[ L'ex ambasciatore canadese in Jugoslavia (1992) James Bissett e l'ex
responsabile canadese della "Missione di verifica" OSCE in Kosovo
(1998-1999) Roland Keith smontano pezzo per pezzo alcuni dei miti che
sono serviti a "giustificare" la criminale aggressione NATO contro la
RF di Jugoslavia ]
1. Canadian Ambassador and Canadian Kosovo Commander explode Myths of
Yugoslav War
2. Canadian diplomat James Bissett claims NATO war crimes (B92 - May
20, 2004)
3. THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL: CHARGES AGAINST MILOSEVIC PURE FANTASY. Excerpts
from the interview with the former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia,
James Bissett
(September 27, 2004 - by Boba Borojevic / “Monday’s Encounter" /
http://ckcu.magma.ca/ )
=== 1 ===
http://www.freenations.freeuk.com/news-2004-10-14.html
CANADIAN AMBASSADOR AND CANADIAN KOSOVO COMMANDER EXPLODE MYTHS OF
YUGOSLAV WAR
1. AN EYEWITNESS TO THE BREAK UP OF YUGOSLAVIA
James Bissett, Former Canadian Ambassador to Belgrade
A Speech to 5,000 Canadian Serbs on the anniversary of the historic
battle of Kosovo. Niagara Falls, 29th June 2003
Honored guests ladies and gentlemen: I want at the outset to thank Bora
Dragasevich for inviting me to speak to you this afternoon. It is a
privilege and a sincere honor for me to be with you and to share your
Vidovdan celebrations. I recall that it was thirteen summers ago that I
set off to Belgrade to take up my post as the Canadian Ambassador to
Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia was then a strong and united country- more prosperous than
most of the Eastern Bloc countries. Yet there were emerging signs of
trouble. Urged on by the former Central Powers (Germany, Austria and
Hungary) Slovenia and Croatia were already planning to separate from
the Yugoslav Federation.
I became an eyewitness to the subsequent violence and break up of the
country. I also was a witness to the "historical amnesia" suffered by
the political leaders of France, Britain, the United States and my own
country, Canada. These countries were Serbia's old traditional allies
in two world wars yet they shamefully stood by and joined in the
betrayal of Yugoslavia.
The break up of Yugoslavia was a disaster for the Serbian people.
Thousands killed and many more thousands forced to flee their ancestral
homelands. Serbs have been humiliated and many have lost their
self-respect. Yet the greatest tragedy of all is that the Serbs have
been blamed for everything that has happened since the breakup. They
have been blamed for the breakup itself. They have been blamed for
starting the violence. They have been blamed for the ethnic cleansing
that occurred. They have been blamed for the massacres. They have been
blamed for genocide. Finally they have been blamed for the NATO bombing
of their own country!
These are lies! Lies! Lies! Hitler's propaganda Minister Joseph
Goebbels said if you tell a monstrous lie people will believe you
because they cannot imagine anyone making up such an outrageous
falsehood. Then if evidence is shown to contradict the lie, you dismiss
it as irrelevant or misguided. Finally when the truth is disclosed it
is too late. Nobody cares or wants to know.
So it has been with the dreadful lies told about the Serbs. President
Clinton and Tony Blair talked about genocide taking place in Kosovo.
The US Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, said there were over a
hundred thousand young Albanian men missing in Kosovo. Robin Cook the
British Foreign Minister and Clare Short his cabinet colleague both
made outrageous charges against the Serbs about non-existent rape
camps. Later it was reported by the UNHCR and even the anti-Serb,
(George Soros financed) Human Rights Watch, that these stories had no
foundation. Can you believe that these two hypocritical British Cabinet
Ministers actually resigned over the war against Iraq!
However, there is a striking difference between Kosovo and Iraq.
Despite all of Milosevic's faults he didn't compare with Saddam
Hussein. Milosevic, after all, obeyed all of the UN Resolutions -
including allowing troops from the Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) into Kosovo. He was no threat to his
neighbors. He did not aspire to, nor did he possess weapons of mass
destruction.
Although not a democrat he was not a psychopathic killer like Saddam
(nor a religious bigot like Croatia's Tudjman or Bosnia's Izetbegovic -
ed) nor was Serbia under his regime a totalitarian state, as was Iraq
(nor had he invaded another country like Saddam had attacked Kuwait and
Iran - ed). In reality he was trying to suppress an armed rebellion in
his own territory - a rebellion led by a Muslim terrorist organization
- and for this the NATO countries bombed his country.
I believe now that it is generally accepted by most of the informed
public in the West [with the exception of the main stream media in
Canada Britain and the United States] that the bombing of Yugoslavia
was deliberately contrived. It served as a means of providing NATO with
a reason for existence and President Clinton with a distraction from
his sexual embarrassments. The truth is gradually emerging from a
variety of reliable sources.
One of the most revealing has been the admission by the former British
Defense Minister, Lord Gilbert, who told the British House of Commons
in July 2000 that the terms that NATO sought to force upon Milosevic at
Rambouillet were deliberately designed to provoke war.
(Note the same strategy when Austria demanded terms from Serbia in 1914
as an alternative to war but then informed its ambassador in Belgrade
that he was on no account to accept the Serb response - whatever it
was! - ed)
So the truth is slowly coming out. Regretfully it is too late in itself
to restore to many Serbs their sense of pride and self-respect. This is
left to the Serbs as a people. However, knowing them as I do - and
mindful of their historic courage and heroism - I am confident you will
overcome this historic setback as you have done before. The main thing
is to ensure that your young people remain proud of their heritage and
do not accept the simplistic and biased accounts of the North American
media's account of the Yugoslav breakup. I want to end my speech today
on a positive note.
