[REDDING, CA, July 16 – Here is an excerpt from a thought-provoking
piece by Mary Mostert, an author whose name should be familiar to the regular
TiM readers (check out her two other Kosovo stories written during NATO’s
War on Serbia – S99-34, Day 17, Update 1, Item 2, Apr. 9 and S99-55, Day
33, Update 1, Item 3, Apr. 25)]
The Last Straw: Bill Designed to Kill Serb Children
Date: 04/08/99
by Mary Mostert
In 1996, I was a very active supporter of the Bob Dole for President,
although I thought he was really wrong in some of his statements about
the Bosnian war at the time.
As I delved into the problems, reading material from both Albanian and
Serb sources, I kept running into articles which claimed that my hero, Bob
Dole, was a ‘lobbyist’ for the Albanians. I dismissed the charge as
unsubstantiated and unlikely. Bob Dole, I believed sincerely, would not
be involved with a terrorist group like the KLA which, it appeared quite
early on, to be financed in large measure by the sale of heroin.
Illyria, an Albanian publication, wrote admiringly of Bob Dole in an editorial on
March 4, 1999:
“At the start of this decade, one man, then a powerful senator, stood on
the steps of the Capitol and vowed to fight for the rights of the Albanians
in Kosovo. Through the loud cheers of thousands of demonstrators, Bob Dole
promised he would visit Kosovo and see at first hand the brutality of
the Serb regime, which aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the Albanian
population.
“Serb dictator Slobodan Milosevic, who later would win himself
the deserved nickname of the Butcher of the Balkans, had just launched
a vicious attack on the Albanian people and their institutions. The move
marked the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia. […]
“President Clinton ASKED Bob Dole to try to persuade the Albanians
‘that U.S. intentions are good and that the White House is serious about the
issue. Not that the Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is not a
respected U.S. official among the Albanians (her dedication on the
issue is to be admired), but Bob Dole brings to Kosovo a familiar face — the
face of a man who has fought for their rights in the past and continues to
do so.’ (‘Albanian Telegraphic Agency’ http://www.telpress.it/ata/ata.htm)”
What I did not know until the last few days was just how much campaign
money had gone into Bob Dole’s, and other congressional leaders’,
campaigns from the Albanian lobby. But, what has been the final straw for me was
the passage of S 1234 Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 2000 which was passed 97-2 on June 30,
1999. Bob Smith, who just this week left the Republican party over matters of
principle, and Robert Byrd were the only Senators to vote against the
bill.
Tucked away in the depths of the bill, totally undiscussed on the
Senate Floor, is a provision which is clearly intended to kill as many Serb
children this winter as possible. And 97 American Senators, Democrats
and Republicans, voted in favor of it.
I called the office of a Republican senator who shall be temporarily
nameless, and inquired if the Senator knew of a provision recently
voted on which, according to an e-mail I received, ‘names Yugoslavia a
‘terrorist state'”.
The aide, who had a Croatian name, said without hesitation that
I was referring to S 1234, Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and
Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2000, section 525 of the bill which did
indeed list Yugoslavia as a terrorist state, along with Cuba, Iraq, Libya,
NorthKorea, Iran, Sudan, or Syria. […] (also see S99-113, “Peace” 7, Item
3, June 22).
I also found, reading the bill, that Section 578 of S 1234 called for
draconian sanctions against Yugoslavia… which are guaranteed to kill
hundreds of thousands of people in a nation which is now about 90%
unemployed because American bombers destroyed most of its means of
production, will remain in place, according to the bill, until the
President ‘certifies’ that:
1. The representatives of the successor states to the Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia have successfully negotiated the division of
assets and liabilities and all other succession issues following the
dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;
2. The government of Serbia-Montenegro is fully complying with its
obligations as a signatory to the General Framework Agreement for Peace
in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
3. The government of Serbia-Montenegro is fully cooperating with and
providing unrestricted access to the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia, including surrendering persons indicted for war
crimes who are within the jurisdiction of the territory of
Serbia-Montenegro, and with the investigations concerning the
commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo;
4.The government of Serbia-Montenegro is implementing internal
democratic reforms;
5. Serbian, Serbian-Montenegrin federal governmental officials, and
representatives of the ethnic Albanian community in Kosovo have agreed
on, signed, and begun implementation of a negotiated settlement on the
future status of Kosovo.
In effect these provisions destroy totally the G-8 agreement that
Milosevic and the NATO nations signed in early June. It provides for the
Yugoslavia’s assets to be totally under the control of NATO – since they are the
ones who occupy the rest of Yugoslavia, which is exactly what the
Rambouillet agreement required of Milosevic – uncontrolled access not only to
Kosovo, but ALL of Yugoslavia by NATO troops.
Recently in an interview on 60 minutes, Leslie Stahl asked Madeleine
Albright: ‘I understand that 500,000 Iraqi children have died due to
our sanctions…was it worth it?’ Albright replied, ‘It was worth it.’
I asked the Senator’s aide almost exactly the same question: ‘This will
cause hundreds of thousands of Serb and other children in Yugoslavia to
die, just like in Iraq!’ I said. ‘Surely the Senator is not approving
that?’ The aide said, ‘That’s what they deserve for choosing a man like
Milosevic.’
I was dumbfounded. The children have chosen NO ONE! Apparently this
whole war IS about money – just as many Serbs have been trying to tell me for
weeks – but I didn’t believe it. Now I find that the Senate of the United
States has passed an appropriations bill that spells it out in detail –
and the threat is in effect: Give up your assets to us or we kill your
children. […]
What will this mean on the ground in Yugoslavia? (William) Doric noted,
‘As a ‘terrorist state’, there will be no travel in or out of Yugoslavia.
Mail will be stopped and all of us will be subject to government
restrictions on communications with Serbia. Speaking out will carry a price that might
be considered subversion. There will be no reconstruction by any nation
and no medical assistance and tens of thousands of Serbs will die right before
our eyes – just like 1.8 million Iraqi people have died in the last 5
years.
“The stupidity of this bill is that without rebuilding Serbia, where 60%
of Europe’s trade flows down the Danube River, the trade will permanently
stop. Serbia’s neighbors will be punished right along with the Serbs.
Mitch McConnell has just shown how much hate can drive a person to immoral
conduct and hate speech.’
Can anything be done about it? It is not yet law. Call, write,
telephone and fax your representative in Congress! (see
http://originalsources.com/PLobby/ContactCongress.shtml) Write
letters, orsend this article, to your local newspaper. For national news sources,
go to: http://originalsources.com/PLobby/ContactMedia.shtml.
Back in 1962, I was one of 52 American women who flew to Geneva,
Switzerland in an effort to stop the testing of nuclear bombs in the
atmosphere because, as a young mother of four little children, I was
concerned about the sharp increase in child cancer and leukemia from
cancer-causing Strontium 90 that children all over the world were
drinking along with their milk. Although the Senate was almost solidly behind
the nuclear testing, after six months of work by a small group of women,
organized in a loose confederation called ‘Women’s Strike for Peace’
thetesting of bombs in the atmosphere was stopped – by a vote of 94-6 in
the Senate – saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of children
worldwide.
It’s time for those who care about the children – whether they be women
or men – to speak up and demand a halt to US policies which are killing
children. We can stop this madness.
Mary Mostert, Redding, California
