Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cody andre who wrote (8672)	5/16/1999 8:26:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17770

What has NATO's bombing accomplished? NATO has bombed Yugoslavia for 52 straight days. When the bombing started, Clinton asked us to give it time. Clinton said that once Milosevic realized how much damage he was going to suffer, he would back down. Clinton stressed that it took weeks of bombing before the ground war started in the Gulf. Now, 52 days later, the message has changed. According to the Associated Press, Army Gen. Henry Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that while the NATO bombing has hit hard at armored forces, attack aircraft, communications and air defenses in and around Kosovo, it can't eliminate the small arms that Yugoslav forces have been using for months to expel hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from their homes. Gen. Shelton also said that "the effective tool that Milosevic's forces have used have been rifles and pistols that they've shot people through the head with, which gets down to the individual thug that is ... in fact doing the ethnic cleansing. Those can be effective until such time as he (Milosevic) calls them off." Translation: Unless we invade Kosovo with ground troops, the air war will never ever stop the ethnic cleansing and killing in Kosovo. Never will, never could. NATO's top air commander, Lt. Gen. Michael Short said, "I also need to strike at the leadership and the people around Milosevic to compel them to change their behavior in Kosovo and accept the terms NATO has on the table." Translation: Unless we bomb the hell out of downtown Belgrade, Milosevic will continue to thumb his nose at us. If I kill more innocent Serb civilians and hit more foreign embassies, well, I'm sorry, but these things happen in war. My friends, Bill and Madeleine told us that if we killed enough Serbs, we could protect the Kosovar Albanians. In fact, the bombing gave Milosevic the opportunity to "cleanse" Kosovo faster and more thoroughly than would have been possible without the bombing. Bill and Madeleine told us that if we killed enough Serbs, we could degrade and destroy Slobodan's war machine so that he couldn't kill anymore. Gen. Shelton says that it is and has always been impossible to stop armed thugs with jets. Bill and Madeleine told us that if we killed enough Serbs, we would undermine support for Milosevic and his government would fall. NATO's bombing has had the exact opposite impact. Independent newspapers and radio stations have been closed. They have expelled or severely censored the Western press. Patriotic Serbs, seeing bombs raining down on their heads day after day, have rallied around their country, even if they still think that Milosevic is a murderer. In a word, the biggest casualty of NATO's bombing has been the development of democracy in Serbia. Bill and Madeleine told us that if we killed enough Serbs, we would protect Europe's flanks and stabilize the Balkans. However, I don't understand how killing Chinese diplomats and giving Russia a chance to reassert its power stabilizes the Balkans and helps Europe. I don't understand how destroying the civilian infrastructure of Serbia and Kosovo and dislocating millions of Serbs and Albanians protects Europe's interests. The last time the American government told us a bright shining lie about a war was during Vietnam. I came of age during Vietnam. I lost good friends in Nam and others were broken by what happened to them in that war. Although I enlisted in Army ROTC, I opposed the Vietnam War because I did not want my comrades to die fighting to preserve a corrupt South Vietnamese government. During Vietnam, politically well-connected young men like Bill Clinton ducked and ran, while patriotic or poor white, black, Latino and Asian soldiers died in a war the politicians wouldn't let the military win. Twenty-five years later, Bill Clinton is committing the same sin as LBJ and Nixon. Sadly, instead of admitting that the bombing never could work and was a mistake, LBJ -- I mean Clinton -- is calling up reservists and escalating the war. NATO has failed to accomplish any of its announced objectives. Milosevic is stronger than ever. Millions of Yugoslavs are suffering and thousands have died. The Kosovar Albanians are now homeless. It is time to stop the bombing and the killing on both sides. Every NATO bomb kills people and creates damage that Clinton will ask you and me to repair. We can rebuild bridges and buildings, but we cannot breathe life back into the shattered bodies that litter the Yugoslav landscape. It is time to stop this tragedy, negotiate a settlement, and start healing and rebuilding Yugoslavia. worldnetdaily.com