From: Milan Tepavac
To: president@...
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 10:05 PM
Subject: Letter to the US President.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
Dear Mr. President:
The reason I decided to write you this letter is your
message sent to Mr. Vojislav Kostunica, President of
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on the occasion of
the tenth anniversary of the adoption of its
constitution. In your message there are at least two
assertions that call for comment.
Mr. President, I am sure that you will agree that
every honest and rational human endeavor must be based
on the right premise. The simple logic tells us that
if the basic premise is wrong then everything else is
wrong. I am afraid that many premises in your message
are wrong and, thus, your conclusions are inevitably
wrong.
First, your premise that until recently (I suppose
that you mean before the 5th of October, 2000, that is
before the so-called "Serbian October Revolution") the
Belgrade leadership was the main cause of sufferings,
agonies and anguish and wars in the Balkans. Here you
are absolutely wrong. The wars in former Yugoslavia
were masterminded, planned, fomented, initiated,
financed and waged elsewhere, not in Serbia.
Secessionist-terrorist wars which bloodily dismembered
former Yugoslavia were executed by Slovenia, Croatia
and Bosnia-Herzegovina (Macedonia achieved secession
"peacefully", but nevertheless unconstitutionally)
when foreign powers gave them financial and material
help, including arms, and when they promised them
diplomatic recognition as independent states. Without
that help and promises there would not had been wars
on the Yugoslav soil. It was the duty of foreign
powers - under the provisions of the Charter of the
United Nations, the Helsinki Final Act of the OSCE and
other international legal and political instruments -
not to help violent secessions but to help, to
contribute to the peaceful solution of Yugoslav
political problems. If foreign powers said: "OK,
you've got problems, you have to discuss all your
problems as long as it is needed - even for 30 years -
but you mustn't resort to violence. The international
community will never diplomatically recognize
secessionist entities as independent states" - there
would be no wars. Instead of acting in that way,
Germany, the USA and other foreign countries under
their control acted as they did. To be more specific
about this, Germany played the decisive role
concerning Croatia and Slovenia, while the USA sealed
Bosnia-Herzegovina's fate. Altogether, foreign powers
and secessionist criminals sealed Serbs' fate.
Although all Yugoslav peoples became the Biblical
victims of such a policy, the Serbs were the greatest.
There are no Serbs any more in Krajina (please find
enclosed an article from the yesterday's Washington
Times written by an US Air Force officer about the US
role in the genocide of Krajina Serbs) and western
Bosnia who lived there from the time long before
America was discovered. The first genocide during
World War II occurred there against Serbs; then, after
the meeting between Hitler and Ante Pavelic of Croatia
(which at that time included Bosnia-Herzegovina) on
June 6, 1941 the Holocaust started...
Secondly, you insist on full cooperation with the
so-called International Criminal Tribunal for Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY), which includes extradition of
Yugoslav citizens to that institution and handing over
all state's document which the Tribunal would demand.
You even welcomed the kidnapping and arrest of Mr.
Slobodan Milosevic, former freely elected President of
Yugoslavia, by the officials of the Tribunal in
cooperation with the present regime in Belgrade,
installed by you in the "Serbian October Revolution".
First of all, Mr. President, that so-called tribunal
is an illegal and illegitimate institution. Security
Council of the United Nations had no power to
establish it, you know that. Security Council is a
political body of the UN, not a legislative one; it
had no right whatsoever to formulate substantive rules
of international law in "tribunal" statute (articles
2-5) and to determine penalties. You who are against
even regular - that is legal and legitimate -
international criminal court have no right, neither
legal nor moral, to demand complete submission to the
ICTY a sovereign and independent state. So, the
so-called trial in The Hague of Mr. Milosevic is a
mockery of justice, great shame of our civilization
and deathblow to international law. I assure you that
my intention is not to defend Milosevic; I am just
trying to defend the truth.
These are only some of the remarks that must be made
in connection with your above-mentioned message to the
president of Yugoslavia "and Yugoslav people", as you
put it. Since you sent the message also on behalf of
the American people, you must agree that your people
have the right to know of these remarks.