There are, believe it or not, some encouraging signs of reconciliation
and hope in the former Yugoslavia. A recent agreement signed in Lake
Ohrid by representatives of five Balkan countries: Serbia/Montenegro,
Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania will translate, if
all goes well, into a free trade agreement to become effective in 2007.
Moreover, Croatia and Serbia/Montenegro have agreed to declare both
countries "visa free" so that citizens of each country can travel back
and forth without visas. There is even some hope that under EU pressure
(ironic and cynical given the EU roll in the destruction of what they
now seek to sew together again! - ed) property rights might be restored
to those who have been displaced by the wars. The circle will become
closed - and once again in a different form - the former Yugoslavia
will emerge.
I will conclude on this upbeat note but not before adding a personal
warning. The history of Serbia has recorded heroic victories and
terrible defeats. The victories have come when Serbs have relied on
their own resources and inner strengths. The defeats have come when
their allies have betrayed them or let them down. There is a lesson
here that you must not forget. Do not put all of your trust or faith in
others, especially in multilateral organizations or in politicians. And
remember history does sometimes repeat itself as the Serbs know only
too well. Now not only Serbs have seen all too well that the horrors
that took place in the spring and summer of 1941 in Croatia and Bosnia
have repeated themselves in the 1990's.
PS I am happy that finally Naser Oric the Muslim commander at
Srebrenica has been indicted by the Hague Tribunal. Oric was
responsible for the killing of many elderly Serbs living in villages
around Srebrinica. He actually video taped some of the victims who had
been beheaded and the showed the video to a number of journalists...one
of whom was from the Toronto Star newspaper but I have not been able to
find out the reporters name.
James Bissett in letter to Freenations 27th September 2004
2. CANADIAN ARMY COMMANDER EXPLODES KOSOVO MYTHS
September 14, 2004
The third witness to testify in what is being called "Slobodan
Milosevic's defense" took the stand at the Hague Tribunal on Tuesday.
The witness, Roland Keith was the commander of the Kosovo Polje field
office in the OSCE's Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM). Mr. Keith
served for 32 years in the Canadian armed forces where he obtained the
rank of Captain. Keith is a veteran of UN observation missions. Before
coming to Kosovo, he served as a UN military observer and a UN troop
commander in the Middle East.
Keith arrived in Kosovo in the first week of February 1999, and he
remained in Kosovo all the way up until the KVM was withdrawn on March
20, 1999, four days ahead of the NATO bombing.
In his testimony, Keith described the training program that the OSCE
monitors underwent. According to Keith, the training was inadequate and
left the observers unprepared to competently carryout their mission.
According to Keith most of the observers had little or no military
background and couldn't understand, or properly report what they were
witnessing. Keith said that the structure of the OSCE observation
mission was flawed. He said that the observers were road bound, and
unable to see what was going on outside of the beaten path.
Keith described the KLA as a guerilla terrorist organization, and said
that the KVM's confinement to the roads kept them from being able to
effectively monitor the KLA's activities.
In direct contradiction of almost all of the prosecution's
Kosovo-Albanian witnesses, Keith said that the KLA had a detachment or
what he called a "home guard" in every village. He said that the KLA
even manned check-points at the entrances to the villages, which makes
it all the more amazing that so many the prosecution's Kosovo-Albanian
witnesses never saw the KLA.
Keith said that he never saw the MUP or the Yugoslav Army (VJ) mistreat
anybody, and that the MUP and VJ forces cooperated with him fully.
Keith said that the KLA was a different story. He said that the KLA
refused to cooperate with the KVM on many occasions. He also said that
the KLA violated the cease fire agreement regularly. Keith said that
the MUP and VJ abided by the cease-fire, and that the VJ mainly stayed
in its barracks. According to Keith's testimony, the format followed in
Kosovo was for the KLA to initiate an attack and for the authorities to
retaliate.
When Keith first arrived in Kosovo he was sent to the village of
Glogovac, where he witnessed a KLA sniper attack on the MUP.
One week later he was sent to Kosovo Polje where he established the
KVM's field office.
The village of Grabovac was in his area of responsibility and according
to Keith, a platoon of KLA terrorists was occupying a wooded area in
the environs of that village. He said that those KLA members were armed
with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles, machine guns, and
various other weapons. He said that this KLA platoon would engage in
sniper attacks against workers at a mine that operated in the vicinity
of the village.
Keith spoke of another instance of KLA violence when the KLA ambushed a
MUP patrol on the Pec-Pristina highway. According to Keith one Serb
police officer was killed and another was gravely wounded in the attack.
Keith said that in this instance the VJ came to assist the police, and
that a tank was used. But according to Keith the VJ showed restraint
and only used machine-guns and not the main armaments of the tank to
deal with the KLA attackers.
Keith repeatedly asserted the willingness of the Yugoslav authorities
to cooperate. He said that he had been working together with the
Serbian police to facilitate the return of Albanian villagers, who had
fled amid fighting in 1998, from the village of Donji Grabovac.
Keith said that the police had even offered to provide these villagers
with small arms so that they could defend themselves from whoever might
try and harm them. Unfortunately, he was evacuated from Kosovo before
he could see this effort bear fruit.
Keith said that the KVM's leadership had certain political objectives
and that it did not really seek the normalization of the situation in
Kosovo. It would appear that he had more to say on this topic, but
neither Mr. Kay nor Mr. Nice was particularly willing to discuss it and
so it went by the way side.
Keith also said that the villagers would wildly exaggerate claims of
displacement of population. He said that they would claim that hundreds
of people were chased from a given village, when in reality only a
handful of displaced persons would have left the village.
Of course that didn't stop Mr. Nice from reading out lengthy passages
from the OSCE's "Kosovo-Kosova: As Seen, As Told" book which relies
heavily on the accounts of the same unreliable villagers that Keith was
talking about.
