Open Letter from Defense of Canadian Liberty Committee:
To: Prime Minister Chrétien, and every other Member of Parliament.
>
> 1. Will you support Parliamentary Reform such as to eliminate the
unilateral
> power of the Prime Minister and Cabinet?
>
> 2. And if so, what steps have you already taken and are you now taking as
> an MP in this direction?
>
> 3. And what is your Party's official line on this point?
>
> On March 24 1999 Canada began bombing Yugoslavia contrary to the Charters
> of the United Nations and of NATO. In Question Period of March 24,1999,
> our Defence Minister advised you in Parliament that already there were
> CF-18's of the Canadian Armed Forces participating in air actions over
> Yugoslavia.(Commons Debates, March 24,1999, page 13443). Later on the
same
> day, each party put forward one representative to give its party's
> position on the bombing. No party opposed the bombings. The Bloq
Quebecois
> said they supported the bombing "With Pleasure". I understand that some
> aspect of the issue of Yugoslavia had been discussed in Parliament in
> October of 1988, but there has been no actual debate and no vote. NO ONE
> REPRESENTED THE MAJORITY OF CANADIANS ON THIS ISSUE. Contrary to the
> propaganda media reports, two national call -in shows indicate close to
> 80% of Canadians OPPOSE this bombing. But even if they supported it, you
> are elected to uphold the law and to promote peace, not war.
>
> On March 24, 1999, only the Conservative Party representative honestly
> portrayed what you as Parliamentarians were acceding to. Unfortunately,
> that honest recognition still failed to propel the Conservative Party to
> the right position, an absolute opposition to the bombing. Mr David Price
> P.C. said: "Canada and the NATO alliance have just gone to war with a
> sovereign state - Yugoslavia - over a civil war with the ethnic Albanians
> of Kosovo. We have done this without a declaration of war and without the
> support of the United Nations.... We as a country and an alliance may
have
> broken the codes of international law.... NATO is now engaged in an
> offensive military operation outside of its own territory and we are
> quickly subscribing to the view of NATO as a global policeman. Let there
> be no mistake, we have just launched an air attack with our allies on a
> sovereign state.... The saddest thing for Canadians and the Parliamentary
> process is that this country has slipped into war without briefing its
> people through Parliament and through meaningful debate." (Commons
> Debates, March 24, 1999, page 13447)
>
> And now our Prime Minister tells us there are Canadian ground troops in
> Yugoslavia.
>
> For something so grave as bombing a sovereign nation contrary to NATO and
> United Nations Charters, a direction for Canada that is 180 degrees
> contrary to our respected peacekeeping role, there should have been
> Parliamentary revolt.
>
> 4. Why did you personally fail to break from your own caucus on March 24,
> 1999 on the issue of bombing Kosovo?
>
> 5. Why did you personally fail to stand on the Canadian principle of
PEACE
> and the Respect for INTERNATIONAL LAW?
>
> Your failure leaves you with an indelible stain on your record. You are
> guilty of the deaths of innocent people including children, and
> impoverishment of the survivors. You have caused the ruination of the
> environment in that region leaving a legacy of cancer for the unborn.
Your
> failure has driven out Serbs as well as Albanians and others fleeing the
> bombs. Your failure is causing the destruction of that land, leaving a
> legacy of hopeless ruination for those peoples. Tomorrow you will be
> asking me to pay taxes to rebuild the infrastructure you have destroyed
> using my taxes, but my future taxes in fact will go to pay the foreign
> creditors, not to the benefit of the people.
>
> 6. Have you read the Rambouillet Dictate? Do you understand it?
>
> --Chapter 4a Article 1 required Kosovo to submit to economic principles
> comparable to the Multilateral Agreement on Investments.
>
> --Chapter 5, Article V and Chapter 7, Article XV gave dictatorial powers
> to the Chief of the Implementation Mission (to be appointed by the
> European countries) and to the NATO commander, (almost certainly to be
> from the US)- the right to overturn elections, shut down organizations
and
> media, and overrule any decisions made by the Kosovar, Serbian or federal
> governments regarding Kosovo.
>
> --Chapter 8, Article 1, Section 3 would have terminated Yugoslav
> sovereignty over the region once the agreement was signed.
>
> Appendix B includes provisions that eradicate the sovereign power of the
> territory of Yugoslavia, and required Yugoslavia to allow NATO unfettered
> access to all of its territory with all costs to be borne by the
> territory. It gave the NATO colonizers immunity from being tried by the
> courts of Yugoslavia as a whole even if the colonizers committed rape, or
> murder .
>
> --Section 6a: NATO shall be immune from all legal process, whether civil,
> administrative, or criminal.
>
> --Section 6b: NATO personnel, under all circumstances and at all times,
> shall be immune from the Parties' jurisdiction in respect of any civil,
> administrative, criminal or disciplinary offenses which may be committed
> by them in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
>
> --Section 7: NATO personnel shall be immune from any form of arrest,
> investigation, or detention by the authorities in the Federal Republic of
> Yugoslavia.
