The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell <\/strong><\/p>\nIn Foreign Parts: Sarajevo<\/p>\n
By Robert Fisk<\/p>\n
Wars are won or lost but the follies go on for ever. In Bosnia,
\nthe Serbs lost, which – given their militias’ propensity to
\nmassacre tens of thousands of Muslims – seems only fair.<\/p>\n
And Bosnia at peace under Nato is better than Bosnia at the
\nmercy of its own home-grown murderers. I far prefer driving
\npast a British, German or Swedish tank on the road from
\nSarajevo to Banja Luka than the drunken rapists of Arkan’s
\nWhite Eagles whom I used to come across six years ago.<\/p>\n
Plastic cups were a must in my car – to avoid drinking directly
\nfrom the bottle of plum brandy that these odious men would
\nthrust angrily towards my lips. But that was then.<\/p>\n
So why, I ask myself, do the follies go on? In Vietnam, they had
\nthe five o’clock follies (the daily news briefings). During the
\nKosovo war, Nato’s follies started in Brussels at midafternoon.
\nIn Bosnia, the S-For follies – and those of the Organisation for
\nSecurity and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN –
\ncontinue still. They start twice a week at 11.30am.<\/p>\n
And The\u00a0Independent can today print the entire transcript of what S-For
\nhad to tell the press in Sarajevo at their first meeting this
\nweek. “S-For has no statement today,” Captain Susan Gray
\ntold us. And that was that.<\/p>\n
No mention of depleted uranium, no reference to the surge in
\ncancers among Serbian civilians close to Nato’s 1995
\nbombings, no suggestion that S-For might have some interest
\nin researching the cancer and leukaemia outbreak – if only for
\nthe safety of its own soldiers. No, S-For has no statement.<\/p>\n
It’s a bit like reading the Nato-led army’s house newspaper,
\nthe unhappily named S-For Informer. You’d think that any
\nmilitary-oriented journal would carry an article or two about the
\nsubject preoccupying Nato governments and Western armies:
\nDU. Yet those letters do not sully the pages of the S-For
\nInformer.<\/p>\n
There are stories aplenty about S-For’s Christmas
\ngoodwill towards the children of Bosnia, about Lord
\nRobertson of Port Ellen’s visit to Bosnia and Franco-Canadian
\nmilitary co-operation; there’s even a brief reference to the
\ndiscovery of a cache of arms belong-ing to “anti-Dayton
\nelements”. Three-quarters of the back page is devoted to
\nS-For soldiers’ opinions on the Bosnian winter. “It’s a bit like
\nautumn, only colder,” says Flight Lieutenant Jo Goodwin of the
\nRAF. So you can forget DU.<\/p>\n
True, there were statements at the S-For follies from the
\nOSCE and UN and the High (sic) Representative about
\ncompensation payments, local election results, the first
\ncollective Bosnian UN observer team to start duties abroad
\nand the implementation of property laws.<\/p>\n
Only when I asked\u00a0why the assembled officials didn’t seek a World Health
\nOrganisation (WHO) investigation of DU and the health of the
\ncivilian population here – as Bernard Kouchner has done in
\nKosovo – did the UN’s man tell us that S-For had been asked
\nfor a list of “contaminated [sic] sites” and that a UN team may
\nsoon start research on this very subject in Bosnia. How soon
\n“soon” was, no one knew.<\/p>\n
It’s a very odd situation. Question any Nato officer at S-For
\nheadquarters why they aren’t themselves looking at the cancer
\ndata available in local hospitals and you’d think you’d just
\nasked a question about their sex lives. “Your articles are
\nemotional and are stirring up civilian fears,” I was gravely
\ninformed – as if suffering and dying of unexplained cancers
\nwouldn’t worry a soul.<\/p>\n
Last week, too, S-For announced that after examination by its
\nGerman contingent at Hadjici, DU rounds found there “pose
\nno significant health hazard to the local population or S-For
\ntroops”. The “local population” at Hadjici is now Muslim. But
\nS-For did not investigate the health of the population who were
\nat Hadjici at the time of the bombings – who were
\nSerbs.”S-For is not Nato,” I was also admonished – and I can
\nsee why some non-Nato S-For troops would like the
\ndissociation. But Nato’s star logo adorns S-For statements, it
\nappears above the heads of its briefers at their follies and
\nS-For statements often direct readers to Nato websites. When
\nthere are statements, that is.<\/p>\n
Yes, Bosnia at peace under Nato is certainly better than the
\natrocity-filled war I experienced here more than five years ago.
\nAnd that was one argument privately used on me after the
\nS-For follies to deflect questions about DU. But here the logic
\ngoes grey. Ending mass murder does not, surely, entitle us to
\ncontaminate the land of the survivors.<\/p>\n
To be fair, there are Nato men who understand all too well the
\nimplications of the DU debate. “It would be the job of the BiH
\n(Bosnia-Herzegovina) government to initiate the research you
\nare talking about,” another officer remarked to me. Then he
\nadded, quietly: “How can we get the BiH government to start
\nan inquiry?” But of course, there is no way. The Bosnian
\nauthorities are beholden to Nato. They think it’s Nato’s job to
\ninvestigate DU. They won’t rock the boat.<\/p>\n
So there you have it. Officially and on the record, it can safely
\nbe said that S-For has no statement today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE INDEPENDENT (UK) 27 January 2001 The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell In Foreign Parts: Sarajevo By Robert Fisk Wars are won or lost but the follies go on for ever. In Bosnia, the Serbs lost, which – given their militias’ propensity to massacre tens of thousands of Muslims – seems only … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell – Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe story Nato's newspaper does not want to tell - Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001 - Balkan Conflicts Research Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The story Nato's newspaper does not want to tell - Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001 - Balkan Conflicts Research Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE INDEPENDENT (UK) 27 January 2001 The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell In Foreign Parts: Sarajevo By Robert Fisk Wars are won or lost but the follies go on for ever. In Bosnia, the Serbs lost, which – given their militias’ propensity to massacre tens of thousands of Muslims – seems only … Continue reading "The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell – Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Balkan Conflicts Research Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/\",\"name\":\"Balkan Conflicts Research Team\",\"description\":\"Information on recent conflicts in the Balkans\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/\",\"name\":\"The story Nato's newspaper does not want to tell - Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001 - Balkan Conflicts Research Team\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-28T10:44:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-28T10:44:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell – Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The story Nato's newspaper does not want to tell - Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001 - Balkan Conflicts Research Team","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The story Nato's newspaper does not want to tell - Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001 - Balkan Conflicts Research Team","og_description":"THE INDEPENDENT (UK) 27 January 2001 The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell In Foreign Parts: Sarajevo By Robert Fisk Wars are won or lost but the follies go on for ever. In Bosnia, the Serbs lost, which – given their militias’ propensity to massacre tens of thousands of Muslims – seems only … Continue reading \"The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell – Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/","og_site_name":"Balkan Conflicts Research Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/","name":"Balkan Conflicts Research Team","description":"Information on recent conflicts in the Balkans","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/","name":"The story Nato's newspaper does not want to tell - Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001 - Balkan Conflicts Research Team","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-28T10:44:55+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-28T10:44:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/the-story-natos-newspaper-does-not-want-to-tell-robert-fisk-the-independent-january-2001\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The story Nato’s newspaper does not want to tell – Robert Fisk, The Independent, January 2001"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2360,"href":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2358\/revisions\/2360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}