Mr. Nice took great pains to waste as much time as possible. He read
out even more lengthy passages from the OSCE's "blue book." Nice asked
Keith to comment on things that were alleged to have happened in
Prizren and in other parts of Kosovo which were outside of his zone of
responsibility.
Mr. Keith behaved like the military professional that he is and
confined his testimony to places and events that he had direct
knowledge of.
Being unsuccessful in drawing Mr. Keith into a hypothetical discussion,
Mr. Nice tried insinuating that Keith had written irresponsible and
inaccurate articles about the Kosovo war, but Mr. Nice never quite got
around to actually challenging the veracity of any specific part of
Keith's work. Even though Mr Nice he has taken more time than Mr. Kay
with all of the witnesses, all three of the defense witnesses have
defeated him.
Slobodan Milosevic again demanded to have his right to self-defense
returned to him, and again Mr. Robinson turned off his microphone, and
in an added twist resorted to name-calling and accused Milosevic of
being "petulant and puerile."
For his part Milosevic responded by saying, "I wish, Mr. Robinson, to
say something to you in relation to the observation you made in view of
my attitude and position. I think that the right to defending oneself
is a right of principle -- " and again Robinson cut off the microphone.
Things are not going well for the tribunal. Mr. Kay announced that he
couldn't find any more witnesses who would agree to testify. The
witnesses have banded together and are boycotting the proceedings to
protest against the draconian conditions that the tribunal has imposed
though its denial of Milosevic's right to self-defense.
Mr. Kay is asking that the so-called "trial" be suspended until the
appeals chamber has made its ruling on the appeal that he has made
against his own appointment as Milosevic's defence.
There will be a hearing tomorrow to consider the future conduct of the
trial, but one thing is clear the tribunal has made this so-called
"trial" into a total farce. By denying Milosevic the right to
self-defense, they have brought all of these problems crashing down
onto their own heads.
=== 2 ===
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
b92_focus.php?yyyy=2004&mm=05&dd=20&nav_id=28447
B92 (Serbia-Montenegro)
May 20, 2004
Canadian diplomat claims NATO war crimes
Diplomat James Bissett was Canadian ambassador to
Yugoslavia from 1990 to 1992. During his tenure, he
watched as Yugoslavia began to break up and war broke
out, first in Slovenia, then in Croatia, finally in
Bosnia. During that time, Bissett met regularly with
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and other
leaders. He gave the following interview to Canada’s
Edmonton Journal on May 18, before making a speech at
the University of Alberta.
Canada participated in a series of NATO-sanctioned war
crimes against Yugoslavia, charges a former Canadian
ambassador to the Balkan country.
To this day, Canada has failed to admit the pretences
behind the bombing campaign that led to the NATO
occupation of Kosovo had no substance, James Bissett
said Tuesday in an interview before making a speech at
the University of Alberta.
NATO and the United States claimed that more than
100,000 ethnic Albanians had been killed as the result
of Serb genocide, Bissett said.
To stop that alleged genocide and ethnic cleansing,
NATO engaged in a 78-day bombing campaign against
Yugoslavia, which destroyed military and government
facilities before targeting factories, bridges, TV
stations and power grids. Finally, the Yugoslav
government gave in and allowed NATO troops to enter
Kosovo. Forensic investigation teams followed.
"The forensic experts found fewer than 2,000 graves
and many of the people in those graves were Serbs,"
Bissett said. "There were more civilians killed in
Serbia by the NATO bombing campaign."
Bissett claims there wasn't even a concerted campaign
of ethnic cleansing on the part of the Yugoslav
government. What actually happened was that 200,000
ethnic Albanians fled their homes as a result of
fighting between the Yugoslav army and the Kosovo
Liberation Army, Bissett said. The KLA was a terrorist
guerrilla organization that provoked reprisals against
Muslim Albanian villages by murdering Serb officials
and police officers, so it could tell the world the
Serbs were engaged in a genocidal campaign.
Today, the few remaining Serbs of Kosovo are paying
the price for that duplicity. Bissett said 2,000 Serbs
have been murdered in Kosovo and 1,300 Christian
churches and monasteries have been bombed, burned or
destroyed.
On March 17, another lie sparked more violence aimed
at Serbs. Three ethnic Albanian boys went swimming in
a river, and when two drowned, the third boy told his
parents the boys had been driven into the water by a
Serb man and his vicious dogs. By the time the boy
admitted his story was a lie, it was too late.
All this anti-Serb violence had taken place while an
army of 18,000 NATO troops stood by and did nothing to
protect the Serbs or their property, said Bissett, who
was an outspoken opponent of NATO action during the
run-up to the 1999 bombing campaign.
Bissett was Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia from
1990 to 1992. During his tenure, he watched as
Yugoslavia began to break up and war broke out, first
in Slovenia, then in Croatia, finally in Bosnia.
During that time, Bissett met regularly with Yugoslav
president Slobodan Milosevic and other leaders.
"It's time to speak out about Kosovo but it seems to
be a forgotten place," he said. "Only Pakistan and a
few other nations have spoken out about it. Canada has
said nothing."
Bissett was brought to Edmonton by local members of
the Serb community. He admits he often speaks on
behalf of partisan groups but claims that helps
counterbalance stories that have demonized Serbs for
years.
=== 3 ===
Da: Boba
Data: Lun 4 Ott 2004 03:04:22 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: NEW on "Monday's Encounter"
"MONDAY"S ENCOUNTER" a bilingual Serbian Canadian radio program airing
every Monday on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa and on line at www.ckcufm.com .
