> http://www.antiwar.com/orig/deliso38.html
ANTIWAR, Wednesday, March 27, 2002
Balkan Meltdown
Across the Former Yugoslavias, tensions
are rising spectacularly
by Christopher Deliso
UNCHARTED WATERS
March 2002 in the Balkans: how will
future historians remember this
unbelievable month? Will it be for the
unearthing of a mujahedin threat in
Macedonia - or for the discrediting of
that threat by the US and the BBC?
Will it be for the peaceful dissolution
of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia - or for the American spy
scandal that has rocked what remains of
that fragile coalition? Will the month
of March 2002 be warmly remembered
for the Macedonian donor conference,
which got that impoverished country off
and running - or will the conference
come to be mocked as yet another
ineffective photo-opportunity for the
West to preen and congratulate itself?
Finally, will this month be remembered
for the Bosnian government's firm
handling of the residual Islamic terror
threat - or as the month when that
threat spiraled out of control, and
paralyzed America's diplomatic
operations in Bosnia?
No one knows, but the outlook is not
promising. The scariest thing about
this month, which by all accounts has
seen a dizzying whirlwind of unending
action, is that it is not yet over.
There are still a few days left of March
2002 - at the current rate, enough to
upend any tentative conclusions we
may reach here.
YUGOSLAVIA IS NO MORE - UNLESS, OF
COURSE, YOU'RE A PROSECUTOR
As the Milosevic trial continues to
meander aimlessly through a forest
of discredited witnesses and
unsubstantiated rumors, Slobo's main
antagonist -
Hague prosecutor Carla del Ponte - has
become increasingly frustrated and
impatient. Seeing that the wily former
Yugoslav president is in danger of
speaking more intelligently than had
been expected, the inquisition has
moved on to the hills of the Republika
Srpska. Here, NATO troops
unsuccessfully tried twice to capture
the tribunal's most wanted criminal -
Radovan Karadzic. As del Ponte astutely
noted, it is very difficult to
capture one fugitive with a large body
of uniformed troops. Her solution?
Plainclothes, secretive kidnap squads.
The pressure has also been mounting on
Serbia to hand over Ratko Mladic, the
Bosnian Serb commander who the tribunal
claims is hiding in Serbia proper.
Since it is rather more difficult to
attempt putting undercover kidnap
squads in Serbia, the West has latched
onto more traditional means of
coercion and extortion - the threatened
to cut $135 million in aid money.
The powers that prop up the Hague are
betting that the Serbians would rather
part permanently with two (or more) of
their citizens than risk being
stuffed into the economic
straightjacket. After all, the tactic
has worked in the past: exactly one year
ago, in fact, similar American threats
provoked the extradition of Slobodan
Milosevic. Del Ponte has recruited
notable personalities, such as Colin
Powell, to help pile on the pressure.
Indeed, this year's edition of Balkan
intimidation cannot be distinguished
from its previous incarnation:
"Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont
Democrat who coauthored the legislation
requiring Yugoslav cooperation, said
yesterday that with war criminals at
large, ''our assistance should not go
forward.'' Senator Mitch McConnell,
Republican of Kentucky, joined Leahy in
sponsoring the bill.
Added Leahy: ''General Mladic is the
number-one person to turn over. His
responsibility for war crimes is
unquestioned."
It's not surprising that such
legislation would be co-authored by two of
the most virulently anti-Serbian activists
in the Senate; what is rather
strange, however, is that apparently
Mladic's "?responsibility for war
crimes is unquestioned." If so, why
bother trying him in a court of law? And
yet, the final destination for Mladic -
like all the others the West can't
just line up and execute - is the Hague.
This rather uncomfortable
contradiction begs the following
question: what is to be said for a court
that selects its victims based on their
pre-assumed guilt, and is run by the
same people who fund their operations,
costs and, apparently now, kidnap squads?
The only conclusion is that the Hague is
not a real court of law. Although
its procedures, powdered wigs and
presentations mimic those of real courts,
the pillars on which it rests are
rotten. Indeed, the fact that Milosevic
has not wilted away under the hot glare
of the media, as his inquisitors had
arrogantly expected, has raised fresh
doubts regarding the tribunal's
fundamental legitimacy. And that is the
real reason why Carla del Ponte and
Co. are so very flustered - with no
results to show on either
convictions or
captures, and growing doubts over their
grandiose moral posturing, they
realize that the clock is ticking. This
would be reason enough for panic -
even without last week's hilarious
disaster for the Hague.
