Nexus - 0705 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Albanians into wells during their campaign of terror." ** We should remember that the propaganda campaign waged by Apparently? Whenever the story got down to specifics, it dwelled | NATO officials and the major media never claimed merely that on only one village and only one well—in which one body of a atrocities (murders and rapes) occurred. Such crimes occur in 39-year-old male was found, along with three dead cows and a every war—indeed, in many communities during peacetime. dead dog. Neither his nationality nor cause of death was given. What the media propaganda campaign against Yugoslavia Nor was it clear who owned the well. "No other human remains charged was that mass atrocities and mass rapes and mass mur- were discovered," the Times lamely concluded.™ As far as I ders had been perpetrated—that is, genocide, as evidenced by know, neither the Los Angeles Times nor any other media outlet mass graves. ran any more stories of wells stuffed with victims. In contrast to its public assertions, the German Foreign Office In one gravesite after another, bodies were failing to materialise privately denied there was any evidence that genocide or ethnic in any substantial numbers—or any numbers at all. In July 1999, cleansing was ever a component of Yugoslav policy: "Even in a "mass grave" in Ljubenic, near Pec (an area of concerted fight- Kosovo, an explicit political persecution linked to Albanian eth- ing), believed to be holding some 350 corpses, produced only nicity is not verifiable... The actions of the [Yugoslavian] securi- seven after the exhumation. In Djacovica, town officials claimed ty forces [were] not directed against the Kosovo Albanians as an that 100 ethnic Albanians had been murdered, but there were no ethnically defined group, but against the military opponent and its bodies because the Serbs had returned in the middle of the night, actual or alleged supporters."” dug them up and carted them away, the officials seemed to Still, Milosevic was indicted as a war criminal, charged with believe. In Pusto Selo, villagers claimed that 106 men were cap- the forced expulsion of Kosovar Albanians and with summary tured and killed by Serbs at the end of March, but again no executions of a hundred or so individuals—again, alleged crimes remains were discovered. Villagers once more suggested that that occurred after the NATO bombing had started, yet were used Serbian forces must have come back and removed them. How as justification for the bombing. they accomplished this without being detected was not explained. The biggest war criminals of all are NATO and the political In Izbica, refugees reported that 150 leaders who orchestrated the aerial ethnic Albanians were executed in campaign of death and destruction. March, but their bodies were By late autumn of 1999, the media But here is how the White House and nowhere to be found. In Kraljan, 82 h a the US media reasoned at the time: ype about mass graves had fizzled men were supposedly killed, but since the aerial attacks do not intend investigators found not a single noticeably. The many sites to kill civilians, then presumably cadaver.” _ ; : unearthed, considered to be the there is no liability and no account- The worst incident of mass atroci- . ability; an occasional apology for the ties ascribed to Yugoslavian leader most notorious, offered upa few regrettable mistakes is all that's Slobodan Milosevic allegedly hundred bodies altogether, not the required—as if only the intent of an occurred at the Trepca mine. As action counted and not its ineluctable reported by US and NATO officials, thousands or tens of thousands effects. In fact, a perpetrator can be the Serbs threw a thousand or more or hundreds of thousands judged guilty of wilful murder with- bodies down the shafts or disposed A out explicitly intending the death of a of them in the mine's vats of previously trumpeted... particular victim—as when the death hydrochloric acid. In October 1999, the ICTY released the findings of Western forensic teams investigating Trepca. Not one body was cause death. found in the mine shafts, nor was there any evidence that the vats George Kenney, a former State Department official under the had ever been used in an attempt to dissolve human remains.” Bush Administration, put it well: "Dropping cluster bombs on By late autumn of 1999, the media hype about mass graves had highly populated urban areas doesn't result in accidental fatalities. fizzled noticeably. The many sites unearthed, considered to be It is purposeful terror-bombing."* the most notorious, offered up a few hundred bodies altogether, not the thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands LAPDOGS OF THE SECURITY STATE previously trumpeted, and with no evidence of torture or mass In sum, through a process of monopoly control and distribution, execution. In many cases, there was no certain evidence regard- repetition and image escalation, the media achieve self-confirma- ing the nationality of victims.” No mass killings means that The __ tion; that is, they find confirmation for the images they fabricate Hague War Crimes Tribunal indictment of Milosevic "becomes in the images they have already fabricated. Hyperbolic labelling highly questionable", notes Richard Gwyn. "Even more question- takes the place of evidence: "genocide", "mass atrocities", "sys- able is the West's continued punishment of the Serbs."* tematic rapes" and even "rape camps"—camps which no one has No doubt there were graves in Kosovo that contained two or ever located. Through this process, evidence is not only absent, it more persons (which is NATO's definition of a "mass grave"). becomes irrelevant. People were killed by bombs and by the extensive land war that So the US major media (and much of the minor media) are not went on between Yugoslavian and KLA forces. Some of the free and independent, as they claim; they are not the watchdogs of dead, as even the New York Times allowed, were "fighters of the democracy, but the lapdogs of the national security state. They Kosovo Liberation Army or may have died ordinary deaths"—as _help reverse the roles of victims and victimisers, warmongers and would happen in any large population over time.” And no doubt peacekeepers, reactionaries and reformers. there were grudge killings and summary executions as in any war, The first atrocity, the first war crime committed in any war of but not on a scale that would warrant the label of "genocide" and aggression by the aggressors, is against the truth. oo justify the massive death and destruction and the continuing mis- , ery inflicted upon Yugoslavia by the Western powers. Continued on page 81 results from an unlawful act which the perpetrator knew would likely We should remember that the propaganda campaign waged by NATO officials and the major media never claimed merely that atrocities (murders and rapes) occurred. Such crimes occur in every war—indeed, in many communities during peacetime. What the media propaganda campaign against Yugoslavia charged was that mass atrocities and mass rapes and mass mur- ders had been perpetrated—that is, genocide, as evidenced by By late autumn of 1999, the media hype about mass graves had fizzled noticeably. The many sites unearthed, considered to be the most notorious, offered up a few hundred bodies altogether, not the thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands LAPDOGS OF THE SECURITY STATE In sum, through a process of monopoly control and distribution, repetition and image escalation, the media achieve self-confirma- tion; that is, they find confirmation for the images they fabricate in the images they have already fabricated. Hyperbolic labelling takes the place of evidence: "genocide", "mass atrocities", "sys- tematic rapes" and even "rape camps"—camps which no one has ever located. Through this process, evidence is not only absent, it becomes irrelevant. So the US major media (and much of the minor media) are not free and independent, as they claim; they are not the watchdogs of democracy, but the lapdogs of the national security state. They help reverse the roles of victims and victimisers, warmongers and peacekeepers, reactionaries and reformers. The first atrocity, the first war crime committed in any war of aggression by the aggressors, is against the truth. oo 24 = NEXUS previously trumpeted... Continued on page 81 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2000