Monday, Oct. 4, 2004 at 6:00 P.M. EST on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa
* JAMES BISSETT - former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia was one of
high ranking diplomats who had decided not to testify at The Hague. We
wanted to know if the UN is capable of adminitering justice? What has
been the biggest misconception of the war in the former Yugoslavia that
people in the West have? [*E] (Interview, Part II)
http://www.deltax.net/bissett/
Transcript: http://www.serbianna.com
http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/pertep
(...)
- FUNDING DRIVE for our radio station CKCU 93.1 FM starts on October 22
- Nov. 7, 2004. You can pre-pledge if you go to:
www.https://media6.magma.ca/ckcu.magma.ca/pledgeform.html
Do not forget the name of the Show that you are pledging to: Monday's
Encounter
(...)
(*E) - Comment in English
(*S) - Comment in Serbian
**To hear the whole show (after the airiring) please go to:
http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/pertep
Boba Borojevic, producer
Tel: (613) 852-1971
E-mail: CKCUBoba @ yahoo.ca
http://ckcu.magma.ca/audio.html
--------
THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL: CHARGES AGAINST MILOSEVIC PURE FANTASY
[Excerpts from the interview with the former Canadian Ambassador to
Yugoslavia, James Bissett, September 27, 2004]
Stalled by reluctant witnesses and an uncooperative defendant, judges
in Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial adjourned the proceedings for
a month Wednesday (15. September 2004) to give the former Yugoslav
president's court-appointed lawyers time to prepare their case. At
least 20 of Milosevic's witnesses, including high-level foreign
politicians, have refused to show up since the court limited
Milosevic's ability to mount his own defense. Milosevic faces 66 counts
of war crimes for his alleged criminal role in atrocities committed
during the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Those
are very serious charges with potential consequences for the whole
Serbian nation.
Mr. James Bissett, former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia is one of
foreign politicians who refused to go to The Hague to testify. His
refusal to testify has prompted the media at home and abroad to ask him
to explain why he made this decision?
One of the fundamental principles of law is that if you are accused of
something that you have right to defend yourself. That is enshrined in
law and has been for many centuries. It is one of the core principles
of the law. Even the Constitution of the Tribunal itself makes it clear
that all of the defendants have right to defend themselves if they
choose to do so, including Mr. Milosevic.
Yet the Tribunal has now decided to take that right away from him. This
decision served to confirm my early suspicions that the Tribunal was
really a political court. It was the final straw that convinced me I
did not want to be a witness at the trial. It was my own decision. I
was surprised, but pleased, to see that most of the other witnesses
agreed not to appear.
Judges citing medical reports that Milosevic was unfit to take charge
of his defense. Is this right?
Anyone who reads Tribunal’s transcripts will see that Milosevic is more
than able to defend himself. His cross examinations have destroyed many
of the witnesses who have come before him. I think the Tribunal is
using health reasons simple as an excuse to prevent him from defending
himself. [The prosecution] came up with this fantasy theory that he,
Karadzic and the Serb leader in Croatia entered into criminal
conspiracy to ethnically cleans all non Serbs out of Bosnia and
Croatia. This is pure fantasy. The prosecution is having a very
difficult time of proving all this. It is pretty clear that they got to
try to keep him off the stand. If he is on the stand, he is going to
destroy their arguments.
You have always been a defender of the rule of law and you believed in
the UN charters. Given what we have seen so far at The Hague, have you
changed you mind about the UN court and the justice the UN is capable
to administer?
I am afraid to have to say yes. From the outset the legitimacy of the
Tribunal has been in question. The UN Security Council established it
yet there is nothing in the United Nations Charter that gives the
Security Council the authority to establish a Tribunal or Court.
Nevertheless the Tribunal did get the blessing of the UN Security
Council and the UN Secretary General. Therefore one could argue that
despite its dubious origin it has taken on a quasi- legal position. Mr.
Milosevic has been accused of some of the most serious crimes since the
Nazi leaders were on trial at Nuremberg. It was therefore incumbent
upon Tribunal to get it right. By that I mean - to ensure there was
fairness, to ensure there was a presumption of innocence on the part of
the accused and to follow the other basic principles of law. This the
Tribunal has not done.
We also know that the Tribunal was financed by George Soros and by some
of the Arab states. This in itself calls into question the impartiality
of the Tribunal. The court has been dominated and managed by the United
States. It is in the interests of the USA to continue the pretence that
Milosevic is solely responsible for everything that went wrong in the
former Yugoslavia. I am convinced that the Tribunal was established to
make Mlosevic and the Serbs guilty of all the crimes committed in the
Balkans. His guilt is essential if the Germans and the Americans who
played such a critical role in causing much of the bloodshed and the
violence in the Balkans are to be let off the hook.
What is the biggest misconception of the war in the former Yugoslavia
that people in the West have?
The US led NATO powers have done a masterful job through manipulation
of the popular media of blaming the Serbs and Milosevic for everything
that happened since the breakup of Yugoslavia. They have been able to
convince the people in the West that Milosevic and the Serbs not only
broke up Yugoslavia, but also are responsible for all the killings and
ethnic cleansing. This is a very scary thing. It shows how easy public
opinion can be manipulated. That is why it is important for the truth
to come out.
Already we see that people have forgotten Kosovo. It is no longer a
subject of interest to the media. Over 2000 Serbs have been murdered in
Kosovo since NATO and the UN took over and not one person has been
charged. Almost all the non-Albanian population has been forced to
leave Kosovo. Yet, not a word of complaint about ethnic cleansing.
Albanians have burned or blasted down over 150 Christian churches, some
of them treasures from the 12th and 13th centuries. Not a word of
protest from Christian leaders in the USA and Canada. How can this be
explained?
We are dealing here with double standard and the manipulation of
western public opinion. It is shocking and frightening. This is why the
Tribunal in The Hague must be discredited because if it is not - its
files and testimonies will form an important part of the historical
record. Unfortunately it seems obvious that Milosevic’s guilt has
already been ordained by the Americans. And they represent as we know
the most powerful nation in the world.