>
> --Section 8: NATO personnel shall enjoy, together with their vehicles,
> vessels, aircraft, and equipment free and unrestricted passage and
> unimpeded access throughout the FRY including associated airspace and
> territorial waters. This shall include, but not be limited to the right
of
> bivouac, manoeuver, billet and utilisation of any areas or facilities as
> required for support, training, and operations.
>
> --Section 11: NATO is granted the use of airports, roads, rails, and
ports
> without payment of fees, duties, dues, tolls or charges occasioned by
mere
> use.
>
> --Section 15: The Yugoslav and Kosovo governments shall upon simple
> request grant all telecommunication services, including broadcast
> services, needed for the Operation, as determined by NATO. This shall
> include the right to utilize such means and services as required to
assure
> full ability to communicate and the right to use all of the
> electromagnetic spectrum for this purpose free of costs.
>
> --Section 22: NATO may, in the conduct of the Operation, have need to
make
> improvements or modifications to certain infrastructure in the FRY, such
> as roads, bridges, tunnels, buildings, and utility systems.
>
> !!The Rambouillet Accord would have turned Kosovo into a colony of the
> United States as the dominant power of NATO!!
>
> 7. What reading have you personally done to understand the economic
> restructuring occurring in the world?
>
> 8. Do you personally submit to what is euphemistically called
Globalization?
>
> Michel Chossudovsky, Economist, University of Ottawa, explains the
> economic destruction of Yugoslavia as a result of neoclassical economics
> (globalization). In The GLobalization of Poverty (available in
bookstores)
> he says: The ruin of an economic system, including the takeover of
> productive assets, the extension of markets and the scramble for
territory
> in the Balkans constitute the real cause of conflict. (page 259). Macro
> economic restructuring applied in Yugoslavia under the neoliberal agenda
> had unequivocally contributed to the destruction of an entire country.
Yet
> since the outset of war in 1991, the central role of macroeconomic reform
> had been carefully overlooked and denied by the global media. (Page
> 258-259)... The social and political impact of economic restructuring in
> Yugoslavia had been carefully erased from our social consciousness and
> collective understanding of what actually happened. Cultural, ethnic and
> religious divisions were highlighted, presented dogmatically as the sole
> cause of the crisis when in reality they were the consequences of a much
> deeper process of economic and political fracturing.... The unity,
> solidarity, and identity of the Southern Slavs have their foundation in
> history, yet this identity had been thwarted, manipulated and
> destroyed.... What is at stake in Yugoslavia are the lives of millions of
> people. Macroeconomic reform destroys their livelihood and derogates
their
> right to work, their food and shelter, their culture and national
> identity. Borders are redefined, the entire legal system is overhauled,
> the financial and banking system is dismantled, social programmes and
> institutions are torn down.... Yugoslavia is a mirror of similar economic
> restructuring programmes in the US, Canada and Western Europe. (Page 259)
>
> >From 1960 to 1980 in Yugoslavia the growth of GDP was on average 6.1%
per
> annum, there was free medical care with one doctor per 550 population,
the
> literacy rate was of the order of 91% and life expectancy was 72 years.
> (Page 259)
>
> The first phase of macroeconomic reform initiated in Yugoslavia in 1980
> shortly after the death of Marshal Tito wreaked economic and political
> havoc. ... Slower growth, the accumulation of foreign debt, especially
the
> cost of servicing it, and devaluation led to a fall in the standard of
> living of the average Yugoslav... The economic crisis threatened
political
> stability and aggravated ethnic tensions... These reforms and debt
> restructuring agreements with the official and commercial creditors
> weakened the federal state creating political divisions between Belgrade
> and the republics and autonomous provinces. (Page 244)
>
> Washington played a role in the strategic restructuring. A 1984 US
> National Security Decision Directive labelled SECRET SENSITIVE entitled
> United States Policy Towards Yugoslavia was declassified in 1990. The
> objectives outlined in the letter included expanded efforts to promote a
> quiet revolution to overthrow Communist governments and parties while
> reintegrating the countries of Eastern Europe into a market-oriented
> economy away from market socialism. (Page 240)
>
> In 1983 the second stabilization package applied with the support of the
> IMF resulted in massive inflation. Import liberalization and the freeze
on
> credit caused an unprecedented collapse of investment. Industrial
> production that had averaged 7.1% per annum from 1966- 79 plummeted to
> 2.8% after the initial phase of macro- economic reform in the 1980 - 87
> period. It plunged to zero in 1987- 88 and to minus 10.6% in 1990.(Page
245)
>
> In 1989 just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, US President George
> Bush promised the Federal premier of Yugoslavia a financial aid package
in
> exchange for sweeping economic reforms including a new devalued currency,
> the freeze of wages, the curtailment of government expenditure and the
> abrogation of the socially owned enterprises under self management. (Page
> 245). Much of the legislation for this had already been put in place by
> the Belgrade nomenclature with the assistance of the Western advisors.