LET THE FUN BEGIN: CIA SCANDAL UNFOLDS
IN BELGRADE
Part of the fun of March 2002 has been
in watching the train wreck of so
many interconnected events, all coming
to a head at exactly the same time.
The apologia for the Hague cited above
all came out between 20-22 March -
just days after the breaking of the
biggest American scandal to hit Belgrade
since the bombing of the Chinese Embassy
in 1999. The strong PR attack (from
del Ponte, Powell, Leahy and Co.) has
come in direct proportion to the
Hague's supremely embarrassing role in
the scandal: as recipients of secret
documents destined for use against
Milosevic, obtained by the American chief
of the CIA in the Balkans, paid for by
American dollars, given to a corrupt
Serbian politician. The worst thing
about all this, however, is that the
parties involved freely admitted as much.
The blunt admission of this botched
covert operation is remarkable in two
ways. First, for the incredible
arrogance of the blasé Americans, who
consider secret operations in a foreign
country as just part of a day's work
- even after being caught red-handed.
The second and more serious aspect
of the scandal is that the Hague,
ostensibly fighting corruption and
gangsterism, resorted to the same
tactics to get its way. This sickening
hypocrisy just goes to confirm what is
already so obvious - that the Hague
is no court of law, but merely a
playground for extortionists and spies,
bounty hunters and dilettante barristers.
GAUGING THE FALLOUT
For Balkan intrigue, it simply doesn't
get any better than this. You can
just picture it now: a nondescript
roadside bar, on the anonymous outskirts
of Belgrade; the waning light of late
afternoon. Subdued tones, hunched
figures; a telling silence, and a
briefcase stuffed with cash - and then,
just at the moment of consummation, a
rude surprise entry by the Yugoslav
military!
The dramatic arrest on 14 March of
Serbian Deputy PM Momcilo Perisic and
American spook John David Neighbor,
shows that Kostunica retains some
backbone. Clearly, the man has guts.
Confronted with the dissolution of the
republic he ruled, faced with fewer
career prospects than Al Gore, Mr.
Kostunica needed to somehow assert his
authority. He did so by denouncing
the imbroglio as "a spy affair of huge
proportions." Serbian PM Zoran
Djindjic had expected his rival to just
roll over and give up power. In this
belief, he was sorely mistaken. Could it
be coincidental that the spy
scandal blew up only days after the FRY
was officially ended? Luckily for
Kostunica, his opportunity arrived, even
before the ink had dried on the
eulogists' pens.
In the ensuing furor, Perisic has
resigned, and the US has turned up the
heat on "Yugoslavia." The best thing
about this reaction is the Americans'
overweening hubris, in protesting that
their man in Belgrade - the CIA's
Balkan superspy - had been detained. Can
we even begin to imagine what would
happen if the roles were reversed - and
it had been "Serbian spy caught in
Washington?" Would any Yugoslav protest
have been tolerated - and would a
Serbian spy have been quietly dismissed?
The answer is an emphatic 'no' on
all counts. Mr. Neighbor, however, was
"quietly spirited back to
Washington," amid apologies and
overtures from the Serbs.
BLOWBACK STRIKES: THE BOSNIAN MELTDOWN
In the wake of 9/11, no part of the
Balkans has so been so embarrassing for
the US and UN as Bosnia. Since October,
Islamic terrorist cells have
continually been uprooted in this UN
protectorate, previously "liberated" by
US intervention. Yet the Islamic
military units, which the Americans
tolerated (if not abetted) during the
1990's have now come back to haunt
them. Middle Eastern charities and
businesses have been exposed as front
organizations for terrorists, and
several terrorists of Arab origin have
been detained - some even shipped to
Guantanamo. That this outraged the
Bosnian authorities seemed to matter
little to the US; now, however,
temperatures are running so high that
the US has closed indefinitely three
major embassies in the area - in
Sarajevo, Mostar, and Banja Luka
(Republika Srpska).