Mr. President, I assure you that I always considered
United States of America as a beacon of freedom and
liberty, as the statue in New York symbolizes it. I
started my studying the law and politics with the text
of the Declaration of Independence. But, from November
30, 1990 when your father - then the president of the
United States - first signed so-called Public Law
101-513 which meant direct incitement to breaking up
of Yugoslavia I consider America, with its frightening
power, the main treat for the destiny of the whole
world if it does not change fundamentally its policy
and return to the tenants of the Declaration of
Independence and other great values of a great country
and a great people. You and your Democrat predecessor
ruined my country, my people, my relatives, me
personally, with your arrogant, immoral and
irresponsible policy. Still, I don't believe that you
personally are such a person. I believe that you are
the victim of wicked lobbies, of your advisers and
officials who lie to you, who deceive you. I am
willing and prepared to meet you or a person of your
trust who possesses honesty and objective knowledge of
the matters touched upon in this letter at any time
and at any place, in order to substantiate what I said
in this letter. I am sure that I would convince you
that I was telling the truth, nothing but the truth,
but not whole truth.
With highest consideration,
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Milan Tepavac, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
---
Attachment: Forwarded Message
From: "Miroslav Antic"
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 10:12:17 -0400
Subject: [sorabia] What about the U.S. role in
Croatian atrocities?
Reply-to: sorabia@...
The Washington Times
LETTERS
Sunday, April 28, 2002/page B2
Your April 22 article, "Indicted general accuses U.S.,
Clinton of war atrocities," brings to light two
problems that should be of concern to all Americans:
The duplicity and injustice of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and
shortsighted and unprincipled aspects of U.S. foreign
policy.
In the article, you report that a Croatian general
indicted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for
being responsible for atrocities committed against
Krajina Serbs during "Operation Storm" in 1995 claimed
that leading members of the Clinton administration
authorized and oversaw the operation. The article
states that 150,000 Serbs were ethnically cleansed
from the region. The Croatian general is accused of
"command responsibility" for the killing of 150
Serbian civilians. Other reliable sources put the
figure of those ethnically cleansed at 250,000 and the
number of civilians killed at over 5000.
A spokeswoman for chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte is
quoted as saying, "It's not Operation Storm that is
being indicted, but the crimes that were committed
during and afterward" -- in this case, by Croatian
soldiers whose actions fell under the responsibility
of the accused general.
However, the whole object of "Operation Sotrm" was to
"ethnically cleanse" all Serbs from the Krajina region
of Croatia, the same kind of war crimes for which
Slobodan Milosevic and other defendants have been
charged by the tribunal. The main difference is that
without U.S. military aid and technology, "Operation
Storm" may not have been successful.
In another example of the deceptions that are common
from The Hague tribunal, Mrs. del Ponte?s spokeswoman
stated that U.S. support for the operation "has yet to
be established. I don?t know that the [Clinton]
administration was involved." Such bald-face lies from
a representative of the ICTY should be a warning to
anyone who supports the forming of a permanent
International Criminal Court. The facts of U.S.
involvement have been widely reported, albeit ignored.
A headline in the Aug. 25, 1995 Navy Times read: "4
Navy jets bomb Serb missile sites." The accompanying
article reported that the air strike took place on
Aug. 4, 1995, at the beginning of the Croatian
offensive.
The air strike reportedly was in response to a request
for air support by a contingent of Pakistani U.N.
peacekeepers who reported Croatian artillery rounds
striking near their outpost. When the Navy jets
entered the region they were picked up by Serbian air
defense radar. Upon being "targeted" by the Serbian
radar, the jets bombed two Serbian surface-to-air
missile sites.
It seems more than a coincident that the air strike
eliminated a Serbian missile site in the very area
which was under attack by the Croatians. The Navy
Times gave the name of the ship from which two of the
planes launched, the name of the flight leader and the
name of the Italian air base from which the other two
planes took off. Both the Chicago Tribune and the
International Tribune carried similar articles.
After reading the articles, I called the office of
Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, to ask why,
when we claimed to be neutral, U.S. aircraft had put
in an air strike against Serb facilities in support of
the Croatian offensive in Krajina. After all, the
request from the Pakistani peacekeepers was because
they were endangered by Croatian artillery and any
aircraft entering Serbian air space should expect to
be picked up by air defense radar.
In response to inquiries to the Pentagon, Sen.
Warner?s staff assistant was told that no air strike
was made. The response was the same even after the
Pentagon official was told of the Navy Times, Chicago
Tribune and the International Tribune articles. I
pursued the issue by calling NATO?s AIRSOUTH
headquarters in Naples where I was handed from one
person to another but never received a satisfactory
answer - a classic example of stonewalling.
