning
human bodies in Trepca.  I know a bit about Montgomery
and I know he does not love Kosovar Albanians, he did
this because there is a story, a disgusting travesty
which could potentially shake the foundations of the
last two years.  Of course, the OSCE and the UN are
actively engaged in shutting this news out.  Why? 
They have spent the last year and a half demonizing
Kosovar Albanians, accusing them of conducting “ethnic
cleansing in reverse” when they fully know that the
overwhelming majority of the Serbs who were
administrating Kosova for Belgrade, left with the Serb
military.  The international community, (remember
China, France and Russia are actively against Kosova’s
independence for their own reasons) has worked towards
delegitimizing Kosova’s claims to independence, and
the news of Serbs committing mass murder and then
burning the bodies would be such a compelling argument
for Kosovars to live independently from the Serb state
that such information had to be repressed.
	I am bringing this issue to you today for one simple
reason.  This is a second chance for Kosova.
Montgomery has risked his life to get the story out
and now the OSCE is pulling out the stops to suppress
it by saying French teams “looked at the mines.” 
French forensic teams have an interest in not finding
evidence people, it is scandalous that this
international body would resort to such a level of
cover up to deflect a potential earth-shaker.  It is
like the allies suppressing news of concentration
camps during World War II.  If the world got wind and
were properly stimulated, this could get Kosova back
on the agenda.  Montgomery has given Kosova that
second chance, a chance that neither Rugova, Thaci nor
any other Kosovar has been able to give.  We Kosovars
lost the game because, as I warned almost two years
ago, we are not fighting the PR war.  Very few
influential people wanted to listen to me back then,
they were too important and had their own ambitions. 
Now most of them are finished, but Kosova is also a
dead issue. Kosova’s independence is not going to
happen unless we take to the streets.  This is our
last chance.  
Those reading on the various lists did not get my
point in the last message about the need to protest
Serb nationalist gestures by two players in the NBA. 
Instead of getting together and writing letters of
protest, contacting the media, etc., most elected to
fight petty little battles about whether or not it was
acceptable to be associated with Muslims or if we
should be communicating in one language or another. 
That last task was easy compared to this one.  You
clearly did not catch on.  Let me make this as clear
as possible.  IT IS UP TO ALL OF YOU IN THE WEST, IN
YOUR COMFORTABLE DIGITALIZED WORLDS TO GET OFF YOUR
ASSES AND MOBILIZE!  DON’T LET A CNN-ARTICULATE
MORALITY/WORLD VIEW KEEP YOU FROM FIGHTING FOR YOUR
COUNTRY”S FREEDOM!!   If you do not take advantage of
this opportunity, this will be the last chance to
lose.  I purpose that all of us  abandon the petty
ego-trips, rally around the idea of Kosova being free,
and get to the streets, set up daily protests in front
of the UN and Serb consulates in the US, Australia and
Europe.  How can there be people marching against the
Turkish state after 85 years (The Armenian issue),
kids throwing stones and dying in Palestine, people
still fighting in Chechneya and tens of thousands
protesting against Abortion rights and Kosovars cannot
organize to demand their independence!  There should
be a person standing in protest for every hostage
still in Serb prisons, that makes more than a
thousand, every day until they are free.  How can
Kostunica be allowed to travel with these people still
in prisons, being auctioned off to the family with
50,000 DM!!???.  Do not feel powerless.  Look what
several hundred anti-globalization protesters can do,
look at the press they get when they get within fifty
miles of Davos.  And here are the Kosovars, content
with being vilified as drug dealers and terrorists. 