On 23 March a high-ranking Bosnian
official declared that al Qaeda itself
had recently met in Bulgaria - to plan a
major terrorist attack in Bosnia:
"at the Sofia meeting, members of
al-Qaeda decided that "?in Sarajevo
something will happen to Americans
similar to New York last September.''
These stories follow a frantic effort by
Bosnian officials to crack down on
Islamic terrorists in their midst. On 19
March, Bosnian police swooped down
on charities and terror front
organizations in Sarajevo and Zenica. On
22 March, the operation resulted in the
arrest on espionage charges of one
Munib Zahiragic, and the shutdown of his
shady charity, Benevolentia. A tour
of the "charity" organization's
headquarters revealed "?weapons, plans
for making bombs, booby-traps and bogus
passports." Elsewhere in the country, a
UN official was recently attacked with
an axe. Seems like there's a lot of
love going around for the Western
"liberators" in Bosnia these days!
THE MOTHER OF ALL SCANDALS: DYNCORP'S
LURID "TRANSACTIONS"
If one wonders why the Bosnians might be
upset with their Western guests,
one need look no further than DynCorp,
an American company providing
technical support to the troops
overseas. This story has been forgotten
completely - primarily because the
company's activities in Bosnia are being
investigated by US military police - and
not by the Hague. And so - even
though every American should know about
it - DynCorp's history of sleaze
has been totally whitewashed.
Over a year ago, the Washington Post
reported about UN participation in the
Bosnian sex trade. Also involved were
senior figures in DynCorp's Bosnia
operation. Nothing happened.
A year later, in January 2002, the
DynCorp story broke for real, in the
testimony of a former employee,
whistle-blower Ben Johnston. Apparently,
seeing "...middle-aged men having sex
with 12 - to 15-year-olds" was "too
much" for the lanky Texan to take. In
his daily job for DynCorp in Bosnia,
Johnston " ?witnessed coworkers and
supervisors literally buying and selling
women for their own personal enjoyment,
and employees would brag about the
various ages and talents of the
individual slaves they had purchased."
The "game" for these American cowboys was to
buy and sell girls, weapons, and
other commodities from Serbian and other
mafias. Less lurid activities were
the monumentally corrupt activities of
DynCorp's daily operations. Johnston,
who was fired for patriotically
objecting to these deeds, provided graphic
details on both the sex ring and the
chronic ways in which DynCorp defrauded
the American taxpayer:
"I wasn't too happy with them ripping
off the government, either. DynCorp is
just as immoral and elite as possible,
and any rule they can break they do.
There was this one guy who would hide
parts so we would have to wait for
parts and, when the military would
question why it was taking so long, he'd
pull out the part and say 'Hey, you need
to install this.' They'd have us
replace windows in helicopters that
weren't bad just to get paid. They had
one kid, James Harlin, over there who
was right out of high school and he
didn't even know the names and purposes
of the basic tools. Soldiers that
are paid $18,000 a year know more than
this kid, but this is the way they
[DynCorp] grease their pockets. What
they say in Bosnia is that DynCorp just
needs a warm body - that's the DynCorp
slogan. Even if you don't do an
eight-hour day, they'll sign you in for
it because that's how they bill the
government. It's a total fraud."
The muckraking investigation of DynCorp
came out in Insight Magazine; it is
a must-read for anyone who - no, it is a
must-read for everyone. However,
this graphic account of the corrupt side
of Balkans intervention was
instantly forgotten - and that is
because the Hague took no part in the
investigation. Apparently, US-sponsored
tribunals have one goal and one goal
alone: targeting foreign citizens who
come from "hostile" countries. US
spies, businessmen, and (as we saw in
the Italian helicopter tragedy)
servicemen face justice only at home.
One can give many arguments on the topic
of the rights of sovereign states
and international law. However, one
would at least hope for consistency, and
not hypocrisy, in the US' execution of
law.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, MACEDONIA
Despite the quiet reality of Western
corruption throughout the former
Yugoslavias, this phenomenon has gone
largely unexplored. Instead, the heat
has recently been turned up on the
corruption of the locals in Macedonia.