***
Mr. James Bissett was Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia in 1992.
BOBA BOROJEVIC, producer
“Monday’s Encounter” on CKCU 93.1FM
Ottawa, Canada
ckcuboba @ yahoo.ca
responsabile canadese della "Missione di verifica" OSCE in Kosovo
(1998-1999) Roland Keith smontano pezzo per pezzo alcuni dei miti che
sono serviti a "giustificare" la criminale aggressione NATO contro la
RF di Jugoslavia ]
1. Canadian Ambassador and Canadian Kosovo Commander explode Myths of
Yugoslav War
2. Canadian diplomat James Bissett claims NATO war crimes (B92 - May
20, 2004)
3. THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL: CHARGES AGAINST MILOSEVIC PURE FANTASY. Excerpts
from the interview with the former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia,
James Bissett
(September 27, 2004 - by Boba Borojevic / “Monday’s Encounter" /
http://ckcu.magma.ca/ )
=== 1 ===
http://www.freenations.freeuk.com/news-2004-10-14.html
CANADIAN AMBASSADOR AND CANADIAN KOSOVO COMMANDER EXPLODE MYTHS OF
YUGOSLAV WAR
1. AN EYEWITNESS TO THE BREAK UP OF YUGOSLAVIA
James Bissett, Former Canadian Ambassador to Belgrade
A Speech to 5,000 Canadian Serbs on the anniversary of the historic
battle of Kosovo. Niagara Falls, 29th June 2003
Honored guests ladies and gentlemen: I want at the outset to thank Bora
Dragasevich for inviting me to speak to you this afternoon. It is a
privilege and a sincere honor for me to be with you and to share your
Vidovdan celebrations. I recall that it was thirteen summers ago that I
set off to Belgrade to take up my post as the Canadian Ambassador to
Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia was then a strong and united country- more prosperous than
most of the Eastern Bloc countries. Yet there were emerging signs of
trouble. Urged on by the former Central Powers (Germany, Austria and
Hungary) Slovenia and Croatia were already planning to separate from
the Yugoslav Federation.
I became an eyewitness to the subsequent violence and break up of the
country. I also was a witness to the "historical amnesia" suffered by
the political leaders of France, Britain, the United States and my own
country, Canada. These countries were Serbia's old traditional allies
in two world wars yet they shamefully stood by and joined in the
betrayal of Yugoslavia.
The break up of Yugoslavia was a disaster for the Serbian people.
Thousands killed and many more thousands forced to flee their ancestral
homelands. Serbs have been humiliated and many have lost their
self-respect. Yet the greatest tragedy of all is that the Serbs have
been blamed for everything that has happened since the breakup. They
have been blamed for the breakup itself. They have been blamed for
starting the violence. They have been blamed for the ethnic cleansing
that occurred. They have been blamed for the massacres. They have been
blamed for genocide. Finally they have been blamed for the NATO bombing
of their own country!
These are lies! Lies! Lies! Hitler's propaganda Minister Joseph
Goebbels said if you tell a monstrous lie people will believe you
because they cannot imagine anyone making up such an outrageous
falsehood. Then if evidence is shown to contradict the lie, you dismiss
it as irrelevant or misguided. Finally when the truth is disclosed it
is too late. Nobody cares or wants to know.
So it has been with the dreadful lies told about the Serbs. President
Clinton and Tony Blair talked about genocide taking place in Kosovo.
The US Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, said there were over a
hundred thousand young Albanian men missing in Kosovo. Robin Cook the
British Foreign Minister and Clare Short his cabinet colleague both
made outrageous charges against the Serbs about non-existent rape
camps. Later it was reported by the UNHCR and even the anti-Serb,
(George Soros financed) Human Rights Watch, that these stories had no
foundation. Can you believe that these two hypocritical British Cabinet
Ministers actually resigned over the war against Iraq!
However, there is a striking difference between Kosovo and Iraq.
Despite all of Milosevic's faults he didn't compare with Saddam
Hussein. Milosevic, after all, obeyed all of the UN Resolutions -
including allowing troops from the Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) into Kosovo. He was no threat to his
neighbors. He did not aspire to, nor did he possess weapons of mass
destruction.
Although not a democrat he was not a psychopathic killer like Saddam
(nor a religious bigot like Croatia's Tudjman or Bosnia's Izetbegovic -
ed) nor was Serbia under his regime a totalitarian state, as was Iraq
(nor had he invaded another country like Saddam had attacked Kuwait and
Iran - ed). In reality he was trying to suppress an armed rebellion in
his own territory - a rebellion led by a Muslim terrorist organization
- and for this the NATO countries bombed his country.
I believe now that it is generally accepted by most of the informed
public in the West [with the exception of the main stream media in
Canada Britain and the United States] that the bombing of Yugoslavia
was deliberately contrived. It served as a means of providing NATO with
a reason for existence and President Clinton with a distraction from
his sexual embarrassments. The truth is gradually emerging from a
variety of reliable sources.
One of the most revealing has been the admission by the former British
Defense Minister, Lord Gilbert, who told the British House of Commons
in July 2000 that the terms that NATO sought to force upon Milosevic at
Rambouillet were deliberately designed to provoke war.
(Note the same strategy when Austria demanded terms from Serbia in 1914
as an alternative to war but then informed its ambassador in Belgrade
that he was on no account to accept the Serb response - whatever it
was! - ed)
So the truth is slowly coming out. Regretfully it is too late in itself
to restore to many Serbs their sense of pride and self-respect. This is
left to the Serbs as a people. However, knowing them as I do - and
mindful of their historic courage and heroism - I am confident you will
overcome this historic setback as you have done before. The main thing
is to ensure that your young people remain proud of their heritage and
do not accept the simplistic and biased accounts of the North American
media's account of the Yugoslav breakup. I want to end my speech today
on a positive note.
