A Broadcast by the National Public Radio on April 20,1999 -"All Things Considered "

A Better Way To Resolve the Crisis over Kosovo

By Reverend JOHN DEAR - The Executive Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

The NATO bombings have been a tragic disaster since day one. Instead of stopping the violence, they have pushed a volatile region further into war and suffering. A Pentagon spokesperson said recently it is difficult to say that we have prevented one act of brutality. But what the Pentagon doesn't say is how the bombings have inflamed the entire situation. What we are doing is not working.
Rather then broaden the war by calling up over 30,000 US reserves and introducing ground troops, the Clinton administration should end the NATO bombing immediately. The United Nations should install a UN peacekeeping presence in Kosovo and begin negotiations with all the parties. And the US should begin massive humanitarian aid to all victims throughout the region, not only to the Kosovars, but even to the people of Serbia.
The entire world has a stake in ending ethnic cleansing in this war. NATO should not be deciding the world's fate. The United Nations needs to lead the way to peace in the Balkans. If the UN Security Council is stuck, then the General Assembly, including the Russians, needs to resolve this crisis. We have to go back to the negotiating table. History teaches us that there are always other possibilities.
There is always an opening for peace.
The ethnic cleansing of Kosovo is crime against humanity but so is the NATO bombing. Bombings have never ended a war. Wars never solve problems. Violence never breaks the chain of violence, it only continues the killing. Martin Luther King Jr. put it this way, "Returning violence for violence only multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness,' he said, 'only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."
It's not too late to heed Dr. King and the wisdom of non-violence. We must stop the bombings, join the voices around the world calling for peace and pursue non-violent solutions to the crisis before one more person is killed.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation
The Largest Interface Peace Organization in the United States

American Serb Academic Society-P.O. Box 401 New York, N.Y. 10040


Clinton Bombs American Allies of WW I and WW II
[Serbian People]
While
The Germans Help Their Allies of WW I and WW II
[Croatian Fascist-Ustashe, Islamic Supporters]

The New York Times 04/20/99
A NATO ACCOUNT
NATO Admits Pilot Bombed 2nd Convoy, on Kosovo Road
By MICHAEL GORDON
BRUSSELS, April 19

Until now, NATO has only acknowl-edged that its planes accidentally bombed a tractor northwest of Djakovica. But Serbian authorities and Kosovar refugees have insistently reported allied hits along the road southeast of Djakovica, putting NATO credibility to a severe test.

The New York Times 04/20/99
A SERBIAN ACCOUNT
Special NATO Pilot Was Ordered to Bomb Convoy
By STEVEN ERLANGER
BELGRADE, April 19

The Serbian version says American officials deliberately sought out a con-voy of refugees to kill. The Serbian version also asserts that Defense Sec-retary William S. Cohen ordered the NATO commander, Gen. Wesley K. Clark, to personally choose the pilot, who for Some reason was Dutch, and that President Clinton wanted to dis-miss General Clark when the pilot failed to kill the refugees in sufficient secrecy.
According to...had decided to kill ethnic Albanian refugees and blame their deaths on the Serbs.
"Charlie Bravo to Mother. I am keeping 3,000 feet. Under me columns of cars, some kind of tractors. What is it? Requesting instructions."
"Mother to Charlie Bravo. Do you see tanks? Repeat, where are the tanks?"
"Charlie Bravo to Mother. I see tractors. Can the Reds have camouflaged tanks as tractors?"
"Mother to Charlie Bravo. What kind of strange convoy is this? What civilians? Damn, this is the Serbs' doing. Destroy the target."
"Charlie Bravo to Mother. What should I destroy? Tractors? Ordinary cars? Repeat, I can see no tanks. Re-quest additional instructions."
"Mother to Charlie Bravo. This is a military target, a completely legiti-mate military y target. Destroy the target. Repeat, destroy the target."
"Charlie Bravo to Mother. Under-stand. Roger. Target locked. Launching."

The New York Times 4/19/99
Experts Fear War Accident Could Spread Lab Uranium
by JUDITH MILLER
UNITED NATIONS, April 16
International nuclear inspectors are worried that 60 kilograms of highly enriched uranium at the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Science, 10 miles from Belgrade, Serbia, may be used, improperly or may be hit by errant NATO missile.

The New York Times 4/16/99
Give Mediation Another Try
By John R. Kasich

The question we must answer is whether military intervention in a cen-turies-old civil war in the Balkans is likely to be either resolved on our terms or resolved over the long term.
I have reluctantly concluded, however, that military intervention - through air power or ground troops - is not in the national interest. Nor will either achieve our goals.
Is "victory" at all costs worth a bitterly hostile Russia?
The negotiations at Rambouillet Castle in France last winter were destined to fail because both parties were expected to agree to a draft document, without substantive changes. But it was unrealistic to expect Yugoslavia to accept the presence of a NATO implementation force in Yugoslavia and the probability of independence for Kosovo after three years. A sovereign country would probably not agree to such terms.

John R. Kasich is chairman of the House Budget Committee and a member of the Committee House Armed Services Committee

The New York Times 4/16/99
On My Mind
A.M.ROSENTHAL
Lessons of Kosovo

No, Mr. Milosevic will not accept a "NATO-led" protec-tion force for Kosovo so dear to NATO bureaucrats. Remember? NATO has not won the war.
But countries inside and outside NATO could do the job - including Russia - perhaps patrolling with some small Serbian police units. Otherwise, the Kosovo Liberation Army would operate without hobble and might continue some of the expulsions Serbs have experi-enced-like the 300,000 Serbs purged from Croatia by the dictator Franjo Tud-jman.
Meantime, the U.S. should not keep hanging around the Balkans with an occupation force, on the ground or in the air.

Gen. W. K. Clark Murders Civilians - Albanians and Serbs Alike!
American Serb Academic Society - P.O. Box 401 New York, N.Y. 10040