In this embattled Balkan state, the
temperature has been rising precipitously
of late. Two NATO officers were arrested
for taking photos in Ochrid on 20
March, a bizarre fiasco that resulted in
an official protest from NATO.
Meanwhile, the fallout of the donor
conference in Macedonia has resulted in
bitterness from Macedonians who feel
they have been strong-armed into an
agreement with the NLA. One year on from
the start of the conflict that
spawned that treaty, the BBC has again
set up shop as apologist for the NLA.
Events took a farcical turn last week at
a Skopje sports arena, when
Albanian and Macedonian fans set upon
each other. Macedonia, it seems, has
finally arrived: three cheers for
interethnic football riots!
Simultaneously, more organized militias
seem ready for the heat of battle.
The so-called ANA (Albanian National
Army) has made an issue out of the
Kosovo border dispute to declare a war
of liberation. This paramilitary
organization has just announced a new
campaign to unite all "Albanian
territories." Yet the ANA is allegedly
also "?in conflict with the former
"NLA" and the leaders of DPA and PDP,
Arben Xhaferi and Imer Imeri."
Skopje's biggest newspaper, Dnevnik, has
reprinted an announcement from the
ANA, which called NLA chief Ali Ahmeti
and politician Menduh Thachi "great
traitors." Apparently, a dangerous
standoff, involving up to 200 Albanians,
occurred between the two groups.
Another event (of 23 March) shows again
how relations are wearing thin
between former Albanian allies. In
Vaksince village, Kumanovo region,
returning police were taunted, and
journalists stoned. The Albanian members
of the police force were derided as
traitors, a clear sign that the Albanian
"liberation" movement has fragmented.
This prompts the question: if rival
Albanian factions start fighting it
out, will NATO intervene?
EPILOGUE
Even as Yugoslavia - and all the
Yugoslavias - steadily become but an
afterthought, the damage of a decade of
war and intervention cannot be
undone. While one nation crumbles into
dust, another - one of unknown
dimensions and desires - is solidifying.
One gets the sense that, as Winter
turns the corner into Spring, we are
careening off of the well-marked,
signposted road - and heading into
territory that is altogether unknown.
ANTIWAR, Wednesday, March 27, 2002
Balkan Meltdown
Across the Former Yugoslavias, tensions
are rising spectacularly
by Christopher Deliso
UNCHARTED WATERS
March 2002 in the Balkans: how will
future historians remember this
unbelievable month? Will it be for the
unearthing of a mujahedin threat in
Macedonia - or for the discrediting of
that threat by the US and the BBC?
Will it be for the peaceful dissolution
of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia - or for the American spy
scandal that has rocked what remains of
that fragile coalition? Will the month
of March 2002 be warmly remembered
for the Macedonian donor conference,
which got that impoverished country off
and running - or will the conference
come to be mocked as yet another
ineffective photo-opportunity for the
West to preen and congratulate itself?
Finally, will this month be remembered
for the Bosnian government's firm
handling of the residual Islamic terror
threat - or as the month when that
threat spiraled out of control, and
paralyzed America's diplomatic
operations in Bosnia?
No one knows, but the outlook is not
promising. The scariest thing about
this month, which by all accounts has
seen a dizzying whirlwind of unending
action, is that it is not yet over.
There are still a few days left of March
2002 - at the current rate, enough to
upend any tentative conclusions we
may reach here.
YUGOSLAVIA IS NO MORE - UNLESS, OF
COURSE, YOU'RE A PROSECUTOR
As the Milosevic trial continues to
meander aimlessly through a forest
of discredited witnesses and
unsubstantiated rumors, Slobo's main
antagonist -
Hague prosecutor Carla del Ponte - has
become increasingly frustrated and
impatient. Seeing that the wily former
Yugoslav president is in danger of
speaking more intelligently than had
been expected, the inquisition has
moved on to the hills of the Republika
Srpska. Here, NATO troops
unsuccessfully tried twice to capture
the tribunal's most wanted criminal -
Radovan Karadzic. As del Ponte astutely
noted, it is very difficult to
capture one fugitive with a large body
of uniformed troops. Her solution?
Plainclothes, secretive kidnap squads.