There are, believe it or not, some encouraging signs of reconciliation
and hope in the former Yugoslavia. A recent agreement signed in Lake
Ohrid by representatives of five Balkan countries: Serbia/Montenegro,
Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania will translate, if
all goes well, into a free trade agreement to become effective in 2007.
Moreover, Croatia and Serbia/Montenegro have agreed to declare both
countries "visa free" so that citizens of each country can travel back
and forth without visas. There is even some hope that under EU pressure
(ironic and cynical given the EU roll in the destruction of what they
now seek to sew together again! - ed) property rights might be restored
to those who have been displaced by the wars. The circle will become
closed - and once again in a different form - the former Yugoslavia
will emerge.
I will conclude on this upbeat note but not before adding a personal
warning. The history of Serbia has recorded heroic victories and
terrible defeats. The victories have come when Serbs have relied on
their own resources and inner strengths. The defeats have come when
their allies have betrayed them or let them down. There is a lesson
here that you must not forget. Do not put all of your trust or faith in
others, especially in multilateral organizations or in politicians. And
remember history does sometimes repeat itself as the Serbs know only
too well. Now not only Serbs have seen all too well that the horrors
that took place in the spring and summer of 1941 in Croatia and Bosnia
have repeated themselves in the 1990's.
PS I am happy that finally Naser Oric the Muslim commander at
Srebrenica has been indicted by the Hague Tribunal. Oric was
responsible for the killing of many elderly Serbs living in villages
around Srebrinica. He actually video taped some of the victims who had
been beheaded and the showed the video to a number of journalists...one
of whom was from the Toronto Star newspaper but I have not been able to
find out the reporters name.
James Bissett in letter to Freenations 27th September 2004
2. CANADIAN ARMY COMMANDER EXPLODES KOSOVO MYTHS
September 14, 2004
The third witness to testify in what is being called "Slobodan
Milosevic's defense" took the stand at the Hague Tribunal on Tuesday.
The witness, Roland Keith was the commander of the Kosovo Polje field
office in the OSCE's Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM). Mr. Keith
served for 32 years in the Canadian armed forces where he obtained the
rank of Captain. Keith is a veteran of UN observation missions. Before
coming to Kosovo, he served as a UN military observer and a UN troop
commander in the Middle East.
Keith arrived in Kosovo in the first week of February 1999, and he
remained in Kosovo all the way up until the KVM was withdrawn on March
20, 1999, four days ahead of the NATO bombing.
In his testimony, Keith described the training program that the OSCE
monitors underwent. According to Keith, the training was inadequate and
left the observers unprepared to competently carryout their mission.
According to Keith most of the observers had little or no military
background and couldn't understand, or properly report what they were
witnessing. Keith said that the structure of the OSCE observation
mission was flawed. He said that the observers were road bound, and
unable to see what was going on outside of the beaten path.
Keith described the KLA as a guerilla terrorist organization, and said
that the KVM's confinement to the roads kept them from being able to
effectively monitor the KLA's activities.
In direct contradiction of almost all of the prosecution's
Kosovo-Albanian witnesses, Keith said that the KLA had a detachment or
what he called a "home guard" in every village. He said that the KLA
even manned check-points at the entrances to the villages, which makes
it all the more amazing that so many the prosecution's Kosovo-Albanian
witnesses never saw the KLA.
Keith said that he never saw the MUP or the Yugoslav Army (VJ) mistreat
anybody, and that the MUP and VJ forces cooperated with him fully.
Keith said that the KLA was a different story. He said that the KLA
refused to cooperate with the KVM on many occasions. He also said that
the KLA violated the cease fire agreement regularly. Keith said that
the MUP and VJ abided by the cease-fire, and that the VJ mainly stayed
in its barracks. According to Keith's testimony, the format followed in
Kosovo was for the KLA to initiate an attack and for the authorities to
retaliate.
When Keith first arrived in Kosovo he was sent to the village of
Glogovac, where he witnessed a KLA sniper attack on the MUP.
One week later he was sent to Kosovo Polje where he established the
KVM's field office.
The village of Grabovac was in his area of responsibility and according
to Keith, a platoon of KLA terrorists was occupying a wooded area in
the environs of that village. He said that those KLA members were armed
with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles, machine guns, and
various other weapons. He said that this KLA platoon would engage in
sniper attacks against workers at a mine that operated in the vicinity
of the village.
Keith spoke of another instance of KLA violence when the KLA ambushed a
MUP patrol on the Pec-Pristina highway. According to Keith one Serb
police officer was killed and another was gravely wounded in the attack.
Keith said that in this instance the VJ came to assist the police, and
that a tank was used. But according to Keith the VJ showed restraint
and only used machine-guns and not the main armaments of the tank to
deal with the KLA attackers.
Keith repeatedly asserted the willingness of the Yugoslav authorities
to cooperate. He said that he had been working together with the
Serbian police to facilitate the return of Albanian villagers, who had
fled amid fighting in 1998, from the village of Donji Grabovac.
Keith said that the police had even offered to provide these villagers
with small arms so that they could defend themselves from whoever might
try and harm them. Unfortunately, he was evacuated from Kosovo before
he could see this effort bear fruit.
Keith said that the KVM's leadership had certain political objectives
and that it did not really seek the normalization of the situation in
Kosovo. It would appear that he had more to say on this topic, but
neither Mr. Kay nor Mr. Nice was particularly willing to discuss it and
so it went by the way side.
Keith also said that the villagers would wildly exaggerate claims of
displacement of population. He said that they would claim that hundreds
of people were chased from a given village, when in reality only a
handful of displaced persons would have left the village.