> (Page 246)
>
> This economic package was launched in 1990, under an International
> Monetary Fund Stand-by Arrangement and a World Bank Structural Adjustment
> Loan. Budget cut requirements were imposed by the terms of this loan
> requiring the redirection of federal revenues towards debt servicing.
This
> meant cuts to the Transfer payments by Belgrade to the governments of the
> republics and autonomous provinces , which in turn fueled the process of
> political balkanization and secessionism. In 1990 the government of
Serbia
> rejected this austerity program outright leading to a walk-out protest of
> some 650,000 Serbian workers directed against the federal government. The
> trade union movement was united in this struggle- workers resistance
> crossed ethnic lines as Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Slovenians mobilised
> shoulder to shoulder with their fellow workers. (Page 246)
>
> In 1990 the foreign creditors were in control of monetary policy in
> Yugoslavia. The agreement signed with the IMF prevented the federal
> government from having access to credit from its own Central Bank (the
> National Bank of Yugoslavia). This paralysed the budgetary process and
> crippled the ability of the federal state to finance its economic and
> social programmes. Investment by the socially owned enterprises further
> collapsed. (Page 246)... The 1990 IMF agreement required expenditure cuts
> of 5% of GDP. Inflation had already eroded earnings. Wages were frozen at
> their mid November 1989 level. Prices continued to rise unabated. Real
> wages collapsed by 41% in the first 6 months of 1990. Inflation in 1990
> was over 70%. In January 1991 the dinar was devalued another 30%. Prices
> increased again. Inflation soared from 140% in 1991 to 937 % in 1992 to
> 1,134 % in 1993. (Page 246) The freeze of all transfer payments to the
> republics created a situation of de facto secession. The IMF-induced
> budgetary crisis had engineered the collapse of the federal fiscal
> structure prior to the formal declaration of secession by Croatia and
> Slovenia in 1991. (Page 247)
>
> 9. Did you consider any of this economic history before you acceded to
> Canada's participation in the violation of the charters of the United
> Nations and NATO?
>
> 10. Did you consider any of the information available about the role of
> organized crime in Kosovo, and in particular the laundering of drug money
> before you acceded to Canada's participation in the violation of the
> charters of the United Nations and NATO?
>
> In Kosovo "Freedom Fighters" Financed By Organized Crime, an article
> released April 7th 1999, Michel Chossudovsky identifies these
connections.
> At page 1 he said: The KLA is sustained by organized crime with the tacit
> approval of the United States and its allies....The multibillion dollar
> Balkans narcotics trade has played a crucial role in "financing of the
> conflict" in Kosovo in accordance with Western economic, strategic and
> military objectives. Amply documented by European police files,
> acknowledged by numerous studies, the links of the Kosovo Liberation Army
> (KLA) to criminal syndicates in Albania, Turkey, and the European Union
> have been known to Western governments and intelligence agencies since
the
> mid-1990's. At page 3, Chossudovsky said: Industry and agriculture were
> spearheaded into bankruptcy following the IMF's lethal economic medicine
> imposed on Belgrade in 1990. The embargo was imposed on Yugoslavia.
Ethnic
> Albanians and Serbs were driven into abysmal poverty. Economic collapse
> created an environment which fostered the progress of illicit trade.
> Western sources identified a staggering 70% unemployment rate. Poverty
and
> unemployment exacerbated simmering ethnic tensions....Young impoverished
> teens were drafted into the KLA... In Albania the free market reforms
> created conditions which favoured the criminalization of State
> institutions.... Drug barons in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia (with links
> to the Italian mafia) had become the new economic elites, often
associated
> with Western business interests....Large amounts of narco -dollars had
> been recycled into the privatisation programmes leading to the
acquisition
> of State assets by the mafias.... Intelligence agents are convinced the
> chain of command in the rackets goes all the way to the top and have had
> no hesitation in naming ministers in their reports. At page 5
> Chossudovsky summarizes: The fate of Kosovo had already been carefully
> laid out prior to the signing of the 1995 Dayton agreement. NATO had
> entered an unwholesome "marriage of convenience" with the mafia. "Freedom
> fighters" were put in place, the narcotics trade enabled Washington and
> Bonn to "finance the Kosovo Conflict" with the ultimate objective of
> destabilising the Belgrade government and fully recolonising the Balkans.
> The destruction of an entire country is the outcome. Western governments
> which participated in the NATO operation bear a heavy burden of
> responsibility in the deaths of civilians, the impoverishment of both the
> ethnic Albanian and Serbian populations and the plight of those who were
> brutally uprooted from towns and villages as a result of the bombings.
> Chossudovsky's articles are on many websites including
> www.canadianliberty.bc.ca
>
> 11. What concrete effective role are you playing to get Canada out of
this
> war and into the forum of the United Nations.
>
> 12. Please justify your willingness to violate international law.
>
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