Further proof of U.S. involvement which seems to have
eluded Ms. del Ponte?s staff was in aNov. 25, 1995
story in the Washington Times, "Retired U.S. brass
sell military expertise," which described the
operation of Military Professional Resources Inc.
(MPRI), which described the operations of Military
Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), a group of retired
senior military officers and NCOs based in Alexandria,
VA, that sells its expertise to a number of foreign
countries.
The Croatian Defense Ministry was a customer of the
company. Even though the officers claim, presumably
with straight faces, to have taught the Croats "only
mundane aspects of leadership and the military?s role
in a democracy," as you reported, the timing of the
training program just prior to Operation Storm and the
similarity of the Croatian tactics to American
doctrine raises questions as to how mundane the
training was.
Another article in The Washington Times, "Pentagon
played role in US help for Croatia," which appeared
Oct. 30, 1995, cited a source who described a visit to
Croatia by MPRI vice-president and general manager,
retired General Carl Vuono, former Army Chief of
Staff, which included ten meetings "with senior
Croatian officers in the five days before the Krajina
offensive, during which time they worked out computer
simulations that turned out to be remarkably similar
to what actually took place."
A statement by MPRI's spokesman, retired Lt. Gen. Ed
Soyster, reveals perhaps more than intended regarding
official U.S. government involvement in MPRI?s
activities in Croatia and elsewhere: "These are guys
[MPRI?s members] who devoted 35 years of their lives
supporting government policy. We?re not going to turn
our back on that." I guess that explains why MPRI is
willing to train Kosovo Liberation Army and National
Liberation Army narco-terrorists who are also trained
and financed by Osama bin Laden and may one day be
shooting at American GIs.
In his July 2001 syndicated column, "Wanted -- Guns
for Hire," Col. David Hackworth refers to MPRI as "the
same outfit that in the early 1990s trained Croatian
soldiers for Operation Storm."
Regarding MPRI?s ethics, Hackworth continues, "But
others have had the moral decency to say, ?Take your
high-paying mercenary job and stick it in your ear.? "
It?s time for Americans to wake up to the fact that we
are on the verge of losing our sovereignty to U.N.
kangaroo courts. It is also time that MPRI and similar
organizations realize that duty, honor, country come
before "supporting government policy."
COL. GEORGE JATRAS
Air Force (retired)
Sterling, Va
To: president@...
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 10:05 PM
Subject: Letter to the US President.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
Dear Mr. President:
The reason I decided to write you this letter is your
message sent to Mr. Vojislav Kostunica, President of
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on the occasion of
the tenth anniversary of the adoption of its
constitution. In your message there are at least two
assertions that call for comment.
Mr. President, I am sure that you will agree that
every honest and rational human endeavor must be based
on the right premise. The simple logic tells us that
if the basic premise is wrong then everything else is
wrong. I am afraid that many premises in your message
are wrong and, thus, your conclusions are inevitably
wrong.
First, your premise that until recently (I suppose
that you mean before the 5th of October, 2000, that is
before the so-called "Serbian October Revolution") the
Belgrade leadership was the main cause of sufferings,
agonies and anguish and wars in the Balkans. Here you
are absolutely wrong. The wars in former Yugoslavia
were masterminded, planned, fomented, initiated,
financed and waged elsewhere, not in Serbia.
Secessionist-terrorist wars which bloodily dismembered
former Yugoslavia were executed by Slovenia, Croatia
and Bosnia-Herzegovina (Macedonia achieved secession
"peacefully", but nevertheless unconstitutionally)
when foreign powers gave them financial and material
help, including arms, and when they promised them
diplomatic recognition as independent states. Without
that help and promises there would not had been wars
on the Yugoslav soil. It was the duty of foreign
powers - under the provisions of the Charter of the
United Nations, the Helsinki Final Act of the OSCE and
other international legal and political instruments -
not to help violent secessions but to help, to
contribute to the peaceful solution of Yugoslav
political problems. If foreign powers said: "OK,
you've got problems, you have to discuss all your
problems as long as it is needed - even for 30 years -
but you mustn't resort to violence. The international
community will never diplomatically recognize
secessionist entities as independent states" - there
would be no wars. Instead of acting in that way,
Germany, the USA and other foreign countries under
their control acted as they did. To be more specific
about this, Germany played the decisive role
concerning Croatia and Slovenia, while the USA sealed
Bosnia-Herzegovina's fate. Altogether, foreign powers
and secessionist criminals sealed Serbs' fate.
Although all Yugoslav peoples became the Biblical
victims of such a policy, the Serbs were the greatest.
