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- Memo To: UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke From: Peter
Signorelli Re: Madeleine Albrightís Disastrous War
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- As the U.S. diplomat who came closest to securing a non-military
option for dealing with Serbia and the Kosovar Albanians, you may feel
vindicated by the results of the recent municipal elections in Kosovo.
In a sense, the province has come full circle, expressing overwhelming
support for the party of Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, the Albania leader who supported
a peaceful negotiation with Serbia and who opposed NATOís military
option. It also turns out that former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Colin Powell was absolutely correct in his advice that the U.S. refrain
from military action against Yugoslavia. And George Bush is correct in
his perspective of disengaging the U.S. military from the Balkans. Both
have been vindicated by the results of Kosovo-wide municipal elections
held at the end of last month. That election result, in which out of 25
Albanian political parties fielding candidates the Democratic League of
Kosova of Rugova took approximately 60% of the Albanian Kosovarsí
vote, is poignant testimony that U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albrightís
disastrous war against Serbia was unnecessary.
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- Dr. Rugova, as you know, for ten years led Kosovo's non-violent
resistance to Serbiaís abrogation of its autonomy and still is considered
by many Kosovo Albanians as their symbolic President. In years since his
unofficial election as "president" (not recognized by Serbia),
Rugova created a parallel, illegal state for the Albanians with its own
education and health care system and taxation. He always has supported
independence as a goal, but always preferring the option of negotiated,
non-military approaches with Serbia. We here at Polyconomics strongly urged
the Clinton administration to lend its support to Rugova, as he not only
was the single-most trusted Kosovar Albanian leader, but also was the only
Albanian leader seeking non-military options for the resolution of the
dire situation of Albanians under Serbia. Rugovaís perspective,
however, collided with the U.S. Secretary of Stateís agenda to bomb
Serbia into compliance with her agenda. When Rugova opposed arming the
paramilitary Kosova Liberation Army, disputed NATOís war option
and faulted the conditions being imposed by the U.S. at the Rambouilett
negotiations, Albright eased him out, and KLA leader Hashim Thaci was elevated
as the Kosovar Albanian authority. Sec. Albright simply would not be deterred
from her war and a widespread media campaign in the West was conducted
to diminish Rugovaís authority and appeal, portraying him as a traitor
to the Albanians for insisting that a negotiated, non-violent solution
to the Kosovo crisis still was possible and preferable.
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- Thaci and the KLA were "unknown figures, raising
money illegally through smuggling, or worse," as the State Departmentís
James Rubin revealed, yet Albright ordered him to work with Thaci, even
though the KLA was breaking the October cease-fire. As Rubin put it recently,
"The entire US strategy to pressure [Slobodan] Milosevic [was] now
dependent on this mysterious rebel." Although the Serbs had been saying
for weeks that they would accept lightly-armed UN personnel rather than
NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo, Albright shot down any attempt to pursue that
route. Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini recently reported that Albright
was adamant, cutting off his attempts to pursue that option with a curt
"Lamberto....The whole point is for the Serbs to accept a NATO [military
occupation] force."
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- So what did Albrightís war accomplish? Destruction
of Serbiaís infrastructure, disruption of trade relations among
Danube River-bordered Balkan countries, mass population dispersals, perhaps
more deaths of Albanian Kosovars by NATOís bombings than by Serb
paramilitary forces, the legitimization and arming of an Albanian insurgent
force throughout the province, and not much else. The province is back
where it was prior to Albrightís war, with Rugovaís perspective
for peaceful negotiations with Serbia still the dominant sentiment among
the population.
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