The pressure has also been mounting on
Serbia to hand over Ratko Mladic, the
Bosnian Serb commander who the tribunal
claims is hiding in Serbia proper.
Since it is rather more difficult to
attempt putting undercover kidnap
squads in Serbia, the West has latched
onto more traditional means of
coercion and extortion - the threatened
to cut $135 million in aid money.
The powers that prop up the Hague are
betting that the Serbians would rather
part permanently with two (or more) of
their citizens than risk being
stuffed into the economic
straightjacket. After all, the tactic
has worked in the past: exactly one year
ago, in fact, similar American threats
provoked the extradition of Slobodan
Milosevic. Del Ponte has recruited
notable personalities, such as Colin
Powell, to help pile on the pressure.
Indeed, this year's edition of Balkan
intimidation cannot be distinguished
from its previous incarnation:
"Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont
Democrat who coauthored the legislation
requiring Yugoslav cooperation, said
yesterday that with war criminals at
large, ''our assistance should not go
forward.'' Senator Mitch McConnell,
Republican of Kentucky, joined Leahy in
sponsoring the bill.
Added Leahy: ''General Mladic is the
number-one person to turn over. His
responsibility for war crimes is
unquestioned."
It's not surprising that such
legislation would be co-authored by two of
the most virulently anti-Serbian activists
in the Senate; what is rather
strange, however, is that apparently
Mladic's "?responsibility for war
crimes is unquestioned." If so, why
bother trying him in a court of law? And
yet, the final destination for Mladic -
like all the others the West can't
just line up and execute - is the Hague.
This rather uncomfortable
contradiction begs the following
question: what is to be said for a court
that selects its victims based on their
pre-assumed guilt, and is run by the
same people who fund their operations,
costs and, apparently now, kidnap squads?
The only conclusion is that the Hague is
not a real court of law. Although
its procedures, powdered wigs and
presentations mimic those of real courts,
the pillars on which it rests are
rotten. Indeed, the fact that Milosevic
has not wilted away under the hot glare
of the media, as his inquisitors had
arrogantly expected, has raised fresh
doubts regarding the tribunal's
fundamental legitimacy. And that is the
real reason why Carla del Ponte and
Co. are so very flustered - with no
results to show on either
convictions or
captures, and growing doubts over their
grandiose moral posturing, they
realize that the clock is ticking. This
would be reason enough for panic -
even without last week's hilarious
disaster for the Hague.
LET THE FUN BEGIN: CIA SCANDAL UNFOLDS
IN BELGRADE
Part of the fun of March 2002 has been
in watching the train wreck of so
many interconnected events, all coming
to a head at exactly the same time.
The apologia for the Hague cited above
all came out between 20-22 March -
just days after the breaking of the
biggest American scandal to hit Belgrade
since the bombing of the Chinese Embassy
in 1999. The strong PR attack (from
del Ponte, Powell, Leahy and Co.) has
come in direct proportion to the
Hague's supremely embarrassing role in
the scandal: as recipients of secret
documents destined for use against
Milosevic, obtained by the American chief
of the CIA in the Balkans, paid for by
American dollars, given to a corrupt
Serbian politician. The worst thing
about all this, however, is that the
parties involved freely admitted as much.
The blunt admission of this botched
covert operation is remarkable in two
ways. First, for the incredible
arrogance of the blasé Americans, who
consider secret operations in a foreign
country as just part of a day's work
- even after being caught red-handed.
The second and more serious aspect
of the scandal is that the Hague,
ostensibly fighting corruption and
gangsterism, resorted to the same
tactics to get its way. This sickening
hypocrisy just goes to confirm what is
already so obvious - that the Hague
is no court of law, but merely a
playground for extortionists and spies,
bounty hunters and dilettante barristers.
GAUGING THE FALLOUT
For Balkan intrigue, it simply doesn't
get any better than this. You can
just picture it now: a nondescript
roadside bar, on the anonymous outskirts
of Belgrade; the waning light of late
afternoon. Subdued tones, hunched
figures; a telling silence, and a
briefcase stuffed with cash - and then,
just at the moment of consummation, a
rude surprise entry by the Yugoslav
military!
