WAR CRIMES HEARING OPENS
'We accuses U.S./NATO'
By
Deirdre Griswold
New York
Even as reports filtered out of Kosovo that there were more
terrorist attacks on Serbs and Roma people as the NATO-backed
KLA consolidates its grip on the province, a public inquiry got
under way here July 31--an inquiry into the crimes committed by
the United States and European imperialist allies in their
78-day, one-sided, high-tech war against Yugoslavia.
Over 700 people registered at this first hearing of the
Independent Commission of Inquiry to Investigate U.S./NATO War
Crimes Against the People of Yugoslavia. By the end of the day,
they showed with their standing ovations and applause that they
were committed to bringing the work of the commission to many
diverse communities, to expose Washington's imperial designs in
the Balkans.
The commission's meeting was, of course, front-page news in
Yugoslavia. It also got strong coverage in Greece and Italy. It
will soon be carried on the many web sites that sprang up to
combat the war.
The U.S. corporate media tried to ignore the event--which
ran counter to their "good guys, bad guys" view of the war. But
some were soon scrambling to acquire coverage of this historic
event from foreign and alternative news sources.
The day of hearings was packed with expert witnesses and
information presented in a variety of ways--orally, in
photographs, books and position papers, on video and audio
tape. People came from Canada, Europe and across the United
States to participate.
The perspectives of countries targeted by U.S. sanctions and
military assault were provided by two United Nations
ambassadors--Dr. Saeed Hasan of Iraq and Vladislav Jovanovic of
Yugoslavia--as well as by Felix Wilson of the Cuban Interests
Section.
This alone was noteworthy, since much U.S. propaganda is
meant to present Yugoslavia as deeply hostile to Muslims, and
without friends in the world.
The Iraqi ambassador spoke eloquently of how the U.S.
government has acted to fulfill former Secretary of State James
Baker's threat to "return Iraq to the pre-industrial era"
because it resisted what the ambassador called "American
hegemony and arrogance of power." Since the war on Iraq carried
out by the Republican Bush administration, 1.5 million Iraqis
have died of U.S.-imposed sanctions during the Democratic
Clinton administration.
The Cuban diplomat reviewed his country's efforts over the
years to normalize relations with the United States.
Washington's economic sanctions and support for terrorism
against the Cuban regime have cost the small socialist island
nation $181 billion in human and material loss. Cuba is filing
a lawsuit with the World Court detailing its charges.
The Yugoslav ambassador called on the international
community to include among its prohibited crimes the act of
demonizing a whole people in preparation for aggression against
them. Referring to the high-altitude bombers and the missiles
that rained death and destruction on Yugoslavia, he said the
"aggressors were both invisible and invincible. There was no
possibility of self-defense. They were harming a defenseless
country with the excuse of rescuing it."
Other international perspectives were provided by Dr.
Sapphire Ahmed and Elombe Brath on Western intervention in
Africa, Maude Le Blanc on Haiti, and Freddie Marrero and Carlos
Rovira on the Puerto Rican struggle against U.S. military
bases.
War's impact on the oppressed here
The war's social and economic impact on oppressed
communities in the United States, which are struggling to
maintain minimal services after deep budget cuts, was
emphasized by Los Angeles activist John Parker, Workfairness
spokesperson Vondora Jordan, and several other Black and Latino
speakers, among others.
A highlight was a taped phone message from Black
revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal from Pennsylvania's death row. It
was introduced by Monica Moorehead of Mumia Awareness Week, who
is also a contributing editor of Workers World.
At the end of the day Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney
general and founder of the International Action Center,
presented a criminal indictment of the NATO countries and their
political leaders, especially U.S. President Bill Clinton,
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Secretary of Defense
William Cohen.
Many of the particulars in the 19 charges of the indictment
had been assembled by a group of young interns and volunteers
at the International Action Center. They had been poring over
an enormous body of evidence in the weeks before the hearing
and summarizing their findings. Extensive excerpts from this
evidence can be found elsewhere in this newspaper.
The indictment will be amended as new information is
developed. It not only summarizes the massive and deliberate
military assault on the civilian population of
Yugoslavia--which in itself is a war crime and a crime against
humanity, and is already abundantly documented--but also
addresses the concealed motives and political deceptions
leading up to the bombing part of the war.
Earlier in the day, testimony was presented at a plenary
meeting and in five separate panels. The panels dealt with
violations of U.S. and international law; targeting civilians
and destroying the environment; planning and preparing for war;
the role of the media; and the crime of occupation, from Bosnia
and Kosovo to Congo, Haiti and Vieques.
Imperialists created KLA
Roland Keith is a former Canadian military officer who was
stationed near Pristina in Kosovo last winter with monitoring
units of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe. He witnessed systematic attacks by the KLA on Yugoslav
troops and police in Kosovo meant to provoke a response.
While he came back not intending to speak out, Keith said,
"It has now become clear to me that certain nations wanted a
war" and that the conditions in Kosovo "were made far worse by
foreign interference." Within 20 minutes of his arrival, said
Keith, one of the troops under his command was wounded when
they came under fire from the KLA.
Shani Rifati, a Roma activist from Kosovo now living in the
United States, told how NATO's role in building up the KLA had
led to ethnic assaults on Roma people. The Roma made up 8
percent of the population in Kosovo but were routinely ignored
in Western news reporting on the demographics there. Like the
Serbs, the Roma people are now in grave jeopardy.
Canadian economist and author Michel Chossudovsky traced the
early creation of the KLA by German intelligence and its links
to powerful criminal syndicates in Germany, Turkey and Albania
that funnel illegal drugs into Europe. Last year, however, the
United States and NATO decided to give overt support to what
they had previously characterized as a "terrorist
organization." That led to what Chossudovsky characterized as
"a CIA civilian government in Kosovo linked to a paramilitary
organization."
Work has just begun
Ramsey Clark explained in his closing remarks that hearings
like this one in New York are planned in 20 nations. Evidence
will be gathered everywhere to show the consistent pattern of
attacks on small nations that dare to stand up for their
sovereignty and independence.
Sara Flounders and Brian Becker, co-coordinators of the
International Action Center who chaired the plenary sessions,
and Gloria La Riva of the IAC's San Francisco office, all
emphasized progressive activists' ability to not only protest
what has already happened but to influence the course of
history.
"Will only the victors write the history of this war?" asked
Flounders, identifying these victors as the same imperialist
powers that for over a century have carved up the world. "We
won't wait for 30 years to go through musty archives to find
out the truth."
She explained that the inquiry now begun will culminate next
year in an international tribunal of distinguished jurists.
They will judge the war criminals in similar fashion to the
Bertrand Russell International War Crimes Tribunal that had
such an impact on the course of the Vietnam War.
With authors and journalists Michael Parenti, Gregory Elich
and Lenore Foerstel, among many others, speaking at the
hearing, there will be an increased opportunity to get out the
truth.
Becker took on the rulers' concept of legality. He pointed
out how slavery, the genocide of Native peoples in the United
States, and apartheid in South Africa were all carried out
under the cloak of reactionary laws.
La Riva--who was in Yugoslavia twice during the bombing and
produced the recent videotape "NATO's Targets"--saluted the
many thousands of Yugoslav workers, from medical staffs to auto
workers to media personnel, who bravely resisted the war. She
also cautioned against relying on the United Nations or other
bodies that Washington has used for intervention, from Korea to
Iraq.
La Riva emphasized the vital importance of a people's
tribunal and the mass demonstrations against the war that the
IAC had organized during the bombing. In Yugoslavia and in the
United States, she said, it is the masses of people who can
make the difference.
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