Of course that didn't stop Mr. Nice from reading out lengthy passages
from the OSCE's "Kosovo-Kosova: As Seen, As Told" book which relies
heavily on the accounts of the same unreliable villagers that Keith was
talking about.
Mr. Nice took great pains to waste as much time as possible. He read
out even more lengthy passages from the OSCE's "blue book." Nice asked
Keith to comment on things that were alleged to have happened in
Prizren and in other parts of Kosovo which were outside of his zone of
responsibility.
Mr. Keith behaved like the military professional that he is and
confined his testimony to places and events that he had direct
knowledge of.
Being unsuccessful in drawing Mr. Keith into a hypothetical discussion,
Mr. Nice tried insinuating that Keith had written irresponsible and
inaccurate articles about the Kosovo war, but Mr. Nice never quite got
around to actually challenging the veracity of any specific part of
Keith's work. Even though Mr Nice he has taken more time than Mr. Kay
with all of the witnesses, all three of the defense witnesses have
defeated him.
Slobodan Milosevic again demanded to have his right to self-defense
returned to him, and again Mr. Robinson turned off his microphone, and
in an added twist resorted to name-calling and accused Milosevic of
being "petulant and puerile."
For his part Milosevic responded by saying, "I wish, Mr. Robinson, to
say something to you in relation to the observation you made in view of
my attitude and position. I think that the right to defending oneself
is a right of principle -- " and again Robinson cut off the microphone.
Things are not going well for the tribunal. Mr. Kay announced that he
couldn't find any more witnesses who would agree to testify. The
witnesses have banded together and are boycotting the proceedings to
protest against the draconian conditions that the tribunal has imposed
though its denial of Milosevic's right to self-defense.
Mr. Kay is asking that the so-called "trial" be suspended until the
appeals chamber has made its ruling on the appeal that he has made
against his own appointment as Milosevic's defence.
There will be a hearing tomorrow to consider the future conduct of the
trial, but one thing is clear the tribunal has made this so-called
"trial" into a total farce. By denying Milosevic the right to
self-defense, they have brought all of these problems crashing down
onto their own heads.
=== 2 ===
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
b92_focus.php?yyyy=2004&mm=05&dd=20&nav_id=28447
B92 (Serbia-Montenegro)
May 20, 2004
Canadian diplomat claims NATO war crimes
Diplomat James Bissett was Canadian ambassador to
Yugoslavia from 1990 to 1992. During his tenure, he
watched as Yugoslavia began to break up and war broke
out, first in Slovenia, then in Croatia, finally in
Bosnia. During that time, Bissett met regularly with
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and other
leaders. He gave the following interview to Canada’s
Edmonton Journal on May 18, before making a speech at
the University of Alberta.
Canada participated in a series of NATO-sanctioned war
crimes against Yugoslavia, charges a former Canadian
ambassador to the Balkan country.
To this day, Canada has failed to admit the pretences
behind the bombing campaign that led to the NATO
occupation of Kosovo had no substance, James Bissett
said Tuesday in an interview before making a speech at
the University of Alberta.
NATO and the United States claimed that more than
100,000 ethnic Albanians had been killed as the result
of Serb genocide, Bissett said.
To stop that alleged genocide and ethnic cleansing,
NATO engaged in a 78-day bombing campaign against
Yugoslavia, which destroyed military and government
facilities before targeting factories, bridges, TV
stations and power grids. Finally, the Yugoslav
government gave in and allowed NATO troops to enter
Kosovo. Forensic investigation teams followed.
"The forensic experts found fewer than 2,000 graves
and many of the people in those graves were Serbs,"
Bissett said. "There were more civilians killed in
Serbia by the NATO bombing campaign."
Bissett claims there wasn't even a concerted campaign
of ethnic cleansing on the part of the Yugoslav
government. What actually happened was that 200,000
ethnic Albanians fled their homes as a result of
fighting between the Yugoslav army and the Kosovo
Liberation Army, Bissett said. The KLA was a terrorist
guerrilla organization that provoked reprisals against
Muslim Albanian villages by murdering Serb officials
and police officers, so it could tell the world the
Serbs were engaged in a genocidal campaign.
Today, the few remaining Serbs of Kosovo are paying
the price for that duplicity. Bissett said 2,000 Serbs
have been murdered in Kosovo and 1,300 Christian
churches and monasteries have been bombed, burned or
destroyed.
On March 17, another lie sparked more violence aimed
at Serbs. Three ethnic Albanian boys went swimming in
a river, and when two drowned, the third boy told his
parents the boys had been driven into the water by a
Serb man and his vicious dogs. By the time the boy
admitted his story was a lie, it was too late.
All this anti-Serb violence had taken place while an
army of 18,000 NATO troops stood by and did nothing to
protect the Serbs or their property, said Bissett, who
was an outspoken opponent of NATO action during the
run-up to the 1999 bombing campaign.
Bissett was Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia from
1990 to 1992. During his tenure, he watched as
Yugoslavia began to break up and war broke out, first
in Slovenia, then in Croatia, finally in Bosnia.
During that time, Bissett met regularly with Yugoslav
president Slobodan Milosevic and other leaders.
"It's time to speak out about Kosovo but it seems to
be a forgotten place," he said. "Only Pakistan and a
few other nations have spoken out about it. Canada has
said nothing."
Bissett was brought to Edmonton by local members of
the Serb community. He admits he often speaks on
behalf of partisan groups but claims that helps
counterbalance stories that have demonized Serbs for
years.
=== 3 ===
Da: Boba
Data: Lun 4 Ott 2004 03:04:22 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: NEW on "Monday's Encounter"
"MONDAY"S ENCOUNTER" a bilingual Serbian Canadian radio program airing
every Monday on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa and on line at www.ckcufm.com .