The dramatic arrest on 14 March of
Serbian Deputy PM Momcilo Perisic and
American spook John David Neighbor,
shows that Kostunica retains some
backbone. Clearly, the man has guts.
Confronted with the dissolution of the
republic he ruled, faced with fewer
career prospects than Al Gore, Mr.
Kostunica needed to somehow assert his
authority. He did so by denouncing
the imbroglio as "a spy affair of huge
proportions." Serbian PM Zoran
Djindjic had expected his rival to just
roll over and give up power. In this
belief, he was sorely mistaken. Could it
be coincidental that the spy
scandal blew up only days after the FRY
was officially ended? Luckily for
Kostunica, his opportunity arrived, even
before the ink had dried on the
eulogists' pens.
In the ensuing furor, Perisic has
resigned, and the US has turned up the
heat on "Yugoslavia." The best thing
about this reaction is the Americans'
overweening hubris, in protesting that
their man in Belgrade - the CIA's
Balkan superspy - had been detained. Can
we even begin to imagine what would
happen if the roles were reversed - and
it had been "Serbian spy caught in
Washington?" Would any Yugoslav protest
have been tolerated - and would a
Serbian spy have been quietly dismissed?
The answer is an emphatic 'no' on
all counts. Mr. Neighbor, however, was
"quietly spirited back to
Washington," amid apologies and
overtures from the Serbs.
BLOWBACK STRIKES: THE BOSNIAN MELTDOWN
In the wake of 9/11, no part of the
Balkans has so been so embarrassing for
the US and UN as Bosnia. Since October,
Islamic terrorist cells have
continually been uprooted in this UN
protectorate, previously "liberated" by
US intervention. Yet the Islamic
military units, which the Americans
tolerated (if not abetted) during the
1990's have now come back to haunt
them. Middle Eastern charities and
businesses have been exposed as front
organizations for terrorists, and
several terrorists of Arab origin have
been detained - some even shipped to
Guantanamo. That this outraged the
Bosnian authorities seemed to matter
little to the US; now, however,
temperatures are running so high that
the US has closed indefinitely three
major embassies in the area - in
Sarajevo, Mostar, and Banja Luka
(Republika Srpska).
On 23 March a high-ranking Bosnian
official declared that al Qaeda itself
had recently met in Bulgaria - to plan a
major terrorist attack in Bosnia:
"at the Sofia meeting, members of
al-Qaeda decided that "?in Sarajevo
something will happen to Americans
similar to New York last September.''
These stories follow a frantic effort by
Bosnian officials to crack down on
Islamic terrorists in their midst. On 19
March, Bosnian police swooped down
on charities and terror front
organizations in Sarajevo and Zenica. On
22 March, the operation resulted in the
arrest on espionage charges of one
Munib Zahiragic, and the shutdown of his
shady charity, Benevolentia. A tour
of the "charity" organization's
headquarters revealed "?weapons, plans
for making bombs, booby-traps and bogus
passports." Elsewhere in the country, a
UN official was recently attacked with
an axe. Seems like there's a lot of
love going around for the Western
"liberators" in Bosnia these days!
THE MOTHER OF ALL SCANDALS: DYNCORP'S
LURID "TRANSACTIONS"
If one wonders why the Bosnians might be
upset with their Western guests,
one need look no further than DynCorp,
an American company providing
technical support to the troops
overseas. This story has been forgotten
completely - primarily because the
company's activities in Bosnia are being
investigated by US military police - and
not by the Hague. And so - even
though every American should know about
it - DynCorp's history of sleaze
has been totally whitewashed.
Over a year ago, the Washington Post
reported about UN participation in the
Bosnian sex trade. Also involved were
senior figures in DynCorp's Bosnia
operation. Nothing happened.
A year later, in January 2002, the
DynCorp story broke for real, in the
testimony of a former employee,
whistle-blower Ben Johnston. Apparently,
seeing "...middle-aged men having sex
with 12 - to 15-year-olds" was "too
much" for the lanky Texan to take. In
his daily job for DynCorp in Bosnia,
Johnston " ?witnessed coworkers and
supervisors literally buying and selling
women for their own personal enjoyment,
and employees would brag about the
various ages and talents of the
individual slaves they had purchased."