This is your chance to do justice to the sacrifice of
hundreds of thousands of our ancestors who died for
their dignity over the centuries.  If not for them,
then for your own self interests.  It is in your own
self interest because what we have now is the utter
lack of dignity, the world does not recognize our
right to self-determination, to justice, to freedom
and security.  All that silly debate about one’s faith
and Albanian/Kosovar identity means nothing if you
cannot stand up and defend honor and demand to have
your fellow Kosovars’ life treated equally as a
Europeans.  Are you content with the idea that Serbs
or Russians can burn our bodies to hide the fact that
they tortured and murdered us?  Are you happy with
being polluted to death, to be ignored and not
permitted to travel?  If we cannot mobilize public
opinion about the fact that the great powers are
trying to cover up the incineration of human bodies,
after “WORLD GENOCIDE DAY” was just observed in
Europe, then I swear, I will never take up the cause
of Kosova again.  I have spent too many days of my
life fighting this battle, often alone.  I no longer
want to go to conferences throughout Europe and be the
only one fighting, arguing and ultimately screaming
for Kosova.  I have tarnished too much of my academic
career with associations of being a “terrorist” and
“radical” to continue this alone.  People are already
tired of me because to them, Kosova is finished, a
done deal.  I want to see this issue brought to the
surface so I can go to Berlin, Florence and London and
point to the newspapers, to the streets outside.  ACT
RESPONSIBLY FOR ONCE DAMNIT!!.  DO THIS RIGHT!!! 
There are Jewish organizations that will have to
support our fight just because of the nature of the
crimes and the people who are covering it up, there
are members in the US Senate and Congress who have
supported our cause and will publicize this if you
articulate the arguments for them, most of all, you
have to get the press involved who will always want a
good story.  You get their attention by taking to the
streets, and I do not mean some pathetic dozen kids
carrying misspelled banners that lasts two hours, but
thousands, every day.
	And for those of you in Kosova right now, there
should be a day-long strike organized immediately. 
All those disgusted by what has happened, no matter if
you are American, German, Kosovar Albanian or Serb,
you should participate in protesting the burning of
human bodies and then its cover up by the
international community.  The Kosovar newspapers and
radio programs should universally call on a one-day
strike, screw the OSCE sanctions, if you are
intimidated by threats of your radio show being closed
down, if you do not want to lose your job, then you
just answered the question for the world, there is a
price for your freedom, and a pretty low one at that. 
I am especially addressing all employees of NGOs, the
OSCE and UNMIK.  You should organize to not show up
for work, close Kosova down!!!!…
This is the opportunity, it has come from an unlikely
source, the Serbs themselves.  The men who burned
human bodies for Serbia’s political leaders felt
disgusted by what they did and risked their lives
talking to Montgomery, the least you could do is do
this last, desperate act to save Kosova from itself. 
Do not wait for Thaci, Rugova or Haradinaj,  they will
not be there, Kouchner, Albright and Clinton are gone,
it is up to everyone single one of you.  Please, look
at what the world should know about what happened and
look at what the OSCE and UNMIK are trying to do to
silence it.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, MOBILIZE!


Friday, January 26 6:03 AM SGT 
Report: Serbs Burned Victims' Bodies
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Special forces loyal to former
Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic burned the bodies
of hundreds of ethnic Albanians in a blast furnace
before pulling out of Kosovo ahead of NATO troops,
says a National Public Radio report airing Thursday. 
Men involved in the clandestine operation, which was
intended to cover up atrocities that could lead to war
crimes charges, said up to 1,500 bodies were burned at
the Trepca lead refinery, the report says. 
That accounts for about half the Kosovo Albanians
still missing more than a year and a half after
Milosevic's forces pulled out of the province. 
The men, identified only by their first names,
described how bodies were unearthed from freshly dug
graves later identified by NATO satellites gathering
evidence of possible Serb atrocities in Kosovo. 
Because they were too big to fit in the furnace, the
bodies were first put in a grinder used for ore
processing before being placed on the furnace conveyor
belt, said one man involved in the operation. 
Milosevic is under indictment by the U.N. tribunal at
The Hague, Netherlands, for alleged involvement in the
Kosovo atrocities. Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal's
senior prosecutor, failed in three days of talks that
ended Thursday to convince the new Yugoslav leadership
to agree to his extradition and trial. 
Milosevic pulled his forces out of Kosovo in mid-1999
in exchange for an end to months of NATO bombing, as
part of a Kosovo peace treaty. Although the ethnic
Albanian majority province formally remains part of
Serbia, Yugoslavia's larger republic, it is run by the
United Nations and a NATO-led peacekeeping force. 
A man identified only as Dusko, a member of Serbia's
special forces, told NPR the campaign was an attempt
to hide evidence of atrocities - whole villages
destroyed and their inhabitants killed. 