Monday, Oct. 4, 2004 at 6:00 P.M. EST on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa
* JAMES BISSETT - former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia was one of
high ranking diplomats who had decided not to testify at The Hague. We
wanted to know if the UN is capable of adminitering justice? What has
been the biggest misconception of the war in the former Yugoslavia that
people in the West have? [*E] (Interview, Part II)
http://www.deltax.net/bissett/
Transcript: http://www.serbianna.com
http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/pertep
(...)
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(*E) - Comment in English
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Boba Borojevic, producer
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http://ckcu.magma.ca/audio.html
--------
THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL: CHARGES AGAINST MILOSEVIC PURE FANTASY
[Excerpts from the interview with the former Canadian Ambassador to
Yugoslavia, James Bissett, September 27, 2004]
Stalled by reluctant witnesses and an uncooperative defendant, judges
in Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial adjourned the proceedings for
a month Wednesday (15. September 2004) to give the former Yugoslav
president's court-appointed lawyers time to prepare their case. At
least 20 of Milosevic's witnesses, including high-level foreign
politicians, have refused to show up since the court limited
Milosevic's ability to mount his own defense. Milosevic faces 66 counts
of war crimes for his alleged criminal role in atrocities committed
during the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Those
are very serious charges with potential consequences for the whole
Serbian nation.
Mr. James Bissett, former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia is one of
foreign politicians who refused to go to The Hague to testify. His
refusal to testify has prompted the media at home and abroad to ask him
to explain why he made this decision?
One of the fundamental principles of law is that if you are accused of
something that you have right to defend yourself. That is enshrined in
law and has been for many centuries. It is one of the core principles
of the law. Even the Constitution of the Tribunal itself makes it clear
that all of the defendants have right to defend themselves if they
choose to do so, including Mr. Milosevic.
Yet the Tribunal has now decided to take that right away from him. This
decision served to confirm my early suspicions that the Tribunal was
really a political court. It was the final straw that convinced me I
did not want to be a witness at the trial. It was my own decision. I
was surprised, but pleased, to see that most of the other witnesses
agreed not to appear.
Judges citing medical reports that Milosevic was unfit to take charge
of his defense. Is this right?
Anyone who reads Tribunal’s transcripts will see that Milosevic is more
than able to defend himself. His cross examinations have destroyed many
of the witnesses who have come before him. I think the Tribunal is
using health reasons simple as an excuse to prevent him from defending
himself. [The prosecution] came up with this fantasy theory that he,
Karadzic and the Serb leader in Croatia entered into criminal
conspiracy to ethnically cleans all non Serbs out of Bosnia and
Croatia. This is pure fantasy. The prosecution is having a very
difficult time of proving all this. It is pretty clear that they got to
try to keep him off the stand. If he is on the stand, he is going to
destroy their arguments.
You have always been a defender of the rule of law and you believed in
the UN charters. Given what we have seen so far at The Hague, have you
changed you mind about the UN court and the justice the UN is capable
to administer?
I am afraid to have to say yes. From the outset the legitimacy of the
Tribunal has been in question. The UN Security Council established it
yet there is nothing in the United Nations Charter that gives the
Security Council the authority to establish a Tribunal or Court.
Nevertheless the Tribunal did get the blessing of the UN Security
Council and the UN Secretary General. Therefore one could argue that
despite its dubious origin it has taken on a quasi- legal position. Mr.
Milosevic has been accused of some of the most serious crimes since the
Nazi leaders were on trial at Nuremberg. It was therefore incumbent
upon Tribunal to get it right. By that I mean - to ensure there was
fairness, to ensure there was a presumption of innocence on the part of
the accused and to follow the other basic principles of law. This the
Tribunal has not done.
We also know that the Tribunal was financed by George Soros and by some
of the Arab states. This in itself calls into question the impartiality
of the Tribunal. The court has been dominated and managed by the United
States. It is in the interests of the USA to continue the pretence that
Milosevic is solely responsible for everything that went wrong in the
former Yugoslavia. I am convinced that the Tribunal was established to
make Mlosevic and the Serbs guilty of all the crimes committed in the
Balkans. His guilt is essential if the Germans and the Americans who
played such a critical role in causing much of the bloodshed and the
violence in the Balkans are to be let off the hook.
What is the biggest misconception of the war in the former Yugoslavia
that people in the West have?
The US led NATO powers have done a masterful job through manipulation
of the popular media of blaming the Serbs and Milosevic for everything
that happened since the breakup of Yugoslavia. They have been able to
convince the people in the West that Milosevic and the Serbs not only
broke up Yugoslavia, but also are responsible for all the killings and
ethnic cleansing. This is a very scary thing. It shows how easy public
opinion can be manipulated. That is why it is important for the truth
to come out.
Already we see that people have forgotten Kosovo. It is no longer a
subject of interest to the media. Over 2000 Serbs have been murdered in
Kosovo since NATO and the UN took over and not one person has been
charged. Almost all the non-Albanian population has been forced to
leave Kosovo. Yet, not a word of complaint about ethnic cleansing.
Albanians have burned or blasted down over 150 Christian churches, some
of them treasures from the 12th and 13th centuries. Not a word of
protest from Christian leaders in the USA and Canada. How can this be
explained?
We are dealing here with double standard and the manipulation of
western public opinion. It is shocking and frightening. This is why the
Tribunal in The Hague must be discredited because if it is not - its
files and testimonies will form an important part of the historical
record. Unfortunately it seems obvious that Milosevic’s guilt has
already been ordained by the Americans. And they represent as we know
the most powerful nation in the world.
***
Mr. James Bissett was Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia in 1992.
BOBA BOROJEVIC, producer
“Monday’s Encounter” on CKCU 93.1FM
Ottawa, Canada
ckcuboba @ yahoo.ca