There are no Serbs any more in Krajina (please find
enclosed an article from the yesterday's Washington
Times written by an US Air Force officer about the US
role in the genocide of Krajina Serbs) and western
Bosnia who lived there from the time long before
America was discovered. The first genocide during
World War II occurred there against Serbs; then, after
the meeting between Hitler and Ante Pavelic of Croatia
(which at that time included Bosnia-Herzegovina) on
June 6, 1941 the Holocaust started...
Secondly, you insist on full cooperation with the
so-called International Criminal Tribunal for Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY), which includes extradition of
Yugoslav citizens to that institution and handing over
all state's document which the Tribunal would demand.
You even welcomed the kidnapping and arrest of Mr.
Slobodan Milosevic, former freely elected President of
Yugoslavia, by the officials of the Tribunal in
cooperation with the present regime in Belgrade,
installed by you in the "Serbian October Revolution".
First of all, Mr. President, that so-called tribunal
is an illegal and illegitimate institution. Security
Council of the United Nations had no power to
establish it, you know that. Security Council is a
political body of the UN, not a legislative one; it
had no right whatsoever to formulate substantive rules
of international law in "tribunal" statute (articles
2-5) and to determine penalties. You who are against
even regular - that is legal and legitimate -
international criminal court have no right, neither
legal nor moral, to demand complete submission to the
ICTY a sovereign and independent state. So, the
so-called trial in The Hague of Mr. Milosevic is a
mockery of justice, great shame of our civilization
and deathblow to international law. I assure you that
my intention is not to defend Milosevic; I am just
trying to defend the truth.
These are only some of the remarks that must be made
in connection with your above-mentioned message to the
president of Yugoslavia "and Yugoslav people", as you
put it. Since you sent the message also on behalf of
the American people, you must agree that your people
have the right to know of these remarks.
Mr. President, I assure you that I always considered
United States of America as a beacon of freedom and
liberty, as the statue in New York symbolizes it. I
started my studying the law and politics with the text
of the Declaration of Independence. But, from November
30, 1990 when your father - then the president of the
United States - first signed so-called Public Law
101-513 which meant direct incitement to breaking up
of Yugoslavia I consider America, with its frightening
power, the main treat for the destiny of the whole
world if it does not change fundamentally its policy
and return to the tenants of the Declaration of
Independence and other great values of a great country
and a great people. You and your Democrat predecessor
ruined my country, my people, my relatives, me
personally, with your arrogant, immoral and
irresponsible policy. Still, I don't believe that you
personally are such a person. I believe that you are
the victim of wicked lobbies, of your advisers and
officials who lie to you, who deceive you. I am
willing and prepared to meet you or a person of your
trust who possesses honesty and objective knowledge of
the matters touched upon in this letter at any time
and at any place, in order to substantiate what I said
in this letter. I am sure that I would convince you
that I was telling the truth, nothing but the truth,
but not whole truth.
With highest consideration,
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Milan Tepavac, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
---
Attachment: Forwarded Message
From: "Miroslav Antic"
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 10:12:17 -0400
Subject: [sorabia] What about the U.S. role in
Croatian atrocities?
Reply-to: sorabia@...
The Washington Times
LETTERS
Sunday, April 28, 2002/page B2
Your April 22 article, "Indicted general accuses U.S.,
Clinton of war atrocities," brings to light two
problems that should be of concern to all Americans:
The duplicity and injustice of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and
shortsighted and unprincipled aspects of U.S. foreign
policy.
In the article, you report that a Croatian general
indicted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for
being responsible for atrocities committed against
Krajina Serbs during "Operation Storm" in 1995 claimed
that leading members of the Clinton administration
authorized and oversaw the operation. The article
states that 150,000 Serbs were ethnically cleansed
from the region. The Croatian general is accused of
"command responsibility" for the killing of 150
Serbian civilians. Other reliable sources put the
figure of those ethnically cleansed at 250,000 and the
number of civilians killed at over 5000.
A spokeswoman for chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte is
quoted as saying, "It's not Operation Storm that is
being indicted, but the crimes that were committed
during and afterward" -- in this case, by Croatian
soldiers whose actions fell under the responsibility
of the accused general.
However, the whole object of "Operation Sotrm" was to
"ethnically cleanse" all Serbs from the Krajina region
of Croatia, the same kind of war crimes for which
Slobodan Milosevic and other defendants have been
charged by the tribunal. The main difference is that
without U.S. military aid and technology, "Operation
Storm" may not have been successful.