The "game" for these American cowboys was to
buy and sell girls, weapons, and
other commodities from Serbian and other
mafias. Less lurid activities were
the monumentally corrupt activities of
DynCorp's daily operations. Johnston,
who was fired for patriotically
objecting to these deeds, provided graphic
details on both the sex ring and the
chronic ways in which DynCorp defrauded
the American taxpayer:
"I wasn't too happy with them ripping
off the government, either. DynCorp is
just as immoral and elite as possible,
and any rule they can break they do.
There was this one guy who would hide
parts so we would have to wait for
parts and, when the military would
question why it was taking so long, he'd
pull out the part and say 'Hey, you need
to install this.' They'd have us
replace windows in helicopters that
weren't bad just to get paid. They had
one kid, James Harlin, over there who
was right out of high school and he
didn't even know the names and purposes
of the basic tools. Soldiers that
are paid $18,000 a year know more than
this kid, but this is the way they
[DynCorp] grease their pockets. What
they say in Bosnia is that DynCorp just
needs a warm body - that's the DynCorp
slogan. Even if you don't do an
eight-hour day, they'll sign you in for
it because that's how they bill the
government. It's a total fraud."
The muckraking investigation of DynCorp
came out in Insight Magazine; it is
a must-read for anyone who - no, it is a
must-read for everyone. However,
this graphic account of the corrupt side
of Balkans intervention was
instantly forgotten - and that is
because the Hague took no part in the
investigation. Apparently, US-sponsored
tribunals have one goal and one goal
alone: targeting foreign citizens who
come from "hostile" countries. US
spies, businessmen, and (as we saw in
the Italian helicopter tragedy)
servicemen face justice only at home.
One can give many arguments on the topic
of the rights of sovereign states
and international law. However, one
would at least hope for consistency, and
not hypocrisy, in the US' execution of
law.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, MACEDONIA
Despite the quiet reality of Western
corruption throughout the former
Yugoslavias, this phenomenon has gone
largely unexplored. Instead, the heat
has recently been turned up on the
corruption of the locals in Macedonia.
In this embattled Balkan state, the
temperature has been rising precipitously
of late. Two NATO officers were arrested
for taking photos in Ochrid on 20
March, a bizarre fiasco that resulted in
an official protest from NATO.
Meanwhile, the fallout of the donor
conference in Macedonia has resulted in
bitterness from Macedonians who feel
they have been strong-armed into an
agreement with the NLA. One year on from
the start of the conflict that
spawned that treaty, the BBC has again
set up shop as apologist for the NLA.
Events took a farcical turn last week at
a Skopje sports arena, when
Albanian and Macedonian fans set upon
each other. Macedonia, it seems, has
finally arrived: three cheers for
interethnic football riots!
Simultaneously, more organized militias
seem ready for the heat of battle.
The so-called ANA (Albanian National
Army) has made an issue out of the
Kosovo border dispute to declare a war
of liberation. This paramilitary
organization has just announced a new
campaign to unite all "Albanian
territories." Yet the ANA is allegedly
also "?in conflict with the former
"NLA" and the leaders of DPA and PDP,
Arben Xhaferi and Imer Imeri."
Skopje's biggest newspaper, Dnevnik, has
reprinted an announcement from the
ANA, which called NLA chief Ali Ahmeti
and politician Menduh Thachi "great
traitors." Apparently, a dangerous
standoff, involving up to 200 Albanians,
occurred between the two groups.
Another event (of 23 March) shows again
how relations are wearing thin
between former Albanian allies. In
Vaksince village, Kumanovo region,
returning police were taunted, and
journalists stoned. The Albanian members
of the police force were derided as
traitors, a clear sign that the Albanian
"liberation" movement has fragmented.
This prompts the question: if rival
Albanian factions start fighting it
out, will NATO intervene?
EPILOGUE
Even as Yugoslavia - and all the
Yugoslavias - steadily become but an
afterthought, the damage of a decade of
war and intervention cannot be
undone. While one nation crumbles into
dust, another - one of unknown
dimensions and desires - is solidifying.
One gets the sense that, as Winter
turns the corner into Spring, we are
careening off of the well-marked,
signposted road - and heading into
territory that is altogether unknown.