``I think our people understood that, sooner or later
... The Hague Tribunal might come into Kosovo,'' he
was quoted as saying in the script, made available to
The Associated Press. 
Others said the bodies - mostly men, but also
including women and children - were transported at
night in refrigerated vehicles to Trepca's Zvecan lead
refinery just outside Kosovska Mitrovica, about 20
miles north of Pristina, Kosovo's capital. 
The blast furnaces ``burned at extremely high heat,''
said one of the drivers, identified as Branko. ``And
that's where the bodies got destroyed.'' 
About 120 of the bodies disposed of this way came from
Izbica, near Mitrovica, said the documentary. After
the bodies were dug up, NATO spy satellites captured
the rows of freshly opened graves and they became part
of the tribunal's evidence against Milosevic. 
``This was a horrible scene because there were so many
- like a factory assembly line - but with bodies,''
Branko was quoted as saying of the mass burnings. 
##########################
Saturday, January 27 5:23 AM SGT 
Kosovo Mass Burnings Alleged
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer 
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic's forces burned bodies of victims of Serbian
atrocities in Kosovo in a campaign to destroy the
evidence of crimes, the State Department said Friday. 
Information obtained by the U.S. government beginning
in 1999 confirms there were massive killings ``and
there were attempts to burn bodies and otherwise cover
up evidence at places throughout Kosovo,'' spokesman
Richard Boucher said. 
In a documentary aired Thursday that used interviews
from men who said they were involved, Minnesota Public
Radio and National Public Radio news reported up to
1,500 bodies were burned at a lead refinery in Trepca.
That would account for about half of the ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo still missing more than a year and
a half after Milosevic pulled out of the province
under U.S. and NATO pressure. 
``The information that we had and continue to have
corroborates the broad outline of the campaign by
Milosevic's forces to destroy evidence of their
crimes,'' Boucher said. 
Asked specifically about Trepca, Boucher said, ``We
knew that this was one of the places that we were
concentrating on, where there was activity going on.
But if we were actually able to say in our report,
`They burned bodies at this site,' I don't know.'' 
Earlier, a spokeswoman for the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe said investigators
had found no evidence that would substantiate the
report that elite forces loyal to Milosevic burned the
bodies in a blast furnace at Trepca. 
``Our people have had a report of this, but they found
no evidence to substantiate it,'' OSCE spokeswoman
Claire Trevena said. 
Along with the United Nations and NATO, the 55-nation
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
plays a key role in running the Serbian province of
Kosovo. 
Trevena said a French forensic team with sophisticated
equipment that was called to search for remains of any
bodies at Trepca found nothing there. 
Boucher said the United States, in May and June 1999,
briefed the international war crimes tribunal for
Yugoslavia in The Hague, The Netherlands, ``on the
Serb campaign to destroy the evidence.'' 
Boucher added: ``It's a fact that we know of and that
we've reported on in the past.'' 
On Thursday, the Bush administration said through
Boucher that it was disappointed Yugoslavia did not
work out an agreement with the chief U.N. war crimes
prosecutor to put Milosevic on trial for war crimes. 
``These things need to be worked out, and the
obligation flows from the government to the
tribunal,'' he said. 
Chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte rejected Yugoslavia's
position. Still, she said in Belgrade she remains
``cautiously optimistic'' that Milosevic would be
extradited to the Netherlands for trial on charges of
involvement in atrocities by Serbian troops against
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. 
He was indicted nearly two years ago, but like several
other Serb leaders accused of war crimes in the
Balkans, he has not faced trial. 
In 1999, senior French police officials in Kosovo said
the furnace at Trepca stopped operating shortly after
the start of the crackdown on Kosovo's ethnic
Albanians in late March 1999 and remained unused after
Milosevic's forces pulled out. 
Ashes at the site examined by the team also showed no
traces that would back up the report, they said. 
In Thursday's radio report, the men, identified only
by their first names, said bodies were unearthed from
freshly dug graves that were identified by NATO
satellites after the French study was done. 
At The Hague, Graham Blewitt, the U.N. tribunal's
deputy prosecutor, said tribunal investigations at the
Trepca mine ``couldn't confirm'' bodies had been
disposed of by burning but suggested it was extremely
difficult to arrive at a definite conclusion. 



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