In another example of the deceptions that are common
from The Hague tribunal, Mrs. del Ponte?s spokeswoman
stated that U.S. support for the operation "has yet to
be established. I don?t know that the [Clinton]
administration was involved." Such bald-face lies from
a representative of the ICTY should be a warning to
anyone who supports the forming of a permanent
International Criminal Court. The facts of U.S.
involvement have been widely reported, albeit ignored.
A headline in the Aug. 25, 1995 Navy Times read: "4
Navy jets bomb Serb missile sites." The accompanying
article reported that the air strike took place on
Aug. 4, 1995, at the beginning of the Croatian
offensive.
The air strike reportedly was in response to a request
for air support by a contingent of Pakistani U.N.
peacekeepers who reported Croatian artillery rounds
striking near their outpost. When the Navy jets
entered the region they were picked up by Serbian air
defense radar. Upon being "targeted" by the Serbian
radar, the jets bombed two Serbian surface-to-air
missile sites.
It seems more than a coincident that the air strike
eliminated a Serbian missile site in the very area
which was under attack by the Croatians. The Navy
Times gave the name of the ship from which two of the
planes launched, the name of the flight leader and the
name of the Italian air base from which the other two
planes took off. Both the Chicago Tribune and the
International Tribune carried similar articles.
After reading the articles, I called the office of
Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, to ask why,
when we claimed to be neutral, U.S. aircraft had put
in an air strike against Serb facilities in support of
the Croatian offensive in Krajina. After all, the
request from the Pakistani peacekeepers was because
they were endangered by Croatian artillery and any
aircraft entering Serbian air space should expect to
be picked up by air defense radar.
In response to inquiries to the Pentagon, Sen.
Warner?s staff assistant was told that no air strike
was made. The response was the same even after the
Pentagon official was told of the Navy Times, Chicago
Tribune and the International Tribune articles. I
pursued the issue by calling NATO?s AIRSOUTH
headquarters in Naples where I was handed from one
person to another but never received a satisfactory
answer - a classic example of stonewalling.
Further proof of U.S. involvement which seems to have
eluded Ms. del Ponte?s staff was in aNov. 25, 1995
story in the Washington Times, "Retired U.S. brass
sell military expertise," which described the
operation of Military Professional Resources Inc.
(MPRI), which described the operations of Military
Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI), a group of retired
senior military officers and NCOs based in Alexandria,
VA, that sells its expertise to a number of foreign
countries.
The Croatian Defense Ministry was a customer of the
company. Even though the officers claim, presumably
with straight faces, to have taught the Croats "only
mundane aspects of leadership and the military?s role
in a democracy," as you reported, the timing of the
training program just prior to Operation Storm and the
similarity of the Croatian tactics to American
doctrine raises questions as to how mundane the
training was.
Another article in The Washington Times, "Pentagon
played role in US help for Croatia," which appeared
Oct. 30, 1995, cited a source who described a visit to
Croatia by MPRI vice-president and general manager,
retired General Carl Vuono, former Army Chief of
Staff, which included ten meetings "with senior
Croatian officers in the five days before the Krajina
offensive, during which time they worked out computer
simulations that turned out to be remarkably similar
to what actually took place."
A statement by MPRI's spokesman, retired Lt. Gen. Ed
Soyster, reveals perhaps more than intended regarding
official U.S. government involvement in MPRI?s
activities in Croatia and elsewhere: "These are guys
[MPRI?s members] who devoted 35 years of their lives
supporting government policy. We?re not going to turn
our back on that." I guess that explains why MPRI is
willing to train Kosovo Liberation Army and National
Liberation Army narco-terrorists who are also trained
and financed by Osama bin Laden and may one day be
shooting at American GIs.
In his July 2001 syndicated column, "Wanted -- Guns
for Hire," Col. David Hackworth refers to MPRI as "the
same outfit that in the early 1990s trained Croatian
soldiers for Operation Storm."
Regarding MPRI?s ethics, Hackworth continues, "But
others have had the moral decency to say, ?Take your
high-paying mercenary job and stick it in your ear.? "
It?s time for Americans to wake up to the fact that we
are on the verge of losing our sovereignty to U.N.
kangaroo courts. It is also time that MPRI and similar
organizations realize that duty, honor, country come
before "supporting government policy."
COL. GEORGE JATRAS
Air Force (retired)
Sterling, Va