U.S./NATO ground invasion closer
By John
Catalinotto
U.S. President Clinton and his NATO-member counterparts have
decided to go forward with a land invasion of Yugoslavia. The
plan for this aggression existed when the bombing started. It
involves occupying not only Kosovo but all of Yugoslavia with
NATO forces.
Versions of the ground attack were leaked to and published
in the London Observer and Liberazione, the newspaper of the
Refoundation Communist Party in Italy.
While the "leaks" alone might be insufficient evidence--they
lay out two different scenarios--other events contradict
Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's denials that a ground war is
planned.
These events include increasingly virulent propaganda
charging Yugoslav and Serb forces with heinous crimes; the
complete demonization of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic;
the constant buildup of troops and materiel to over 1,000
planes and now Apache helicopters; the call-up of nearly 33,000
reserves and demands for extra Pentagon funding in the U.S.
According to an April 18 article in the British paper The
Guardian on the leak to the Observer, "NATO is making plans for
a ground invasion of Kosovo as early as the end of May. The
Observer has established that 80,000 troops have been earmarked
for the operation.
"American forces have already started training in a
reconstruction of a Balkan village in the Colorado Rockies.
Military planners believe six weeks is the minimum period
necessary to wear down Serb military and police units in the
province.
"According to sources in London and Washington, the
accelerated timetable follows the insistence by NATO's
political leaders that the allied military campaign against
Yugoslavia must be wrapped up within three months."
Liberazione moves the timetable up even further. It reported
April 17 that official Moscow circles have been discussing the
likelihood of a NATO ground attack. The Italian paper then
contacted someone it described as an "authoritative (and
anonymous) Italian military source" who confirmed the news from
Moscow.
The attack, included in NATO plans even before the bombing
began, "has already begun with the fights at the Albanian
border. In the next few hours, substantial actions from the KLA
[Kosovo Liberation Army] in the whole Kosovo region are
expected to become more frequent."
"Clamorous complaints about newly discovered common graves
will be followed by the drop of French paratroopers in Kosovo,
justified as the attempt to prevent a new slaughter. In the
meantime, Italian troops `provoked' by Serbs, who would be
accused of trespassing the border, will enter in Kosovo,
joining French paratroopers and KLA guerrillas within 48
hours."
Billions for the Pentagon
Meanwhile, President Clinton on April 19 asked Congress for
$6.05 billion additional for the attack on Yugoslavia. The
Republicans--unhappy to see Democrat Clinton leading the
flag-waving orgy--tried to give away even more to the war
makers. Officials said $5.46 billion of the $6.05 billion
Clinton sought would go to the Defense Department and $591
million would go to the State Department.
Included in the request is funding to call up 25,000 reserve
troops, Undersecretary of Defense William Lynn said. Key
representatives said the final package could swell to well
beyond $10 billion. The money is expected to come out of the
Social Security "surplus"--that is, it will be stolen from
workers preparing to retire.
Washington has also asked NATO to impose an oil blockade on
Yugoslavia. But according to an unnamed Balkans expert and
former diplomat, "An oil blockade at this point will make
little difference if NATO is only going to continue attacking
by air." However, if NATO intends to deploy ground troops,
depriving Yugoslavia of oil would be effective since Yugoslav
tanks would need fuel for mobility.
Slaughter, lies, exposure
NATO forces stepped up their systematic bombing of the
Yugoslav industrial infrastructure, hitting cities throughout
Montenegro and Serbia, including Vojdovina. But the NATO air
strike that got the most attention was against a column of
Kosovo Albanians. According to Yugoslav sources, on April 14
bombs from NATO jets killed at least 64 people in two
locations, most in a convoy of refugees moving in Kosovo.
NATO officials first refused to admit their planes dropped
the bombs. Some even tried to blame the bombing on Yugoslav
forces. But Western reporters went to the scene and described
at least 20 bodies, some torn apart by cluster bombs.
Then NATO took responsibility for a bomb that killed only a
few people, but denied knowledge of the other bombing. By April
16, NATO spokesperson Jamie Shea told reporters, "We have no
indication of any other hit on a civilian vehicle, apart from
the one that we owned up to and apologized for, north of
Djakovica on Wednesday."
It turned out an F-16 pilot whose dramatic interview was
played for reporters was not responsible for the most murderous
incident.
Finally on April 19, Brig. Gen. Dan Leaf, commander of the
31st Air Expeditionary Wing at Aviano Air Base in Italy,
reversed all the lies and told reporters that NATO aircraft
whose nationality he did not specify dropped nine
precision-guided 500-pound bombs, known as GBU-12s, on two
targets. One was a group of vehicles northwest of Djakovica,
the other a convoy of about 100 vehicles on a major road to the
south linking Djakovica to Prizren.
In doing so, Leaf de facto admitted that NATO had been lying
for five days about its responsibility for the murder of 64 of
the people it claimed to be fighting this war to protect.
That didn't stop the NATO spokespeople, along with Clinton,
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Tony Blair and the other
imperialist politicians, from spreading new lies about alleged
Serbian crimes, from rapes to mass executions. With these lies
they hope to create public support for escalating the war.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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